![]() Aquatint Copperplate process by which the plate is “bitten” by exposure to acid.An exceptional copy of a scarce and significant edition. Text quite clean, contemporary calf boards very handsome. “The paper used was specially made, and bears the watermark of ‘Shakespeare 1806.” (Jaggard, 510). “The first ‘type-facsimile’ edition (a line-for-line, letter-for-letter reprint) was published in 1807, with a portrait printed from a newly engraved copy of the original engraving” (Blayney, 38-39). It “is intrinsically the most valuable volume in the whole range of English Literature” ( Grolier 100 19). Of his 39 undisputed plays, 18 survived solely because they appear in the First Folio. Published in 1623, the First Folio- not only the first collection of Shakespeare’s plays but also the first folio book in England devoted exclusively to drama- contains 36 works considered to be wholly or in part by the Bard. ![]() Scarce first facsimile edition of the landmark First Folio, in contemporary full calf. Folio, contemporary full diced brown calf rebacked with original spine label laid down, raised bands. Take a closer look with our digital guide on the Bloomberg Connects app.1807 FIRST FACSIMILE EDITION OF SHAKESPEARE’S FIRST FOLIO Plan your visit to see the Library’s First Folios along with over 200 other treasures from the Library’s collections in the Polonsky Exhibition. These remarkable books will be on display through October 1. Tilden that each have their own small differences, such as an extra title page in a Lenox copy. Among the Library’s Folios are copies from the founding collections donated by William Astor, James Lenox, and Samuel J. Errors were discovered and corrections made, leading to interruptions, alterations, irregularities, and inconsistencies. Only 235 copies remain, and each one is unique as a result of the printing process. They were printed on high-quality paper usually reserved for Bibles, making the First Folio an expensive and ostentatious enterprise. It is believed that between 700 and 750 copies of the First Folio were printed in 1623. The table of contents shows how the plays were categorized by genre for the first time, although Troilus and Cressida is absent from that page despite its inclusion in most copies, possibly indicating protracted negotiations to include it. There is also a list of the 26 actors who performed the plays in the Lord Chamberlain’s Men (later the King’s Men) theatre company, including Shakespeare himself and Richard Burbage, who originated many of the leading tragic roles. The frontispiece features the now iconic portrait of Shakespeare by Martin Droeshout the Younger accompanied by a poem by Shakespeare’s contemporary and sometime rival, Ben Jonson. The Folios contain points of interest beyond the texts of the plays themselves. The compilers’ efforts preserved 18 plays-including Macbeth, Julius Caesar, and The Tempest-that might otherwise have been lost forever. They likely used earlier editions of individual plays, various versions of production scripts, and Shakespeare’s own working drafts to faithfully reproduce the texts as they were performed. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies, this first published collection of Shakespeare’s plays was compiled by John Heminge and Henry Condell, the playwright’s fellow actors and friends who were also shareholders in the Globe Theatre. The First Folio is regarded by many as the most important book in the history of English literature. These additions to the Polonsky Exhibition arrive just in time for Shakespeare Day, observed on April 23, the date on which Shakespeare died in 1616 and is also thought to have been born in 1564. Alongside the First Folios will be an early 17th-century etching of London that depicts the venues where Shakespeare’s plays were first performed, including the Globe Theatre and the Rose Theatre, and the places where these books were first printed and sold. It is joined by five more copies of this historic book, which contains 36 of Shakespeare’s plays. One copy has already been on view since the exhibition opened in September 2021 and is featured in the audio guide with commentary from Shakespeare scholar Professor James Shapiro (Columbia University). In honor of the 400th anniversary of its publication this year, all six of the Library’s copies of William Shakespeare’s First Folio will be displayed in the Polonsky Exhibition of The New York Public Library’s Treasures from April 22 through October 1, 2023.
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