e Shakespeare First Folios
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Th e Shakespeare First Folios
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Th e Shakespeare First Folios
A Descriptive Catalogue
edited byEric RasmussenProfessor of English, University of Nevada, USA
and
Anthony James WestHonorary Research Fellow, University College London, UK
with
Donald L. Bailey, Mark Farnsworth, Lara Hansen, Trey Jansen, and Sarah Stewart
© Eric Rasmussen and Anthony James West 2012
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission.
No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS.
Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The authors have asserted their right to be identifi ed as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2012 byPALGRAVE MACMILLAN
Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 121 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12
ISBN 978-1-349-59786-4 ISBN 978-0-230-36034-1 (eBook)DOI 10.1007/978-0-230-36034-1
We dedicate this book to our wives, Victoria Hines and Serena Patience West
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vii
Preface by Paul Werstine viiiAcknowledgements ixIntroduction xiUser’s Guide xvAbbreviations xixShort Titles xx
CATALOGUE OF FIRST FOLIOS WORLDWIDE 1
Addendum 1 to the Catalogue: 52 Sutro Library, California State Library 858Addendum 2 to the Catalogue: Unfound, Untraced, and Destroyed Copies 866 Copies in Lee, Census, and Lee, 1906, at Present Unfound 866 Other Unfound Copies 866 Copies in Lee, Census, ‘Untraced’ (and Still Untraced) 867 Copies in Lee, Census, Destroyed 867
Annexe 1: A Summary Catalogue 868Annexe 2: Concordance of West/Lee Numbers 873
Appendix 1: Press Variants in the First Folio 875Appendix 2: First Folio Watermarks Inventory 883
Manuscripts and Works Cited 891Index of First Folio Owners 909Index 919
Contents
viii
It is an honour to be asked to write a preface to such a remarkable work of scholarship as Th e Shakespeare First Folios: A Descriptive Catalogue. One cannot yet imagine the many uses to which succeeding generations will put its store of information about each known and accessible copy of the Shakespeare First Folio, or Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. Published according to the True Originall Copies, of 1623. Th is catalogue celebrates the 1623 Folio by making each of its copies the object of the most meticulous description. Anthony James West and Eric Rasmussen, the Catalogue’s creators, thereby take their place beside Charlton J. K. Hinman, whose two-volume Th e Printing and Proof-Reading of the First Folio of Shakespeare (Oxford: Clarendon, 1963), another celebration of the 1623 collection, was the most detailed account of the printing of a book yet accomplished.
Having examined each accessible copy worldwide in situ, West and Rasmussen are able to describe all leaves of all extant volumes (recording their condition, losses and replacements, annotations, and watermarks), as well as providing descriptions of each copy’s binding and lively narratives about previous owners. Th is new information adds hugely to what we know about the history of the First Folio, an important goal of the First Folio Project.
As an editor and reader of Shakespeare, I am particularly grateful to West and Rasmussen for bringing us closer to the words that Shakespeare wrote, however impossible it may be ever to attain that long-desired objective. A contribution that I would single out as their greatest gift to Shakespeareans is their signifi cant expansion of our knowledge of the extent to which press correctors have interposed themselves between manuscript printer’s copy (whether in Shakespeare’s handwriting or another’s) and the early printed texts of the plays. We have understood for some time that such knowledge would remain limited until every copy of the early printed texts had been examined and every variation in printing had been found and recorded. Th e present study of all the known and accessible copies of the First Folio takes us far down the road toward achieving such a goal because, among the early printed texts, the Folio looms so large, containing within its pages the fi rst printing of about half of playtexts we read as Shakespeare’s.
Research has shown that uncorrected sheets are often very few in comparison to the (mis)corrected ones, and it has been almost impossible to fi nd and identify the uncorrected copies of sheets that display press variants. Only by examining all the known accessible copies of the First Folio, as West, Rasmussen and their team have done, could we be sure that we have recovered as many as possible of the uncorrected states of its sheets. Now that this monumental labour is complete, editors can provide Shakespeare’s readers with editions of the Folio plays based on fully informed decisions about which printed variant has the highest probability of refl ecting the manuscript from which the text was printed. Th anks to West and Rasmussen, we are closer to achieving the goal expressed by Shakespeare’s fellow actors John Heminge and Henry Condell in their preface to the First Folio: ‘To the great Variety of Readers’ – the goal of off ering readers Shakespeare’s plays ‘cur’d, and perfect of their limbes …, as he [Shakespeare] conceiued them’.
