#first folio

[trueloveandotherscificoncepts]

London, October 2025.

[shakespearenews]

Shakespeare’s London House Exactly Where We Thought

Plus: Ice cream, the Pope, and lighting yourself on fire

shakespearenews.com

[thedudleywomen]

The Death of William Shakespeare - 23 April 1616

On This Day (23 Apr) in 1616, actor, poet and playwright William Shakespeare died at his home, New Place, in Stratford-upon-Avon, the town where he had been born 52 years previously.

Shakespeare had been born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, where he received his education. He was married in 1582 to Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children - Susanna, Hamnet and Judith.

By 1592, Shakespeare had pursued his literary career in London, and become a member of the performing troupe The Chamberlain's Men, who were later known as The King's Men, for whom he wrote most of his plays during his career. He was also known to have written plays that were also performed by the another acting company, Pembroke's Men, including a first variation of 'The Taming of the Shrew'.

Shakespeare retired to Stratford in 1613, after spending most of his career living between the Midlands and London. Whilst he wrote his will the month prior to his death, describing himself as being in "perfect health", he died on 23 Apr 1616, around his 52th birthday. He was then buried in the town's Holy Trinity Church two days after his death, on 25 Apr.

7 years after his death, the 'The First Folio' 36 of his plays, including half which had been previously unpublished, were edited and published as 'The First Folio', by former colleagues John Heminges and Henry Condell, with support from patrons William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, the Lord Chamberlain (being responsible for organisation of court entertainment and patron of Pembroke's Men) and his younger brother Philip Herbert, 1st Earl of Montgomery, to whom the folio is dedicated.

"The most noble and incomparable paire of brethren": William and Philip Herbert and 'The First Folio'

On the second page of The First Folio, a dedication is made to its patrons, "the Most Noble and Incomparable Paire of Brethren": brothers Wi

[thehamletdiaries]

As part of the 400th anniversary of the first Folio, the RSC had a copy which they were encouraging people to scribble notes in.

My incredibly academic contribution to this was to go through Hamlet and write "boyfriends" next to all the parts where Hamlet and Horatio are clearly boyfriends.

This note, however, was not written by me but instead written by someone who came before me.

[uwmspeccoll]

Shakespeare Weekend

This weekend we explore Shakespeare’s comedy, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, the thirty-sixth volume of the thirty-seven volume The Comedies Histories & Tragedies of William Shakespeare, published by the Limited Editions Club (LEC) from 1939-1940. The Two Gentlemen of Verona is believed to be one of Shakespeare’s earliest plays, written between 1594 and 1595. The story is heavily inspired by Montemayor’s pastoral romance The Seven Books of Diana (1559) and was first published as a play in the First Folio of 1623.  

French artist Pierre Brissaud (1885-1964) illustrated The Two Gentlemen of Verona with his chracteristic water-color drawings. Brissaud came from a family of artists and followed in their footsteps, training at the École des Beaux-Arts. He found great success in creating Art Deco prints for advertising firms and fashion magazines including Vogue. Brissaud was drawn to The Two Gentlemen of Verona for the challenge of capturing the city’s stunning architecture and ambiance and his work does not disappoint. In Brissaud’s water-color drawings, the characters play out their scenes against intricate architectural details and immersive landscapes. Atelier Beaufume reproduced Brissaud’s drawings for publication using actual watercolors resulting in the velvety colors appearing as if they glow upon the page. 

The volume was printed in an edition of 1950 copies at the Press of A. Colish. Each of the LEC volumes of Shakespeare’s works are illustrated by a different artist, but the unifying factor is that all volumes were designed by famed book and type designer Bruce Rogers and edited by the British theatre professional and Shakespeare specialist Herbert Farjeon. Our copy is number 1113, the number for long-standing LEC member Austin Fredric Lutter of Waukesha, Wisconsin. 

View more Limited Edition Club posts. 

View more Shakespeare Weekend posts. 

-Jenna, Special Collections Graduate Intern 

[whatareyoureallyafraidof]

Dear Santa...

With three weeks until Christmas, here’s my list for Santa: 1. Peace on Earth, goodwill toward men (and women, and the non-binary, too). 2. A 10 percent raise in worldwide IQ. 3. A 20 percent raise in Pittsburgh-wide IQ. 4. A benefit concert performed by Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Julian Lennon, and Dhani Harrison. And, Dave Grohl, too. Because, why not?! 5. Alex Trebek’s (now Ken Jennings’) job on Jeopardy! (And a tennis ball gun to fire at contestants who give bonehead responses!) 6. A copy of William Shakespeare’s First Folio. 7. Someone (I'm looking at you, Kenneth Branagh!) to make a good film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet.

8. A franchise quarterback for the New York Jets.

9. A publisher for my novelette Heroes Rise Again. And, for Peter Jackson to turn it into three movies!

[eleanorblythe]

Got the most stunning edition of No Country for Old Men. Folio Society 😍😍

[heyho-simonrussellbeale]

BBC to broadcast stage shows to mark Shakespeare’s First Folio 400th anniversary

Special documentaries and releases have also been announced

At the heart of the initiative is the three-part documentary series for BBC Two and iPlayer titled Shakespeare: Rise of a Genius, featuring contributions from Judi Dench, Helen Mirren, Brian Cox, Adrian Lester, Lolita Chakrabarti, Martin Freeman and Jessie Buckley, alongside academics and writers including James Shapiro, Jeanette Winterson, Lucy Jago, Jeremy O’Harris and Ewan Fernie.

The documentary series will be made available from 8 November at 9pm.

A whole host of archived productions and Shakespeare-based films will be released across October and November to celebrate the contributions made by the First Folio.

There will also be specially created new introductions for many of these, featuring David Tennant on Hamlet, Richard Eyre on King Lear, Janet Suzman on Wars of the Roses, Gregory Doran on the Shakespeare Gala from the RSC, Russell T Davies on A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Mirren on As You Like It, Hugh Quarshie on Othello, Steven Berkoff on Hamlet at Elsinore, Simon Russell Beale on The Hollow Crown, and Ian McKellen on All is True.