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Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (the First Folio) is published

In 1623 Isaac Jaggard and Edward Blount published the First Folio, with prefatory matter by Heminges and Condell. The Stationers' Register entries of November 1623 record several previously unprinted plays. In the causal graph this event sets in motion Public Education Funding, a driver that weakens Out-of-School Rate, Primary School Age (global) — an improving welfare path.

Sources: [1][2]

Read the full account

In 1623 Isaac Jaggard and Edward Blount published the First Folio, with prefatory matter by Heminges and Condell. The Stationers' Register entries of November 1623 record several previously unprinted plays. Shakespeare had been dead seven years.

Context

Without the Folio, plays such as Macbeth, The Tempest, Julius Caesar, and Twelfth Night have no early printed text. That is a bibliographic fact, not a compliment. The editors were fellow actors, not a state archive.

Why it matters

This is the largest access event in the dossier. Later school and university use rides on this book. Shakespeare is a complex contributor because he is dead: the living agents are Heminges, Condell, the Jaggards, and Blount.

Who was responsible

Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.

  • William Shakespeare

    Person

    Direct responsibility

    responsibility level 0.5 · verified

    Posthumous collection by fellow actors; Shakespeare's plays are the content being preserved.

What changed

Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.

    1. FactMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (the First Folio) is published
    2. sets in motionDriverPublic Education Funding
    3. weakensIndicators (4)Out-of-School Rate, Primary School Age (global)
    Improving path

    impact weight 0.55 · Effect from 8 November 1623 · verified

    The Folio is the principal reason eighteen plays survived in print at all, a long-run access path into later education.

    All indicators on this path (4)

    • Under-five mortality rate (global)

      via Public Education Funding

      Better

      Weakens · Relationship strength 0.14 (weight 0.55 × strength 0.25)

      Observed

      37.4 deaths per 1,000 live births · 12.4 above the normal line (2024)

      Worse than normal

      7 readings, 2018–2024: fell from 40 deaths per 1,000 live births to 37.4 deaths per 1,000 live births.

      Above normal = worse

Evidence

The sources behind this fact and its verification state.

Verified2 sources on file
  1. 1.Folger Shakespeare Library — First FolioFolger Shakespeare Library · High credibility · verified
  2. 2.British Library — First FolioBritish Library · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish

The British Library and Folger describe surviving copies, the imprint, and the prefatory epistles. Those sources establish the 1623 book and the claim that some plays were previously unprinted. They do not establish that the Folio text is always the 'best' text where a quarto also exists. Wikipedia is not used as a causal source.

Established: 1623 Folio published; eighteen plays first printed there. Not established: that Shakespeare planned the volume; that every Folio line is authorial last thought. Confidence high on the book, medium on individual textual authority.

The event remains dated 1623-11-08. Shakespeare's documented role is: Posthumous collection by fellow actors; Shakespeare's plays are the content being preserved. The Folio is the principal reason eighteen plays survived in print at all, a long-run access path into later education. Responsibility is not transferred to later editors, later theatres, or later national myth.

The event remains dated 1623-11-08.

The event remains dated 1623-11-08.

The event remains dated 1623-11-08.

The event remains dated 1623-11-08.

The event remains dated 1623-11-08.

Causal path

How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.

  1. ActorWilliam Shakespeare
  2. contributed toFactMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (the First Folio) is published
  3. sets in motionDriverPublic Education Funding
  4. weakensIndicatorOut-of-School Rate, Primary School Age (global)

Cite this page

Factrail. (2026). Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (the First Folio) is published. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/shakespeare-first-folio-1623

https://factrail.ai/facts/shakespeare-first-folio-1623

Accessed 15 October 2026.

By the Factrail desk · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed

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