Paul Werstine
Preface
ix
Acknowledgements
Th e editors wish to acknowledge with gratitude the assistance and support of an infi nite variety of friends, colleagues, librarians, archivists, and owners: Hardin Aasand, Bob Allison, John F. Anderies, Anna Lou Ashby, Nicolas Barker, William P. Barlow, Jr., Timothy Barrett, Michael Basinski, Jonathan Bate, Harold Batie, Peter Beal, Terru Belanger, Abel Berland, Cynthia Becht, Charles Benson, Michael Best, David Bevington, Tom Bishop, Lois Black, Julia Blakely, Peter W. M. Blayney, Anthony Bliss, Simon Blundell, Phil Boardman, Rachel Bond, Charles Cutter Brandeis, Janice Braun, Alvan Bregman, Susan Brock, Scott P. Brown, Doug Bruster, John A. Buchtel, Sam Burridge, Joanna Byles, Suzanne Callaghan, Rebecca Cape, Jane Carr, Roger Chartier, Christopher Clarkson, Nick Clary, Helen Clish, Chris Coake, Melissa Cook, David Corson, Michael Crump, Tracey Dando, Geoff rey Day, LuEllen DeHaven, Jo Ellen McKillop Dickie, Mark Diminution, Ann Morgan Dodge, Rachel Doggett, Peter Donaldson, Ian A. Doyle, Katherine Duncan-Jones, Inge Dupont, Lars Engle, Elizabeth Ennion, Stephen Enniss, Philip Errington, Arthur Evenchik, Sherry Farnsworth, Donald Farren, Lynne Farrington, David Fenimore, Christine Ferguson, Steve Ferguson, Christine Finn, Erin Fockler, Harold Forbes, Margaret Ford, David K. Frasier, Eric Frazier, Arthur Freeman, Janet Ing Freeman, Elizabeth E. Fuller, Wayne Furman, Steven Galbraith, Valerie Gillispie, Moira Goff , Warwick Gould, Jan Graffi us, Anthony Grafton, Stephen Grant, Genie Guerard, Werner Gundersheimer, Anette I. Hagan, Carter Hailey, Wayne Hammond, Marianne Hansen, James Harmer, Kate Harris, Sarah Hartwell, Christianne Henry, Richard High, Brian Hillyard, Sheila Hingley, Pam Hines, Vicky Hines, Th eodore Hoff man, Ernst Hongimann, Valerie Hotchkiss, Trevor Howard-Hill, Rachel Howarth, Marvin Hunt, Clive Hurst, Scott Jacobs, Mary Kay Johnsen, Peter Jones, Stephen C. Jones, Lucy Kamenova, Bob Karrow, David Scott Kastan, Paula Kennedy, Arthur Kinney, Bernice W. Kliman, Jamie P. Kohler, Jim Kuhn, Richard Kuhta, Th omas Lamb, Rosalind Larry, Daniel Larsen, Caryn Lazzuri, Ad Lerrintveld, Robert Lerner, Michelle Light, Karen Limper-Herz, Richard Linenthal, Katharine Liu, Willilam H. Loos, Stephan Loewentheil, Robert MacLean, Brian Maggs, Giles Mandelbrote, James Mardock, Philippa Marks, Sonia Massai, Stephen Massey, David McKitterick, Gordon McMullan, Ralph Maud, James Maynard, Andrea Mays, Renate Mesmer, Sylviane Messerli, Emilie Meyer, Rick Michaelson, Robert G. Minte, Maria Isabel Molestina, Th omas J. Morrissey, Frank Mowery, Barbara Mowett, Andrew Murphy, Paul Needham, Rupert Neelands, Mitsuo Nitta, William Noel, Erica Nordheimer, Lord Northhampton, Nancy Nuzzo, Stephen Orgel, Harold Otness, Ricard Ovenden, Susan Palmer, Marilyn Palmeri, Susan Park, Stephen Parks, Gail Kern Paster, Maggie Patton, David Pearson, Carl Peterson, Dee Anna Phares, Amy Pickard, Oliver Pickering, J. R. Piggot, Karma Pippin, Maggie Pogue, Nicholas Poole-Wilson, John Powell, Sue Povey, Georgia Prince, Marian J. Pringle, Roger Pringle, Lavinia Prosdocimi, Richard Proudfoot, Julie Ramwell, Arden Rasmussen, Tristan Rasmussen, Katherine Reagan, Margaret Richards, Richard Ring, John Martin Robinson, Traci Robison, Sara Rodgers, Amanda Saville, Jennifer Schaff ner, Michaela Scheibe, Camille Seerattan, Peter Selley, James Shapiro, Joel Silver, Giselle Simon, Jonathan Smith, Nicholas Smith, Steven
Escar Smith, Vickie Smith-Barrios, William Spawn, Peter Stallybrass, Tiff any Stern, Roger Stoddard, Janet H. Stuckey, Noriko Sumimoto, Suzy Taraba, Stephen Tabor, Margaret Tufts Tenney, Steve Urkowitz, Anthony T. Vaver, Kees Verduin, Helen Vincent, Emily Walhout, Stuart Walker, Elizabeth Walsh, Julia Walworth, Bill Ware, Sean Warren, Stanley Wells, Andre Welters, Paul Werstine, Francis Whistler, Martha Whitaker, Bruce Whiteman, Martin Wiggins, Ian Willison, John Winebarger, Andreas Wittenberg, John Wolfson, Henry Woudhuysen, Bridget Wright, Georgianna Ziegler, Roberta Zonghi, Eberhard Zwink.
