First Folio
Amongst many outstanding items in the Shakespeare Collection is Shakespeare’s First Folio, the first collected edition of his plays, which was published in 1623.
After Shakespeare's death in 1616, two of his closest friends, John Heminge and Henry Condell, set out to print an accurate version of the plays. Using handwritten scripts and company promptbooks, they published 36 plays in one volume, dividing them into Comedies, Histories and Tragedies.
The library bought a copy of the First Folio in 1881 from a London antiquarian bookseller. Out of 750 copies that were printed, only a third are still in existence and Birmingham’s Folio is one of very few in public hands.
Birmingham’s copy of the First Folio is also unique because it is the only one bought as part of a dedicated programme for improving people’s lives through culture and education. It was purchased for all the people of Birmingham, no matter their background, wealth or occupation.
From 2020 to 2023 the Everything to Everybody project hosted six ‘Heritage Ambassadors’, students from the University of Birmingham who researched the Shakespeare Collection. They each wrote a series of informative articles. Read two of the articles below:
- Joan Turner
Shakespeare’s First Folio or Mr William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories and Tragedies, published according to the true original copies (1623), Shakespeare Collection, S162.3F:
Page last updated: 25 October 2023
