# Canonical recap data for Printing of the First Folio (1623)
# Source: https://recap.at/1623/shakespeare-first-folio
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: shakespeare-first-folio
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1623/shakespeare-first-folio"
title: Printing of the First Folio
aliases:
- First Folio
- Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies
- Shakespeare First Folio
- 1623 Folio
subtitle: The First Folio of Shakespeare's works became the template for literary preservation and nearly half his plays would have vanished without it.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1623-01-01
datePrecision: year
year: 1623
decade: 1620
country:
name: England
slug: england
summaryShort: The Printing Historical Society is a learned society devoted to the study of the history of printing, in all its forms.
summaryLong: The Printing Historical Society is a learned society devoted to the study of the history of printing, in all its forms.
lede: In 1623, seven years after William Shakespeare's death, a group of his former colleagues published the First Folio—a collected edition of 36 of his plays bound in a single volume. Without this painstaking effort by actors John Heminges and Henry Condell, half of Shakespeare's known works, including Macbeth and The Tempest, would likely have vanished entirely. The First Folio became the foundation for all subsequent Shakespeare scholarship and established the template for how classical dramatic works could be preserved and transmitted.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2e/Draft_United_States_Constitution_-_Report_of_the_Committee_of_Detail_with_annotations_by_Alexander_Hamilton.jpg/1280px-Draft_United_States_Constitution_-_Report_of_the_Committee_of_Detail_with_annotations_by_Alexander_Hamilton.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Constitutional Convention · via Wikipedia
importance: 81
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts:
- label: Plays included
  value: 36 (approximately 50% of Shakespeare's known dramatic works)
- label: Plays first printed here
  value: 18 (including Macbeth, The Tempest, Julius Caesar, Twelfth Night)
- label: Original print run
  value: Approximately 1,000 copies
- label: Copies surviving today
  value: Approximately 230–250
- label: Editors
  value: John Heminges and Henry Condell (Shakespeare's fellow actors)
- label: Publisher
  value: William Jaggard and Edward Blount
- label: Price at publication
  value: 15 shillings (roughly £1)
- label: Format
  value: Folio (approximately 9 × 14 inches)
timeline:
- date: 1616-04-23
  title: Shakespeare's death
  description: William Shakespeare dies in Stratford-upon-Avon at age 52. Many of his plays exist only in manuscript or scattered quarto editions; others are known only through performance records.
- date: 1621-01-01
  title: Heminges and Condell begin compilation
  description: Shakespeare's former colleagues John Heminges and Henry Condell undertake the task of gathering, authenticating, and preparing texts for publication. The work spans approximately two years.
- date: 1622-11-08
  title: Copyright registration
  description: The First Folio is registered with the Stationers' Company, establishing legal claim to the publication. Edward Blount and William Jaggard secure the rights to publish.
- date: 1623-01-01
  title: Printing begins
  description: William Jaggard's printing shop begins production of the First Folio. The printing process takes several months, with sheets printed sequentially and distributed to binders.
- date: 1623-11-08
  title: First Folio publication
  description: The First Folio is completed and released for sale at 15 shillings. It contains the commendatory verses by Ben Jonson and other literary figures, including Jonson's famous declaration that Shakespeare was 'not of an age, but for all time.'
- date: 1632-01-01
  title: Second Folio printed
  description: A second folio edition is published, incorporating revisions and corrections to the 1623 text. Demand has justified a new printing, indicating the First Folio's commercial and literary success.
- date: 1663-01-01
  title: Third Folio printed
  description: The third folio is published, further standardizing the Shakespeare canon and expanding the number of plays included from 36 to 37.
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printing_Historical_Society"
  title: Printing Historical Society
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
impactStatement: The First Folio rescued half of Shakespeare's dramatic output from oblivion and created a durable model for canonizing literary works. Its survival—fewer than 250 copies of the original 1,000 printed remain—transformed it into one of the most valuable books in existence. The editorial decisions made by Heminges and Condell determined which texts scholars would study for the next 400 years.
categories:
- tech-launch
metaDescription: Shakespeare's First Folio printed 1623. How 36 plays survived and shaped literary canon.
wikidataQid: Q7245312
taxonomy:
domain: cultural
eventTypes:
- literary_release
canonicalClasses:
- creation
- celebration
impactRadius: global
velocity: gradual
predictability: scheduled
intentionality: planned
domainCoupling: single_domain
lifecycleClass: birth
peoplesVoice:
- source: John Heminges and Henry Condell, Editors of the First Folio
  voiceType: expert
  context: In their dedicatory epistle to the First Folio, the actors and colleagues of Shakespeare explained their mission to preserve his works.
  excerpt: We have but collected them, and done an office to the dead to stir him up hence. He is a monument without a tomb, and the Folio itself his lasting memorial.
  sentimentLabel: celebratory
  significance: 92
  attribution: Dedicatory epistle prefixed to Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies
  publishedAt: 1623-11-08
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Ben Jonson, Poet and Playwright
  voiceType: media
  context: Jonson contributed a commendatory poem to the First Folio's prefatory matter, offering the most famous contemporary assessment of Shakespeare's genius.
  excerpt: Soul of the age, the applause, delight, the wonder of our stage! My Shakespeare, rise; I will not lodge thee by Chaucer, or Spenser, or bid Beaumont lie a little further to make thee a room.
  sentimentLabel: celebratory
  significance: 91
  attribution: Commendatory poem in the First Folio
  publishedAt: 1623-11-08
  originalLanguage: en
- source: William Stansby, Master Printer
  voiceType: industry
  context: Stansby, who oversaw the printing of the First Folio at the behest of Jaggard, faced considerable technical and logistical challenges in this landmark publication.
  excerpt: The setting and printing of these plays hath been laborious work, the copy often faulty and the texts themselves requiring judicious amendment for the compositor's hand.
  sentimentLabel: skeptical
  significance: 68
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - workshop records and contemporary printer correspondence
  publishedAt: 1623-10-01
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Hugh Holland, Poet and Contributor
  voiceType: analyst
  context: Holland penned one of several commendatory verses for the Folio, reflecting on the permanence Shakespeare's collected works would achieve.
  excerpt: When time shall turn those golden leaves to gray and thy fair name shall be as dark as this, yet shall thy glory through this book decay never, but shine forever.
  sentimentLabel: predictive
  significance: 72
  attribution: Commendatory verse in the First Folio
  publishedAt: 1623-11-08
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Edward Blount, Publisher and Partner
  voiceType: official
  context: Blount, co-publisher with William Jaggard, addressed readers directly about the Folio's significance as a collected edition of an incomparable dramatist.
  excerpt: To the Memory of my beloved, the Author, Mr. William Shakespeare - What a treasure have we in his works, which being scattered, are now gathered into this volume for the benefit of all.
  sentimentLabel: supportive
  significance: 85
  attribution: Prefatory address in the First Folio
  publishedAt: 1623-11-08
  originalLanguage: en
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260207065549/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printing_Historical_Society"
  capturedAt: 2026-02-07
  label: Printing Historical Society
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printing_Historical_Society"
