The year 2014 saw the celebration of 450 years since Shakespeare’s birth. 2016 marked the 400th anniversary of his death. And 2023 is another jubilee: 400 years since the publication of the first collected edition of Shakespeare’s plays, known as the First Folio. Human anniversaries are one thing, but why should a book, published posthumously, be something to celebrate, four centuries on?
The 1623 First Folio can claim to be the most important book in the world after the Bible. Without it, Shakespeare — and, although it might seem hyperbolic to say so, literary culture itself — would look very different. This book established the canon, the reputation, and even the visual identity of the world ’s most influential writer, in ways that continue to resonate.
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