![]() The number of volumes she was able to consider and compare are also sufficient to suggest and reveal: "reading patterns and textual hotspots of readerly attention".Įven without going into full-scale textual analysis and comparison, she gives some interesting examples. Many - perhaps even most - copies have had some part removed. Smith also notes other embellishments, such as the fad of 'grangerizing' - the adding of illustrations to the (finished) book, whereby (rather shockingly):Ī copy of the Shakespeare First Folio was, however, less likely to be the recipient of grangerizing material than its unwilling donor. Meanwhile, the Oxford University Bodleian Library apparently sold off their copy sometime in the 1660s - and then struggled to buy it back in 1905.Īmong her interesting observations and discoveries is that for so long:Ī First Folio seems to have been more an editorial talisman than a research source: it's worth recalling that, until the end of the eighteenth century no copy existed in an institutional library.Įach copy differs slightly, as a consequence of the printing process, as well as the fact that the original purchasers bought loose copies so that they could bind them to suit their tastes and purposes, and further changes accrued as the volumes were in use, as Smith considers everything from the kinds of corrections readers made (there were a lot of errata) to the marginalia to the highlighting and underscoring of various bits of text - all of which, as she demonstrates, can be revealing. Japan, where Meisei University has a dozen copies on hand. There is, of course, the astonishing example of hoarder Henry Clay Folger, who purchased dozens of First Folios (and vast numbers of the Second, Third, and Fourth, as well) the Folger Shakespeare Library now reports a ridiculous 82 (!) copies in its collection, while the second-largest collection is in. Smith divides her book into five main chapters, on: 'Owning', 'Reading', 'Decoding', 'Performing', and 'Publishing', considering the First Folio over the centuries in the light of each of these.īeginning with the first known purchaser of the Folio - avid play-collector Edward Dering - Smith tracks down many of the volumes and what has happened to them. Smith follows the trails of the physical copies and examines how they have been used, passed on, and sold, making for a quite fascinating biblio-literary tour. The First Folio is an almost ideal example: aside from its great significance as text, it was published in an edition of about 750, and about a third of the copies survive: a manageable number that is also large enough to provide some broader insights (as would not be the case for a book existing only in a much more limited edition). We acknowledge (and remind and warn you) that they may, in fact, be entirely unrepresentative of the actual reviews by any other measure.Īs the title suggests, Shakespeare's First Folio is a study of that famous book - and Emma Smith's study really does focus on the book - that specific edition - rather than the text, on how: "that very book has moved through time, space, and context". Similarly the illustrative quotes chosen here are merely those the complete review subjectively believes represent the tenor and judgment of the review as a whole. Please note that these ratings solely represent the complete review 's biased interpretation and subjective opinion of the actual reviews and do not claim to accurately reflect or represent the views of the reviewers. It is judiciously structured (.) I found a section on the correcting of misprints less compelling, but I can imagine some readers for whom this would be a highlight." - Lisa Hopkins, Times Higher Education "Smith’s account of the Folio’s distinguished career is very nicely written and consistently entertaining and informative. ![]()
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