Research for this volume undertaken by Anthony James West was partially funded by a Small Research Grant from the British Academy and a Short-term Fellowship from the Folger Shakespeare Library.
x Acknowledgements
xi
this catalogue
Th e Catalogue contains full bibliographical descriptions of all accessible copies of the Shakespeare First Folio in the world. Like the Census of First Folios (2003), it is organized geographically, and it uses the same copy numbers. Th e scope and purpose of this volume were conceived in the 1990s and presented in Th e Library in 1999. Th e format and content of the copy descriptions are based on ‘Th e Model’ in Th e Library article, refi ned according to experience.1
Recorded in the Catalogue for the fi rst time, for each copy, are page-by-page details of the following: Condition of each leaf (fi rst noting damage and repairs aff ecting the text, followed by those not aff ecting the text), Replacement Leaves (original leaves from another First Folio, leaves from the Second Folio, and printed or manuscript facsimile leaves), Transcriptions of Annotations, Autographs, Bookplates, Coats of Arms, Press Variants, Watermarks, Associated Documents, References to the copy, Details of Provenance and a List of Owners, Conservation Treatment if available, and Binding. Because the Sidney Lee Census of First Folios (1902)2 is very often diffi cult to access, even by research libraries (it was a limited edition), we have included Lee’s records (both from the 1902 Census and from subsequent Lee publications) in the Provenance section.
Th e descriptions have 17 constituent sections, the scope and content of which are described in the ‘User’s Guide’ which immediately follows this Introduction.
How does the Catalogue diff er from West’s 2003 Census? Th e Census does not give full bibliographical descriptions and was based on detailed examination of only a limited selection of First Folios. Intended as a precursor to this descriptive Catalogue, it recounts the search for copies, deals with doubtful identifi cations, defi nes a ‘copy’, records 228 copies, gives brief copy descriptions (less than a page each, on average), lists references to unidentifi ed First Folios and to fragments, and gives listings of Owners, Auctioneers and Booksellers, and Binders. Not all of the information provided in the Census appears in this volume; users should consult the Census if they do not fi nd here the details they need.
Th ere are now 232 numbered copies of the First Folio. With exceptions, all of these have been examined page-by-page in situ, in most cases more than once. Th e exceptions are some private copies to which we could not gain access and some copies whose locations are not yet known; for these we have given what information we could fi nd. Th e Catalogue takes account of discoveries and changes that have occurred since the publication of the Census: change of ownership (West 27, 33, 44, 145, 217), location of a missing copy (West 220), appearance and identifi cation of a missing copy (West 231), discovery or appearance of an unrecorded copy (copies 224, 229, 230), inclusion of a copy omitted from the Census (West 232), and recovery of a stolen copy (West 7).
1 Anthony James West, ‘A Model for Describing Shakespeare First Folios, With Descriptions of Selected Copies’, Th e Library, 6/21 (1999), 1–49; Th e Shakespeare First Folio: Th e History of the Book, Volume II: A New Worldwide Census of First Folios (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2003).
2 Sidney Lee, Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: A Census of Extant Copies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1902).
