Issue #0

The First Folio of Shakespeare

The Norton Facsimile

Plot

When it was published in 1968, The Norton Facsimile set a new standard for scholarly accuracy. It was the first facsimile in which every page had been selected from a large number of copies in an attempt to find a clean, clear example with minimal show-through. Even more important, it offered the latest, most corrected state of pages known to vary from copy to copy because of correction at press. Finally, it introduced a standard system of reference, "through line numbering," based on the lines printed in the 1623 edition rather than on the acts, scenes, and lines of a modern edition. These improvements, the meticulous work of the great Folio scholar Charlton Hinman made possible by the extensive Folger Library Collection, established The Norton Facsimile as an indispensable volume for book collectors and serious readers of Shakespeare. Now this long-awaited reissue of The Norton Facsimile reintroduces Charlton Hinman's achievement. A new introduction by the distinguished Folio scholar Peter W. M. Blayney reconsiders Professor Hinman's original findings in light of recent scholarship in Elizabethan printing and publishing practices.