• Model of Disorder: the story of Alternative First Folios

    Author(s):
    Gabriel Ready (see profile)
    Date:
    2020
    Group(s):
    Shakespeare
    Subject(s):
    Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616, Criticism and interpretation, History, Bibliography, Bibliography, Critical
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    History of Shakespearean criticism, Analytical bibliography, Shakespeare, Descriptive bibliography
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/b9g8-7353
    Abstract:
    This article is an examination of the preliminary material of Shakespeare’s First Folio. With the correct order of the preliminary leaves unknown, the sequence of the first 18 pages has long puzzled scholars. Over the last 400 years, binders have assembled the gathering differently, spawning a variety of order types. Using several data sources, including Anthony James West’s Census of First Folios (2003) and A Descriptive Catalogue (2012), the article provides an overview of the different preliminaries found in 147 surviving copies and explores the problems underlying today’s preferred order. All order types are comprehensively enumerated and cross-tabulated based on binding age, revealing the impact that re-binding has had on the arrangement over time. For the first time, top-view illustrations of all the major order types are presented. Two competing collation statements are also reconsidered through the lens of an emerging appreciation of the volume’s cultural context, the failure of King James I’s Spanish Match.
    Metadata:
    xml
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    3 years ago
    License:
    Attribution

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