Introduction
For completeness, the Catalogue includes an Addendum with copies recorded in Lee’s 1902 Census or Lee, 1906, which have not been found; other unfound copies; copies recorded in Lee’s Census as ‘Untraced’ that are still Untraced (because of the low likelihood of these turning up, they were not given copy numbers in West Census), and two copies in Lee’s Census (plus one other) recorded as ‘Destroyed’.3
the development of the catalogueTh is Catalogue springs from the editors’ belief that, like the texts of Shakespeare’s plays, the cumulative history of the Shakespeare First Folio since 1623 is boundlessly fascinating and worthy of continuing study.
Anthony James West’s role has been to conceptualize the project, write two precursor volumes and related articles, conceive the shape and content of the present volume, contribute his First Folio knowledge and experience to research and development, and review the text. Eric Rasmussen’s role has been to organize, manage, and advise the team of researchers that the project required, marshal the research fi ndings, and draft the descriptions. At the time Rasmussen agreed to collaborate on this project he was also invited to co-edit, with Professor Jonathan Bate, the Royal Shakespeare Company’s edition of the Complete Works.4 Th e RSC Complete Works is a First Folio-based text, and it seems appropriate that its publication should be followed by this Catalogue of the Folios themselves.
the benefits to users
Th is volume is intended to meet the needs of Shakespeareans in general, book and social historians, textual scholars, editors, drama specialists, bibliographers, book collectors, antiquarian book specialists, auctioneers and booksellers, book trade specialists, librarians, book conservators, and those interested in paper, manuscript, annotations, autographs, coats of arms, bookplates, and bindings.
Stemming from the French l’Histoire du Livre, ‘the history of the book’ has burgeoned as a fi eld of study during the past quarter-century, with new revelations in England, America, France, and elsewhere. But despite the intense scholarly attention to the First Folio, little has been written before the present project on its history since it left the press in 1623. Th e information gathered in this volume, it is hoped, will be a resource for further work. For the social historian and the book historian, for example, the Catalogue’s details about ownership will be especially valuable. Th e records in the Folio of autographs (from William Congreve to George Steevens) and marginalia (including copies marked up for performance and editing, and with reader response over nearly four centuries) will open up new avenues of study. Th e records of bookplates, armorial stamps, watermarks, and bindings will contribute to studies in those specialized fi elds.
An editor preparing a new edition of a Shakespeare play must consult the earliest text of the play. For half of the plays, this is the First Folio. Although there are many facsimile editions, these have all been through a reproduction process that aff ects the text: in fact, some are very unreliable. Th erefore, an original must be consulted. Which copy or copies is a diffi cult choice, however, for few are complete and all have suff ered some damage. Most have missing leaves, frequently replaced with manuscript or printed facsimiles or leaves
3 Sidney Lee, Notes & Additions to the Census of Copies of the Shakespeare First Folio (reprinted from Th e Library, April 1906, and revised to 24 May 1906) (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1906).
4 Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen, eds, Th e RSC Shakespeare: William Shakespeare Complete Works (London: Palgrave Macmillan; New York: Modern Library, 2007), Preface, p. vii. Bate makes the case for a Folio-based text in his General Introduction to the Complete Works and at greater length (some 70 pages) in ‘Th e Case for the First Folio’ (2007) on the edition’s website.
xii Introduction
from the Second Folio (both often diffi cult to distinguish from an original). Th e Catalogue, in addition to providing the location of each volume, records missing leaves, describes the precise condition of all leaves present, and identifi es text that has been lost or obscured.
It is also a fundamental tenet of scholarly editing that the text of an early printed edition can only be reliably established by collating every extant copy of that edition. With the First Folio, as the editors of the Oxford Shakespeare observed, ‘less than a quarter of the known surviving copies of the Folio have been checked’.5 Th is volume makes a signifi cant contribution to Shakespeare textual studies by providing, for the fi rst time, a complete record of press variants in all accessible volumes.
Innumerable biographies of Shakespeare have been written, the performance history of plays has been traced in considerable detail, and manifold studies have been made of the Folio’s pre-publication history. But little has been off ered on the relationship of the First Folio’s post-publication history to Shakespeare’s reception and recognition over the centuries. With the accumulated data in this volume – for example, on provenance, annotations, and bindings – much that is new can be added to the story of Shakespeare’s afterlife.
