Publication of Shakespeare's First Folio

Timeline

1. 1621–1622London · LondonAfter Shakespeare's death in 1616, only some of his plays had circulated in quarto, many incomplete or pirated. Heminges and Condell, using the King's Men's promptbooks and reliable manuscripts, set about assembling a collection 'according to the true original copies,' dedicated to the Earls of Pembroke and Montgomery.
2. 1622–1623Jaggard's press, Barbican, London · LondonWilliam Jaggard and his son Isaac printed the folio, with booksellers such as Edward Blount sharing distribution. Printing took about two years; William Jaggard died in the year of completion, and the author's bust engraved by Martin Droeshout became one of the most widely known portraits of Shakespeare.
3. 1623London Stationers' Company · LondonOn 8 November 1623, Isaac Jaggard and Edward Blount entered sixteen previously unregistered plays in the Stationers' Company register, and the folio was immediately sold as Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. The volume contained about thirty-six plays in a limited print run, becoming the most important textual collection in the history of English drama.
4. 1623London · LondonThe First Folio was the first to divide Shakespeare's plays into comedies, histories, and tragedies, and preserved about eighteen previously unprinted plays including The Tempest, Macbeth, Twelfth Night, As You Like It, and Julius Caesar. Without this collection, the core repertoire of English drama would be greatly incomplete.