The First Folio at 400

Also: The rise of paganism, why kids can’t read, why everything looks the same, and more.

First Folio in the Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, DC. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

This year marks the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s First Folio, as it is called (the actual title is Mr. William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies), which was published in 1623, seven years after his death. It collected 36 plays, which were selected and prepared for publication by his friends, John Heminges and Henry Condell. Many of Shakespeare’s plays had been previously printed in quarto (a quarto is made from a full sheet of paper folded twice), but these were pirated from live performances (written down by viewers or actors in the play) or reconstructed from Shakespeare’s drafts, and therefore of a lesser quality than the plays printed in folio. (You can view and compare all remaining 107 quartos here.)