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

Date: 1623

## The fact

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](/people/william-shakespeare) had been dead seven years.

## Context

Without the Folio, plays such as Macbeth, The Tempest, [Julius Caesar](/people/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.

## Evidence and sources

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.

## Significance

This is the largest access event in the dossier. Later school and university use rides on this book. The education-driver path is therefore long-lag and real. Shakespeare is a complex contributor because he is dead: the living agents are Heminges, Condell, the Jaggards, and Blount.

## What is established and what is not

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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.

## People

- William Shakespeare: https://factrail.ai/people/william-shakespeare

## Drivers

- Public Education Funding: https://factrail.ai/drivers/edu-public-education-funding

## Sources

- https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeare-in-print/first-folio/
- https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/shakespeares-first-folio

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

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