Shakespeare''s First Folio - Four Centuries of an Iconic Book

Just a few hundred copies of the 1623 edition of Shakespeare's collected plays exist, making it one of the most sought-after publications in history. Emma Smith explores the First Folio's post-publication life, the stories of individual copies, and the way readers, forgers, collectors, actors, scholars, and booksellers have interacted with them.

List of contents

• Introduction


• Sir Edward Dering goes shopping


• 1: Owning


• 2: Reading


• 3: Decoding


• 4: Performing


• 5: Perfecting


• Conclusion


• Bibliography


• Index

About the author

Emma Smith teaches at Hertford College, Oxford, and has published and lectured widely on Shakespeare and his contemporaries, and on the reception of Shakespeare.

Summary

Just a few hundred copies of the 1623 edition of Shakespeare's collected plays exist, making it one of the most sought-after publications in history. Emma Smith explores the First Folio's post-publication life, the stories of individual copies, and the way readers, forgers, collectors, actors, scholars, and booksellers have interacted with them.

Additional text

Authoritative, lively and accessible.

Product details

• Authors: Emma Smith, Emma (Fellow and Tutor in English Smith
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 13.04.2023
• EAN: 9780192886644
• ISBN: 978-0-19-288664-4
• No. of pages: 416
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature > Letters, diaries; Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > English linguistics / literary studies; BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Literary Figures, Biography: literary, English, LITERARY CRITICISM / Drama, HISTORY / Social History, Social & cultural history, LITERARY CRITICISM / Modern / General, Social and cultural history, Literary studies: c 1600 to c 1800, Biography: writers, Shakespeare Studies & Criticism, Literary studies: plays and playwrights, Relating to Shakespeare / Shakespearean