Th e existence of full descriptions will, we hope, discourage First Folio theft and will certainly aid recovery in the event of theft. Th e First Folio has high monetary value (the record price is $6 million) and, accordingly, is appealing to thieves. Th e recovery of the Williams College (Massachusetts) copy, stolen in 1940, was aided by the detailed description written by the bibliographer William Jackson. Recently, the record in West’s First Folio Census of all known copy-specifi c data on the University of Durham copy, stolen in 1998, enabled its identifi cation when it surfaced in 2008. Further, it was the means for proving Durham University’s claim of ownership in the subsequent court case.
continued focus on the first folio
Although the First Folio was the most studied of all books in the twentieth century,6 it may well receive even more attention in the twenty-fi rst. Th e appearance of the stolen Durham Folio (West 7) in 2008 led to intensive study of this one copy, by both American and British scholars, to prove its identity, ensure its return to the University of Durham, and help convict the accused. As this volume goes to press, the Folger is planning a First Folio exhibition, Fame, Fortune, and Th eft, to be held in the summer of 2011. In association with the exhibition, the Folger is publishing a book of essays, Foliomania: Stories Behind Shakespeare’s Most Important Book.
the project team
Th e scope of this project required extensive travel over a seven-year period in order for members of the project team to examine individual copies of the First Folio worldwide in situ. We should like to acknowledge the invaluable contribution made by the research team, and to record the copies examined by each member.
Donald L. Bailey: Queen’s College Oxford, University of California Berkeley, University of California Irvine, University of California Los Angeles, Sutro Library, Folger Shakespeare Library, Georgetown University, Library of Congress, Newberry Library, University of Illinois, Indiana University, Johns Hopkins University, Walters Art Gallery, Harvard University, Columbia University, Pierpont Morgan Library, Free Library of Philadelphia,
5 Stanley Wells and Gary Taylor, William Shakespeare: A Textual Companion (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987), p. 47.
6 Anthony James West, Th e Shakespeare First Folio: Th e History of the Book, Volume I: An Account of the First Folio Based on its Sales and Prices, 1623–2001 (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2001), pp. 41–43.
Introduction xiii
University of Texas, Konan Women’s University Kobe Japan, Foreign Studies University Kyoto Japan, Meisei University.
Mark Farnsworth: Folger Shakespeare Library, Georgetown University, Library of Congress, Johns Hopkins University, Walters Art Gallery.
Lara Hansen: Eton College, British Library, Dulwich College, Reform Club, Sir John Soane’s Museum, University of London, Victoria and Albert Museum, Bodleian Library, Queen’s College Oxford, Th e Shakespeare Centre, University of California Irvine, UCLA, Loyola Marymount University, Mills College, Sutro Library, Huntington Library, Wesleyan University, Yale University, Folger Shakespeare Library, Georgetown University, Newberry Library, University of Illinois, Indiana University, Walters Art Gallery, Boston Public Library, Harvard University, Brandeis University, Williams College, University of Nebraska, Dartmouth College, Princeton University, State University of New York at Buff alo, Colgate University, Cornell University, New York Public Library, Miami University, Lehigh University, Bryn Mawr College, Haverford College, Free Library of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, Carnegie Mellon University, West Chester University, Brown University, West Virginia University.
Trey Jansen: Folger Shakespeare Library, Dallas Public Library, Konan Women’s University Kobe Japan, Foreign Studies University Kyoto Japan, Meisei University.
Sarah Stewart: Arundel Castle, Birmingham Shakespeare Library, King’s College Cambridge, Trinity College Cambridge, Cambridge University Library, University of Durham, National Library of Scotland, Glasgow University Library, British Library, Guildhall Library, University of London, Victoria and Albert Museum, Th e Marquess of Bath, John Rylands Library, Bodleian Library, Sir Paul Getty, Wadham College Oxford, Stonyhurst College, Th e Shakespeare Centre, Th e Marquess of Northampton, Winchester College, Windsor Castle, Trinity College Dublin, University of California Berkeley, Folger Shakespeare Library, Bibliothèque Nationale Paris, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Cologne, Stuttgart, Biblioteca Universitaria Padua, Bibliotheca Bodmeriana (Cologny-Geneva).
