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Primary sourceBook1623

First Folio

William Shakespeare · 1623

The 1623 collected edition of Shakespeare's plays, compiled by his fellow actors after his death, which preserved 18 plays that might otherwise have been lost.

This posthumous collection preserved Shakespeare's plays, making it the foundation of his entire surviving body of work.

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Title page of the First Folio of Shakespeare's plays. Large text reads 'Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies' and 'Published according to the True Originall Copies.' Below is an engraved portrait of a balding man with a moustache and a large white collar. At the bottom: 'London, Printed by Isaac Jaggard, and Ed. Blount. 1623.'
Title page of the First Folio of William Shakespeare's plays, printed by Isaac Jaggard and Ed. Blount, London, 1623.

About this source

What it is

This is the First Folio, a large printed book published in 1623 containing 36 of William Shakespeare's plays. It was put together by his fellow actors John Heminges and Henry Condell, seven years after Shakespeare died, and printed by Isaac Jaggard and Ed Blount in London. Copies survive today in libraries such as the Bodleian.

Why it matters

Without this book, 18 of Shakespeare's plays—including Macbeth and The Tempest—might never have survived, since they had not been printed before. The book also carries the famous Droeshout engraved portrait and a poem of tribute by Ben Jonson, shaping how later generations have imagined Shakespeare.

Look closer

  • Why might Shakespeare's colleagues have felt it was important to publish his plays after his death?
  • What does the portrait on the title page tell us, and what does it leave out?
  • How might a play change between being performed on stage and being printed in a book?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of William Shakespeare on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Pencil or ink profile drawing on tan paper, facing left, of a man with a bald crown, long wavy hair at the back and sides, a beard, and a plain collared garment. Thin border lines frame the sheet.Painting

Secondary source

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William Shakespeare engraving by John Henry Robinson

John Henry Robinson · 30 November 1827

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Ten Lectures on Shakespeare

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Macbeth

William Shakespeare · c. 1606

Engraved portrait of a man with receding hair, curly locks, a short beard and moustache, and a plain open-necked white collar. Below the image is a handwritten-style caption reading 'From Mr Ozias Humphry's Drawing of the Chandos Picture made for the late Mr Malone in the Year 1783', with the signature 'A. Weger sculp.' above it.Painting

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William Shakespeare engraving after Ozias Humphry's drawing

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