The Making of Shakespeare's First Folio

Shakespeare is synonymous with English literature. Well-loved the world over his work endures for its ability to speak powerfully to the follies and foibles of human nature. We endlessly debate not only the finer points of each of his plays and sonnets but also the identity of the Bard himself. Yet no fanfare surrounded the initial publication of Shakespeares First Foliono queue of eager readers no launch to the top of the best seller list. It wasnt until four hundred years after Shakespeares death that the book would be the subject of a national book tour. The Making of Shakespeares First Folio offers the first comprehensive biography of the earliest collected edition of Shakespeares plays. In November 1623 the book arrived in the bookshop of the London publisher Edward Blount at the Black Bear. Long in the making Master William Shakespeares Comedies Histories and Tragediesas the First Folio was then knownappeared seven years after Shakespeares death. Nearly one thousand pages in length the collection comprised thirty-six plays half of which had never been previously published. Emma Smith tells the story of the First Folios origins locating it within the social and political context of Jacobean London and bringing in the latest scholarship on the seventeenth-century book trade. Extensively illustrated The Making of Shakespeares First Folio is a landmark addition to the copious literature on Shakespeare. It will shed much-needed light on the birth of the First Folioof which fewer than 250 copies remainand the birth of Shakespeares towering reputation.