Professor Eric RasmussenChair and Professor, Department of English
University of Nevada
Dr Anthony James WestHonorary Research Fellow, University College London
Senior Research Fellow, Institute of English Studies, School of Advanced Study University of London
xiv Introduction
xv
Th is Catalogue contains full bibliographical descriptions of all accessible extant copies of the Shakespeare First Folio worldwide. Th ese descriptions have 17 constituent sections:
current owner’s name and address1
shelf-mark or call number
history
Th is section details the unique story that each copy of the First Folio has to tell. Th e contents are determined by the history of the individual volume, but the topics covered may include prominent owners, distinctive condition information, interesting annotations, and other singular aspects of the copy. One of its purposes is to help a reader to identify a particular volume or to fi nd a volume with a particular or unusual characteristic.
provenance
Th is section begins by quoting the relevant information on the history of the copy as it was recorded over a century ago in Sidney Lee’s Census of 1902, or in his subsequent addenda in 1906 and 1924. We then record all indications in the copy of its provenance: book plates, signatures, stamps, coats of arms, and dates. We supplement internal evidence of provenance with external evidence from such sources as auction and bookseller catalogues, biographies of collectors, and descriptions of collections. Ownership of Second, Th ird, and Fourth Folios is noted at the end of this section if applicable; if an institution holds multiple First Folios, the information on other Folios owned will appear with the fi rst First Folio listed.
owners
Th is section lists the known owners of the copy in chronological order, including their dates and important titles/positions when applicable. Th e dates refer to the life of the owner if it is an individual, but to the dates of ownership when referring to an institution or group. We generally do not include booksellers in the list of owners (even though a copy may have been technically owned by them for a short period of time). Th ree exceptions to this general rule are J.O. Halliwell-Phillipps, A.S.W. Rosenbach, and James Toovey, all of whom were both
User’s Guide
1 In order to protect owners of privately-held copies, their individual requirements for security or privacy take precedence over other considerations (such as the scholarly world’s desire to have the addresses of all known copies). Accordingly, private owners were given the option of choosing the mode of recording their copy in the Catalogue from among the following: (1) standard identifi cation (name and address of owner); (2) name of owner/no address; placement of copy in the Catalogue according to city/town or (with no city or town mentioned) at the end of the appropriate geographic section; (3) no owner’s name/no address; placement of the copy in the Catalogue according to city/town or (with no city or town mentioned) at the end of the appropriate geographic section; (4) if the placement of the copy in the Catalogue under options (2) or (3) renders its location too easily identifi able, then placement in the Catalogue according to the most local geographic unit to which the owner agrees; (5) no indication whatsoever concerning ownership or location; placement in the Catalogue in an Anonymous section, with no geographic association (no owner chose this fi nal option). Privately-owned copies are marked with an asterisk.
collectors and dealers. Th ose three will be listed as owners unless they were acting as an agent for another buyer or clearly purchasing a Folio for immediate resale. Although Henry Clay Folger died in 1930, the Folger Shakespeare Library did not open until 1932, so there is a slight gap in ownership of the Folger copies.
associated documents
Th is section records any loose papers associated with a particular copy. Th ey may be written by someone uniquely informed (such as an owner) or an expert (such as a conservator). Th ey usually contain valuable information on provenance, as well as on other subjects such as binding or repairs. A summary of their content is included in this section if it is of bibliographical signifi cance or interest. Some archives, such as the Folger Shakespeare Library, preserve such documents in fi les for each Folio.
references
Th is section gives references to places in which the copy has been mentioned or discussed. Examples include library and exhibition catalogues, and biographies. Occasionally, there are formal descriptions of a particular copy: for example, West 150 (Boston Public Library) and West 196 (Cologne).
conservation
We provide information when available about any conservation treatments that the copy has undergone, including, where possible, name of the conservator and the date of the work, the nature of the repairs, the materials used, whether the leaves have been cleaned by bleaching or some other means, and whether the leaves were pressed.
binding
Many First Folio bindings, through their quality and style, proudly complement their contents, while others are plain or missing. Binding descriptions provide information on the current binding, including covering material, measurements, board thickness, sewing, headbands, edge treatment (note that in these descriptions ‘All edges gilt’ refers to the edges of the leaves, not the edges of the bindings), end-papers, closures (if any), design, text embossed on the binding, damage to and condition of the binding, and housing (for example, boxed). Where possible, we off er historical information on the binding including the binder, the date of the binding, and previous bindings.
