The Shakespeare First Folio: A new worldwide census of first folios

by Anthony James West

2001 · Oxford University Press, USA

Existing copies of the Shakespeare First Folio (1623) were surveyed and counted a hundred years ago, in Sidney Lee's Census of 1902. Since then, some seventy copies have come to light, some of which are only now identified as First Folios. This new Census lists 229 copies, giving concise descriptions of each. The entries cover condition (including the number of original leaves), items of special interest, provenance, and binding. A concordance of Lee and West numbers is also provided. To set the stage, the volume tells the story of the search for copies and the detective work involved in dealing with doubtful identifications. Because Folios survive in such a wide variety of condition, the tests for defining what to count as a copy are described, then demonstrated with three unnumbered, unrecognized copies at the Folger Shakespeare Library. Finally, details of missing copies are given, to increase the likelihood of their rediscovery.

The Manuscripts of His Grace the Duke of Portland

by Great Britain. Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, William John Arthur Charles James Cavendish-Bentinck Duke of Portland

1901

Vol. 1 is a calendar of twenty-two volumes of the collection of state papers, 1628-1660, formed by Dr. John Nalson, canon of Ely; v.3-10 are calendars of the Harley manuscripts, mainly private and official papers and letters of Robert Harley, 1st earl of Oxford; v. 7 is a calendar of the letters written from 1710 to 1720 to Edward Harley, 2d earl of Oxford, by Dr. William Stratford, canon of Christ's Church, Oxford.