William Shakespeare First Folio
Originally published 1632;
Facsimile edition 1909
Following William Shakespeare’s death in 1616, John Hemmings and Henry Condell, both members of Shakespeare's acting company, the King's Players, sorted through the numerous versions of his plays circulating at the time to compile the first collected edition of Shakespeare’s plays. Known as the First Folio, it was published in 1623, containing 36 plays in 900 pages. It remains the only known source for 18 of Shakespeare’s plays, including Macbeth, The Tempest and Twelfth Night. Three later versions of the folio were published, each different due to typographical variation and errors, editorial changes and the particular printing process used.
The Second Folio was published in 1632. The facsimile seen here was printed in London in 1909.
Four in one
The Mitchell is the only library in Australia to hold copies of all four Shakespeare folios. The First Folio was donated to the Library in 1885 by the English philanthropist Sir Richard Tangye. Contained in a beautifully carved casket made from oak said to have grown in the forest of Arden, near Shakespeare’s home town, it is the only First Folio in Australia. Sir Richard, a successful English engineer whose company had offices in Sydney, visited Australia in the early 1880s. During his time in Sydney, he met the Public Library’s then principal librarian, Robert Walker, who impressed him with his civility and helpfulness. Sir Richard later decided to present a copy of the First Folio to the Library as a mark of his respect for the institution. This copy of the First Folio cost £750; its ‘celebrated casket’ apparently cost more!*
The Library’s copy of the Second Folio originally belonged to the actress Essie Jenyns, a popular Australian actress in the 1880s. It was presented to her by four admirers while she was performing in Hobart in 1887; three of their four signatures recorded in the front of the volume are illegible. The fourth is that of Robert Wood, whom Essie Jenyns married when she retired from the stage the following year. Jenyns later presented the folio to the Art Gallery of NSW (then called the National Gallery of NSW). It was later transferred to the Mitchell Library.
The Third Folio was published in 1664 by Philip Chetwynde. Few copies of The Third Folio survive as many were destroyed in the great fire of London in 1666. The Fourth Folio was purchased by the Library's great benefactor David Scott Mitchell, who bequeathed it to the Library with the rest of his collection.
Footnotes
* Australian Town and Country Journal, 4 July 1885, p 19; Sydney Morning Herald, 23 April 1923, p 10
A fair likeness
All four folios feature a portrait of Shakespeare made from an engraving by Martin Droeshout. As Martin Droeshout was only 15 years old when Shakespeare died, it seems unlikely that Shakespeare sat for this portrait. Droeshout must have based his engraving on a description of Shakespeare written by his friend Ben Johnson and possibly a painting or drawing of Shakespeare as a young man. Either way, the fact that that the two actors who compiled the First Folio knew Shakespeare personally lends weight to the assertion that this is a fair likeness.
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