This book is commonly known as ́the third folio" and is the third edition, second issue, of the collected plays of William Shakespeare. The so-called ́first folió was printed in London and issued in 1623 by Isaac Jaggard and Edward Blount. It contained 36 plays, 18 of which had never before appeared in print, including Macbeth, The tempest, and Julius Caesar. Before the first folio, a number of Shakespeare's plays had been published in various smaller formats that were often edited poorly, with significant textual divergences between editions. Of the seven extra plays included in this folio, only one (Pericles) is still considered to have been authored by Shakespeare.

The front matter contains commendatory verses and epistles dedicatory from contemporaries and admirers of Shakespeare, including Ben Jonson, James Mabbe, Leonard Digges, Hugh Holland, and John Milton.

Printers' names from ESTC and Greg.

For an in-depth examination of bibliographic variants of the third folio, see: McManaway, James G. "New discoveries in the third folio of Shakespeare," in The papers of The Bibliographical Society of America, v. 70, no. 4 (1976), p. 469-480.

Signatures: [superscript pi]Áþ b́œ A-2Áœ 2B́ı 2C-4D́œ 4Éþ ᜠb́þ -4́þ ℗œA-℗œB́œ ℗œC-℗œF́þ ℗œǴœ

Numerous errors in pagination.

Title page vignette; head- and tailpieces; initials.

"Leaves A1-A2 are cancels, with the portrait on A1v and new title page on A2. The additional plays have been added (second p. 1-20, third 1-100)."--Pforzheimer.

Bartlett, H.C. Shakespeare early editions, 122

Boston Public Library. Barton collection catalogue, p. 2

ESTC R30560

Greg, III, p.1118-9

Pforzheimer, 909

Wing (2nd ed.), S2914

Boston Public Library (Rare Books Department) copy bound in orange, 19th-century morocco panelled in gilt with floral cornerpieces. The armorial super-ex-libris of John Gardiner Kinnear is present on both covers. All text block edges are gilt. The Droeshout portrait (frontispiece) is taken here from a copy of the fourth folio edition, of 1685, and inserted at front. The title page, which has been repaired significantly, is rebacked. Leaf [superscript pi]A3 (printed A2) is tipped onto a stub, as is ℗œG6. Leaf b6, which contains the list of principal actors (recto) and the table of contents (verso) is bound out of order and inserted before b́. The armorial bookplate of the Barton Library is present on the front pastedown. This copy was purchased by Thomas Pennant Barton from Thomas Thorpe, of London, in 1834 and is presently housed in a green cloth box with a black spine label.