Shakespeare's First Folio

Published to mark the 400th anniversary of the book’s original publication, this facsimile edition faithfully reproduces one of the finest copies held in the British Library collections.

The significance of the First Folio cannot be underestimated. It is the only contemporary source of eighteen of Shakespeare’s plays. Without it, performances of such popular plays as The Tempest, Twelfth Night and Macbeth would not be possible.

Changes and corrections were made during the long printing process. Small alterations were also made to the (now iconic) portrait of Shakespeare created by Martin Droeshout for the title page. As a result, no two surviving copies of the First Folio are identical and few are complete. Of the 750 copies that were originally published, some 200 exist today. The British Library has five copies, one of which is complete, and it is this copy that is presented with an introductory booklet by curators Adrian S Edwards and Tanya Kirk.