Shakespeare’s First Folio
William Shakespeare 1623
Scans: Bodleian Libraries, Arch. G c.7.
The First Folio
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On the page
Source transcription. Original spelling retained.
Reading the Shakespeare First Folio
Read the Shakespeare First Folio online through photographs of the Bodleian Libraries’ copy, Arch. G c.7. Published in 1623, the volume gathers 36 plays as Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies. Here, dialogue appears alongside the type, ornaments, and divisions through which those plays reached readers.
Begin with a familiar passage and examine how the page presents it. Where does a speech end? How does a stage direction interrupt the dialogue? What changes when a passage crosses a column or a page? Comparing these details with a modern edition gives a specific starting point for thinking about how printed form guides interpretation.
Choose a play from the contents, turn through its pages, or use the section menu to move between the divisions recorded in the source. The accompanying transcription can help with unfamiliar letterforms. Return to the photograph to check the position of a word, the shape of a letter, or the relationship between printed text and handwritten marks.
Book mode frames many photographs around the principal leaf to reduce neighboring-page slivers and measuring rulers. Full scans and zoom retain the uncropped photograph. Framing is conservative: some surrounding material remains where a tighter crop could conceal evidence. The torn leaves and missing corners belong to this particular surviving copy.
The 36 plays in the First Folio
Choose a play to open its reader and introduction. The groups follow the First Folio’s arrangement.
Comedies
Histories
Questions about the First Folio
What is Shakespeare’s First Folio?
The First Folio is the 1623 collection that first brought Shakespeare’s plays together in one volume. Shakespeare had died seven years earlier. Its title, Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies, identifies the three groups used to arrange the collection. The Folger’s introduction explains its publication and contents.
Why is the First Folio important?
Eighteen of its 36 plays appeared in print for the first time in this volume, including Macbeth, The Tempest, and As You Like It. That makes the book essential evidence for their texts. The Folger’s overview explains why their survival matters; it does not mean every Folio reading is beyond dispute.
Who brought the First Folio together?
John Heminge and Henry Condell, Shakespeare’s fellow actors in the King’s Men, assembled the collection after his death. Their address to readers presents the book as an act of care for their colleague’s work. Barbara Mowat and Paul Werstine’s account also examines why their claims about the texts require scrutiny.
What does “folio” mean?
Folio describes a book format made by folding a printed sheet once, producing two leaves and four pages. A quarto uses two folds to produce four leaves and eight pages. The term concerns the construction of the book, not the number of plays it contains. See the Folger’s explanation of the format.
Does the First Folio contain all Shakespeare’s works?
No. It contains 36 plays, rather than a complete collection of everything Shakespeare wrote. Pericles and The Two Noble Kinsmen are absent. The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust also notes that Troilus and Cressida appears in the volume despite its omission from the printed contents list.
Why might a modern edition have different words?
Some plays circulated in earlier printed editions, and their texts do not always agree with the Folio. Modern editors make decisions about those differences as well as spelling and punctuation. A discrepancy is a reason to identify and compare editions. The Folger’s publication history explains why the Folio cannot automatically settle every disputed reading.
Why does the transcription use unfamiliar spelling?
The reading text derives from the Bodleian’s diplomatic transcription, which closely records the historical text. This reader retains source spelling rather than modernizing it. It adapts spacing and omits editorial notes and page furniture such as running headings. A [gap] marks missing text; it does not supply an imagined replacement.
How should I use this reader for research?
Use it to locate passages and develop questions, then check the evidence at the resolution your argument needs. Follow the source link for higher-resolution photographs of small marks. Cite the Bodleian First Folio, Arch. G c.7, and identify the relevant leaf or page. Distinguish the photographed book from this reader’s framing and adapted transcription.
This reader is part of Sydney Shamblin Anderson’s early modern literature website. The book shown is the Bodleian copy, Arch. G c.7. Historical sources are linked beside the relevant explanations; Folger’s reader shows a different surviving copy.