About half of Folger First Folios are housed in a special box, called a ‘phase box’, which has multiple fl aps that fold over – as contrasted with a solander or clamshell housing. Th e ‘Folger phase box’, designed by the Folger Conservation Laboratory, is a three-lap housing with a ribbon and velcro closure, generally colour-matched to the binding. Importantly, it leaves the spine visible. (Frank Mowery provided detailed binding descriptions for all Folger copies, for which the editors would like to record their gratitude.)
original leaves present and missing leaves
Th is section records the relative completeness of the copy by noting the presence or absence of genuine First Folio leaves, including the percentage of original text leaves present (100 = 445 leaves). Percentage calculations are rounded to the nearest whole number, except for copies with between 99.5 and 100 original leaves, where a ‘+’ sign is added (for example, ‘99+’). If any signifi cant portion of the leaf is present, it is not considered missing. For example, many title pages (‘πA1+1’) are made up with the text and portrait coming from diff erent sources. If either the text or the portrait is from a First Folio, the leaf is considered
xvi User’s Guide
present. Leaves listed as missing may be absent or replaced by a facsimile leaf or a leaf from another source, such as a Second Folio or other edition. Th e ‘Repairs and Damage Aff ecting Text’ section provides further information if the leaf has been replaced.
condition: binder’s leaves
Th is section provides information concerning any leaves that have been added by bookbinders and were therefore not part of the original Folio. We distinguish between Pre-Original Leaves (binder’s leaves that precede the text of the Folio) and Post-Original Leaves (binder’s leaves which follow the Folio text). Th ese binder’s leaves were convenient places for manuscript annotations and bookplates; as such, they often provide background on the provenance of the copy and the thoughts of its owners and users. Th e end-papers at the beginning and end of the volume refer to the pastedown attached to the boards and its conjugate fl y-leaf, the free end-paper. Since there is no set number of leaves in these sections, they are simply numbered in order (fi rst, second, etc.) and emboldened; the numbers assigned to binder’s leaves are exclusive of the end-papers.
condition: preliminaries
We note the presence or absence of each of the nine original preliminary leaves – as well as their order, which varies. Th ese – especially the fi rst two, Ben Jonson’s verses and the title-page with the iconic copperplate portrait of Shakespeare – have always been important to collectors, sometimes fanatically so. We give special attention to their condition (for example, noting the state of the portrait).
condition: text
We provide precise measurements of the height and width of the fi rst page of Th e Tempest (signature A1). If signature A1 is wanting, unrepresentative, or damaged, measurements are provided of another representative leaf. Th e vertical measurement is taken at the centre rule; the horizontal measurement is taken at the top edge, from the centre of the fore-edge to the point where the paper meets the binding, that is, normally at the binder’s headband.
manuscript annotations
Th is section records the presence of all manuscript annotations in a copy, including autographs, underlining, marginal manicules (cartoon pointing hands), markings, and doodles, along with their relative position on the page. Where practical, we have transcribed the handwritten material, recorded the colour of the ink, and given some indication of the age of the hand. Some copies contain extensive editorial notes or comparisons between the First Folio and other texts. Although washing and trimming often removes manuscript notes, we have endeavoured to recapture the annotation as fully as possible. When the annotation refers to the printed text, we have quoted the text for context; when the manuscript insertion is intended to replace a word from the printed text, we have provided both.
repairs and damage affecting text
Th is section lists anything that aff ects the transmission of the text. Th is can range from an ink blot obscuring a single letter to a signifi cant tear that has removed most of a page. Where there is loss of text, we note the title of the play that is aff ected, the page’s signature (using standard notation in which ‘A1’ refers to the recto of the leaf and ‘A1v’ to the verso), the position of the text on the page (column ‘a’ or ‘b’ and the line in that column, such that ‘a23’ refers to the 23rd line of text in the left-hand column on the page), the specifi c portion of the text aff ected, and the type of damage. We also record repairs and restorations and
User’s Guide xvii
note whether and how they aff ect the text; we provide precise measurements of tears. For each of the 445 leaves, we record whether the leaf has been supplied in facsimile (printed or manuscript), and whether it has been supplied from another seventeenth-century Shakespeare Folio, and, if so, which edition: the Second Folio (1632), the Th ird Folio (1663–64), or the Fourth Folio (1685).
repairs and damage not affecting text
Th is section records repairs and damage that do not aff ect the transmission of the text. Common examples are holes, tears, stains, trimmed leaves, damage from ash, wax, spilled wine, etc.
press variants Th is section lists the signatures that contain press variants in the uncorrected state. Our intention is not to record accidents of printing such as inked spaces that may have left a smudge on one copy but not on another (Charlton Hinman’s pioneering work on Folio variants has been widely criticized because he wrongly identifi ed such accidents as ‘press variants’). Rather, our focus is exclusively on variants that resulted from the process of stop-press correction in which the type was deliberately changed during printing in order to correct a perceived error. We have identifi ed 338 such press variants in the Folio, including a signifi cant number that have not been noted by previous investigators (see Appendix 1).
