Chris Laoutaris - Shakespeares Book: The Story Behind the First Folio and the Making of Shakespeare

Laoutaris is an indefatigable researcher and a fine prose stylist.

The Providence Journal

Shakespeares Book

The Story Behind the First Folio and the Making of Shakespeare

Chris Laoutaris

Dedicated to my parents, Thalia and John, and to the memory of my brother, George

Shakespeares Fellows and the First Folio

The Death of Richard Burbage

The First Folios Patrons and the Courtiers War

A Shakespearean Printing Mystery

Negotiating and Printing the False Folio

The Kings Mens Public and Private Enemies

Hunting the Kings Mens Lost Shakespeare Plays

St Pauls Cross Churchyard, Londons Publishing Powerhouse

In St Dunstans Churchyard and Fleet Street

Staging the Spanish Match

Inside the Half-Eagle and Key

Comedies, Pilgrims and Spains Golden Age

William Jaggards War and the Bards Comeback

Edward Blounts Secrets and the Comedies Completion

Playing Lovers and Printing Histories

An Apprentice, a Widows Funeral and other Tragedies

Portraying Shakespeare Through National Crisis

The Grave, the Folio and Selling Shakespeares Works

Shakespeare and Oxford

The Enigma of Cygnus and a Lost Shakespeare Sonnet?

Shakespeares Lodger and the First Folio

From Shakespeares Book to the Worlds Book

The Preliminary Pages of the First Folio

All images are from the Folger Shakespeare Library

Integrated Images

First Photo Section

Second Photo Section

, Book cover and spine of Folio 10

, First Folio title-page portrait from Folio 2 and First Folio title-page portrait from Folio 68 (Folger Shakespeare Library)

The Kings Men Playing Companys Representatives (sometimes referred to as the editors of the First Folio):

John Heminges, actor, theatre manager, Shakespeares former friend and colleague

Henry Condell, actor, theatre manager, Shakespeares former friend and colleague

The Syndicate (publisher-booksellers who financed the First Folio):

William Jaggard, a senior member of the syndicate, owner of the shop in Londons Barbican in which the First Folio was printed

Isaac Jaggard, Williams son, a senior member of the syndicate, co-owner of the shop in which the First Folio was printed

Edward Blount, a senior member of the syndicate, based in St Pauls Cross Churchyard, London

William Aspley, based in St Pauls Cross Churchyard, London

John Smethwick, based in St Dunstans Churchyard, London

The Patrons (members of the nobility to whom the First Folio was dedicated):

Sir William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, also Lord Chamberlain; favourite of King James I and rival to courtier George Villiers, Marquess of Buckingham (later 1st Duke of Buckingham)

Sir Philip Herbert, 1st Earl of Montgomery, Williams brother

The Commemorative Poets (who shaped William Shakespeares posthumous identity by memorialising him in the First Folio):

Ben Jonson, poet and playwright, overseer of his own folio of collected Works in 1616; confessed to having been a Catholic; Shakespeares former friend, colleague and rival

Hugh Holland, poet and scholar, so-called crypto-Catholic

James Mabbe, poet, scholar, translator and hispanophile

Leonard Digges, poet, scholar, translator and hispanophile; step-son of Thomas Russell who was Shakespeares close trusted friend and the overseer of his will

Engraver of Shakespeares Iconic First Folio Portrait (the only likeness of the playwright independently authenticated by a living contemporary):

Martin Droeshout, engraver and artist, hispanophile who moved to Spain

The Rights Holders (mostly stationer-publishers who controlled the rights to plays included in the First Folio):

William Aspley

Edward Blount

Nathaniel Butter

Thomas Dewe

Lawrence Hayes

William Jaggard

Arthur Johnson

Matthew Law

Thomas Pavier

John Smethwick

Thomas Walkley

Henry Walley

The Royal Families of England, Spain and Bohemia:

King James I of England, patron of the Kings Men

Prince Charles, James Is son, whose proposed marriage to the Infanta Maria of Spain (known as the Spanish Match) formed the dramatic political backdrop to the making of the First Folio

Elizabeth, Electress Palatine (briefly Queen of Bohemia), James Is daughter, married to Frederick V, Elector Palatine (briefly King of Bohemia), whose political troubles formed another seismic context for the creation of the First Folio

King Philip IV of Spain

Maria, the Infanta of Spain, sister of King Philip IV

Contributors to the Preparation and Printing of the First Folio:

Ralph Crane, scrivener, who produced fair copies of some of the plays printed in the First Folio

Edward Knight, the Kings Mens Bookkeeper, who made changes to the plays performance texts

The Compositors who typeset the First Folio, particularly Compositor B (who typeset the largest portion of the text) and Compositor E (John Leason, the inexperienced apprentice employed on the Folio project)

The pressworkers, inkers, paper-makers, annotating readers, editors and other personnel involved in the production of the First Folio

Industry Regulators:

Members of the Stationers Company, responsible for regulating the publishing industry, licensing books, and managing the Stationers Register

Sir John Astley, Master of the Revels, responsible for licensing plays

Sir George Buc, Master of the Revels, responsible for licensing plays

Sir Henry Herbert, Master of the Revels, responsible for licensing plays

Sir William Herbert, Lord Chamberlain, responsible for organising royal entertainments and the Kings Mens court appearances; had influence over the Mastership of the Revels and Revels Office

Additional Contributors:

Richard Burbage, actor with the Chamberlains/Kings Men playing company, whose star status, talents and death shaped the theatre industry and influenced Shakespeare publishing

James Burbage, father of Richard Burbage and builder-impresario of the Theatre in Shoreditch and the Blackfriars playhouse (the Globe Theatre was funded by his sons, Richard and Cuthbert Burbage, and player-sharers in the playing company, including Shakespeare)

The Players, actors in the Chamberlains/Kings Men whose talents shaped the plays

Historical rights holders to Shakespeares plays and poems, those formerly owning rights to Shakespeares works, whose acquisitions and transfers of these assets determined the circulation and printing of the dramatists output

Thomas Pavier, the stationer-bookseller whose collaboration with William and Isaac Jaggard on the Pavier-Jaggard Quartos (a peculiar series of plays, not all authentically by Shakespeare) impacted on the creation of the First Folio

Shakespeares friends and acquaintances in London, Stratford-upon-Avon and Oxford (including the powerful Combe family of Warwickshire, the friendship group of eccentric explorer Thomas Coryate, and scholars attached to Oxford University)

John Robinson, stationer, Shakespeares London lodger at the Blackfriars Gatehouse