Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (most commonly known as First Folio) is a collection of plays written by William Shakespeare. Released in 1623, it collects most of Shakespeare's major play works (with only Pericles and The Two Noble Kinesmen being omitted). Many of the works within the First Folio were first published within its pages, as publishing scripts for plays was uncommon within the Elizabethan era.
Stories within[]
Note: Some editions change the order and placement of the various plays. Your own interpretation of which plays should go in which (such as placing the Roman plays into the Histories) may differ from the original order.
Comedies[]
- The Tempest
- The Two Gentlemen of Verona
- The Merry Wives of Windsor
- Measure for Measure
- The Comedy of Errors
- Much Ado About Nothing
- Love's Labour's Lost
- A Midsummer Night's Dream
- The Merchant of Venice
- As You Like It
- The Taming of the Shrew
- All's Well That Ends Well
- Twelfth Night
- The Winter's Tale
Histories[]
- King John
- Richard II
- Henry IV, Part 1
- Henry IV, Part 2
- Henry V
- Henry VI, Part 1
- Henry VI, Part 2
- Henry VI, Part 3
- Richard III
- Henry VIII
Tragedies[]
- Troilus and Cressida
- Coriolanus
- Titus Andronicus
- Romeo and Juliet
- Timon of Athens
- Julius Caesar
- Macbeth
- Hamlet
- King Lear
- Othello
- Anthony and Cleopatra
- Cymbeline
Publisher's summary[]
BASED ON FOLIOS IN THE FOLGER LIBRARY COLLECTION
One of the essential books of English literature and culture, the justly famous First Folio of Shakespeare's plays, a full-size photographic facsimile that has won the admiration of actors and scholars throughout the world.
When it was published in 1968, The Norton Facsimile set a new standard for scholarly accuracy. It was the first facsimile in which every page had been selected from a large number of copies in an attempt to find a clean, clear example with minimal show-through. Even more important, it offered the latest, most corrected state of pages known to vary from copy to copy because of correction at press. Finally, it introduced a standard system of reference, "through line numbering," based on the lines printed in the 1623 edition rather than on the acts, scenes, and lines of a modern edition. These improvements, the meticulous work of the great Folio scholar Charlton Hinman made possible by the extensive Folger Library Collection, established The Norton Facsimile as an indispensable volume for book collectors and serious readers of Shakespeare.
Sources[]
- Wikipedia
- Goodreads