The Norton Facsimile of the First Folio of Shakespeare: Based on Folios in the Folger Library Collection (Facsimile Series) - Hardcover

William Shakespeare; Charlton Hinman; Peter W. M. Blayney

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0393039854 ISBN 13: 9780393039856

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 1996

Synopsis

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.

About this title

Synopsis:

This is a full-size, photographic facsimile of Shakespeare's First Folio. The First Folio was printed over a period of two years. Proofs were read and corrections were made as the printing proceeded. The uncorrected sheets were mixed in with the corrected ones, with the result that no extant Folio, of which there are approximately 230, shows the finally corrected state of every page, and no two Folios are identical. This edition shows pages from 29 of the most satisfactory copies of the 80 in the Folger Shakespeare Library. The introduction discusses the "authority" of the Folio version of each of the plays, explaining the principles and problems involved in the printing of the Folio, and the preparation of this facsimile edition. The appendix shows the "before and after" states of representative pages, and two original proof sheets. Peter Blayney, in his introduction, reconsiders Professor Hinman's findings in the light of new scholarship, as well as fresh discoveries about the First Folio in 1623. He concludes with a table identifying the order in which plays were set and the original compositors believed to have set each page.

This facsimile edition also gives the Globe act-scene-line numbers for the first and last lines of the page. The book is slip-cased, with a ribbon marker.

About the Author:

The late Charlton Hinman was the editor of the Shakespeare Quarto Facsimiles and professor of English at the University of Kansas.

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0393039854
• ISBN 13: 9780393039856
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 968