Special Collections Selection: The First Folio of Shakespeare

Author: 
William Shakespeare
Publication Information: 
New York, W. W. Norton, 1968
Location: 
Special Collections Rare Book Collection Oversize
Call Number: 
PR2751 .A15 1968
September, 2011

ShakespeareThe Norton Facsimile

The First Folio of Shakespeare

Prepared by Charlton Hinman

This book seems very simple at first glance, photocopies of plays of Shakespeare, the original pages printed in 1623. 

However, the scholarly endeavor to put this book together included comparing 80 copies of the First Folio to find the clearest and most corrected pages available.

Hinman CollatorCharlton Hinman invented the Hinman Collator to compare pages from original First Folios.  Using the collator, two pages are superimposed so that differences are evident.

Now you can see this wonderful replica of the text that Shakespeare's contemporaries were reading, here in Special Collections, Western Libraries.

~Peter Smith, Special Collections Librarian

Hinman, Charlton in The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare, an online book available through Western Libraries.

The Printing and Proof-Reading of the First Folio of Shakespeare, by Charlton Hinman, available in the main collection.

Hinman Collator article in the Wikipedia.

What is a First Folio, and Why is it important?  From the Folger Shakespeare Library website.