About the Book:

This facsimile of Shakespeare's First Folio has been published this year to mark the 400th anniversary of the book’s original publication. It 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. 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.

About the Publisher:

Deep in the heart of the British Library’s St Pancras building you will find a dedicated, and very active, book publishing division which celebrates the very best of the collections and tell the stories of the Library. They publish some 50 books per year and nearly all are inspired by the desire to present original, previously unpublished or undeservedly neglected content from the superlative and extensive holdings of the Library.

They work closely with their curators, exhibition teams, and a wide range of experts to commission the finest range of superbly-designed and skilfully-produced books for a general readership. They also work in partnership with select publishers on major publications and with a range of specialist facsimile publishers to create limited editions of the Library’s treasures.