Shakespeare's Second folio, 1632

Public

The Second Folio is the 1632 edition of the collected plays of William Shakespeare printed 9 years after the First Folio in 1623 and 16 years after the author's death. The Second Folio featured almost 1,700 changes from the first, and its text is the basis from which all modern versions of Shakespeare derive. The five commendatory poems preceding Shakespeare’s text include one by Ben Jonson and the first published poem by John Milton. This Second Folio contains John Milton’s first appearance in print, his anonymous epitaph to Shakespeare in 16 verses (An Epitaph on the admirable Dramaticke). Thomas Cotes printed all the copies of the Second Folio for five different publishers: John Smethwick, William Aspley, Richard Hawkins, Richard Meighen, and Robert Allot. There is a title-page inscriptions to each of the five publishers, this particular copy was printed for Robert Allot. -- [from the auction clippings]

In Collection:
Creator Contributor Subject Publisher Language Date created Resource type Rights statement Extent
  • 1 volume (419 pages)
Alternative title
  • Mr. William Shakespeares comedies, histories, and tragedies. Published according to the try Originall Copies. The Second Impression.
Edition
  • Second edition
  • Second impression
Additional physical characteristics
  • Includes an engraved title page portrait of the author signed: Martin Droeshout, sculpsit, London.Contemporary clippings describing auctions selling the first Shakespeare folio among other details and a card with "Shakespeare The Rare Second Folio, 1632" attached to the inside front and back covers.
Physical repository Collection
  • Early Printed Books
Provenance
  • From the Legislative Library of British Columbia's collection.
Provider Genre Date digitized
  • February 27, 2017 to March 13, 2017
Transcript
  • Contents _archival-image-number/title/(printed page number):_005 title page with portrait_006 dedication_007 To The Great Variety of Readers_014 Contents / Tempest (1)_024 Two Gentlemen of Verona (20)_033 Merry Wives of Windsor (39) _044 Measure for Measure (61)_056 Comedy of Errors (85)_064 Much Adoe About Nothing (101)_075 Love's Labour Lost (122)_086 Midsommer Nights Dream (145)_095 Merchant of Venice (163)_106 As You Like It (185)_119 Taming of the Shrew (208)_130 Alls Well that Ends Well (230)_142 Twelfe Night, Or What You Will (255)_153 Winter's Tale (277)_162 King John (1)_178 Life and Death of King Richard the Second (23)_190 First Part of Henry Fourth... (46)_203 Second Part of Henry Fourth... (74)_216 Life of King Henry Fift (69)_230 First Part of King Henry Sixt (96)_242 Second Part of King Henry Sixt (120)_255 Third Part of King Henry Sixt (147)_267 Tragedy of Richard Third... (173)_284 History of King Henry the Eight (205)_299 Tragedy of Trolius and Cressida (2)_313 Tragedy of Coriolanus (30)_328 Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus (60)_339 Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet (82)_351 Life of Timon of Athens (107)_362 Tragedy of Julius Caesar (129)_373 Tragedy of Macbeth (151)_384 Tragedy of Hamlet (172)_399 Tragedy of King Lear (302)_413 Tragedy of Othello... (330)_428 Tragedy of Anthony & Cleopatra (360)_442 Tragedy of Cymbeline (389)
Technical note
  • Received from Legislative Library late February 2017. Scanned from 27 Feb - 13 Mar. 600 dpi TIFFS. Edge of book approx 10 1/4" from front edge of scan deck. 1/20; 263 ISO; Bent 5 tone. Size 10.33 x 12.69 (adjusted to 12.95) @ 450 camera height. Cropped to 12x 9.25" -- built "secondfolio" action in Photoshop. Metadata by KD.
Rights
  • This material is made available on this site for research and private study only.
DOI

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