On signature ss3 there is a press variant of the stage direction ‘He dies.’ that exists as a result of stop-press correction before or after which the type pied. Th at is, during printing the line containing the stage direction ‘He dies.’ came loose. Th e result is that a Folio may contain any one of the following readings: ‘He dis.’; ‘H e dis.’; ‘H edis.’; or ‘He dies.’ Since there is not simply an uncorrected and a corrected state, we have included the reading itself.
watermarks
Watermarks, perhaps more than any other single feature, provide a unique fi ngerprint for each copy of the First Folio. Using cool, non-damaging light-sheets, our project team examined every leaf in every First Folio and found that at least 21 diff erently watermarked paper stocks were used in the printing of the book (these are illustrated in Appendix 2). Th is section lists the leaves in each copy with an identifi able watermark, and provides the page signature followed by the numerical coeffi cient for that watermark.
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b. bornBL British Libraryc. circacol./cols. column/columnsd. dieded. editor, edited byedn. editionesp. especiallyfl . fl ourishedin. inchl./ll. line/linesMS/MSS manuscript/manuscriptsn./nn. note/notesn.d. no dateno./nos. number/numbersn.s. new seriesp./pp. page/pagesrepr. reprint(ed)rev. revisedser. seriessig. signature t-p. title-page
Abbreviations
xx
Short Titles
ABPC American Book Prices Current (New York, 1894–).
BAR Book Auction Records: A Priced and Annotated Record of London Book Auctions (1903–).
Blayney, First Folio Peter Blayney, Th e First Folio of Shakespeare (Washington, DC, 1991).
De Ricci, ‘Army Book’ Seymour De Ricci, ‘Army Book 152. Correspondence Book. (Field Service)’ (printed title, with no connection to the contents): ‘Th e First Folio’ (MS title); n.d., but probably extending at least from 1920 to 1927; paginated in MS; contains detailed MS notes (up to p. 193) organized by copy of the First Folio, with most of the copies identifi ed with a ‘S[idney] L[ee]’ number; also contains some loose papers; in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, call number m-Q-433 (2).
Folger 1, etc. Th e numbered copies in the Folger Shakespeare Library.
Gollancz Israel Gollancz, ed., 1623–1923: Studies in the First Folio Written for the Shakespeare Association in Celebration of Th e First Folio Tercentenary (1924).
Lee, Census Sidney Lee, Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: A Census of Extant Copies (Oxford, 1902).
Lee, Facsimile —— Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Being a Reproduction in Facsimile of Th e First Folio Edition 1623, with an Introduction (Oxford, 1902).
Lee, Returns —— ‘Th e Returns to the Questionnaire’, manuscript.
Lee, 1906 —— Notes & Additions to the Census of Copies of the Shakespeare First Folio (reprinted from Th e Library, April 1906, and revised to 24 May 1906) (Oxford, 1906).
Lee, 1924 —— ‘A Survey of First Folios’, in Gollancz, pp. 78–108.
Lee 1, etc. Th e numbered copies in Sidney Lee, Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: A Census of Extant Copies (Oxford, 1902). For ease of reading, Lee’s roman numerals are changed to arabic. Th ese copies can be traced through the West/Lee Concordance in Annexe 2.
Lee+1, etc. Th e numbered copies in Sidney Lee, Notes & Additions to the Census of Copies of the Shakespeare First Folio (reprinted from Th e Library, April 1906, and revised to 24 May 1906) (Oxford, 1906). Th ese copies can be traced through the Lee/West Concordance in Annexe 2.
Meisei 1, etc. Th e numbered copies in the Kodama Memorial Library, Meisei University, Tokyo.
PACSCL Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries, ‘Database of Auction and Dealer Catalogs’.
West 1, etc. Th e numbered copies in the West, Census and in this volume.
West, 2001, I Anthony James West, Th e Shakespeare First Folio: Th e History of the Book: Volume I: An Account of the First Folio Based on its Sales and Prices, 1623–2001 (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2001).
West, Census Anthony James West, Th e Shakespeare First Folio: Th e History of the Book: Volume II: A New Worldwide Census of First Folios (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2003).
Short Titles xxi
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