False Folio is the term that

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

scholars and bibliographers have applied to

William Jaggard William Jaggard ( – November 1623) was an Elizabethan and Jacobean printer and publisher, best known for his connection with the texts of William Shakespeare, most notably the First Folio of Shakespeare's plays. Jaggard's shop was "at t ...

's printing of ten Shakespearean and pseudo-Shakespearean plays together in 1619, the first attempt to collect Shakespeare's work in a single volume. There are only two complete extant copies. One is part of the collection of the

Folger Shakespeare Library The Folger Shakespeare Library is an independent research library on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., United States. It has the world's largest collection of the printed works of William Shakespeare, and is a primary repository for rare material ...

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

. The other is held in the Special Collections at

Texas Christian University Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private research university in Fort Worth, Texas. It was established in 1873 by brothers Addison and Randolph Clark as the Add-Ran Male & Female College. It is affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples ...

in Fort Worth, Texas. The term "false folio" intentionally evokes the folio collections of Shakespeare's works that appeared later: the

First Folio ''Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies'' is a collection of plays by William Shakespeare, commonly referred to by modern scholars as the First Folio, published in 1623, about seven years after Shakespeare's death. It is cons ...

of 1623 and its three seventeenth-century successors. The description "

folio The term "folio" (), has three interconnected but distinct meanings in the world of books and printing: first, it is a term for a common method of arranging sheets of paper into book form, folding the sheet only once, and a term for a book ma ...

" is not strictly accurate, since the ten plays were printed in a larger-than-usual

quarto Quarto (abbreviated Qto, 4to or 4º) is the format of a book or pamphlet produced from full sheets printed with eight pages of text, four to a side, then folded twice to produce four leaves. The leaves are then trimmed along the folds to produc ...

format, not in folio; but the key qualifier is ''false'' folio. The texts in question were first examined with modern bibliographic procedures primarily by

Alfred W. Pollard Alfred William Pollard, FBA (14 August 1859 – 8 March 1944) was an English bibliographer, widely credited for bringing a higher level of scholarly rigor to the study of Shakespearean texts. Biography Pollard was born at 1 Brompton Sq ...

W. W. Greg Sir Walter Wilson Greg (9 July 1875 – 4 March 1959), known professionally as W. W. Greg, was one of the leading bibliographers and Shakespeare scholars of the 20th century. Family and education Greg was born at Wimbledon Common in 1875. H ...

, and

William J. Neidig William Jonathan Niedig (1870–1955) was a professor, poet, and writer in the United States. He was born in Iowa, taught at the Stanford and the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and became a freelance writer. His 1919 book '' The Fire Flingers' ...

. Pollard provides a detailed account in his ''Shakespeare Folios and Quartos''. In summary, the stationer and printer William Jaggard reprinted ten plays in 1619, either to be bound together in a single volume or issued separately depending on customer choice. Jaggard, however, did not have clear title to all of the plays involved

Stationers Company The Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers (until 1937 the Worshipful Company of Stationers), usually known as the Stationers' Company, is one of the livery company, livery companies of the City of London. The Stationers' Compan ...

; Stationers' Register], and therefore he printed some of the texts with false dates and the names of the original stationers involved on the title pages – in effect reproducing the appearance of the earlier quartos. The ten plays were: *''

Henry V Henry V may refer to: People * Henry V, Duke of Bavaria (died 1026) * Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (1081/86–1125) * Henry V, Duke of Carinthia (died 1161) * Henry V, Count Palatine of the Rhine (c. 1173–1227) * Henry V, Count of Luxembourg (121 ...

'' – "printed for T. P. 1608" on the title page. False date.

Thomas Pavier Thomas Pavier (died 1625) was a London publisher and bookseller of the early seventeenth century. His complex involvement in the publication of early editions of some of William Shakespeare, Shakespeare's plays, as well as plays of the Shakespea ...

was the stationer who possessed the rights to ''Henry V'', and was an associate of Jaggard. *''

King Lear ''King Lear'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his power and land between two of his daughters. He becomes destitute and insane an ...

'' – "Printed for

Nathaniel Butter Nathaniel Butter (died 22 February 1664) was a London publisher of the early 17th century. The publisher of the first edition of Shakespeare's ''King Lear'' in 1608, he has also been regarded as one of the first publishers of a newspaper in Englis ...

1608." False date and name. Nicholas Okes had printed Q1 of ''Lear'' for Butter in 1608. *''

The Merchant of Venice ''The Merchant of Venice'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. A merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock. Although classified as ...

'' – "Printed by J. Roberts, 1600." False date and name. This was one play to which Jaggard did not have valid title; it belonged to stationer Laurence Hayes. *''

The Merry Wives of Windsor ''The Merry Wives of Windsor'' or ''Sir John Falstaff and the Merry Wives of Windsor'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare first published in 1602, though believed to have been written in or before 1597. The Windsor of the play's title is a ref ...

'' – "Printed for Arthur Johnson, 1619." False date and name. Johnson published Q1 of ''Merry Wives'' in 1602. *''

A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict amon ...

'' – "Printed by James Roberts, 1600." False date and name. *''

Pericles, Prince of Tyre ''Pericles, Prince of Tyre'' is a Jacobean play written at least in part by William Shakespeare and included in modern editions of his collected works despite questions over its authorship, as it was not included in the First Folio. It was pu ...

'' – "Printed for T. P. 1619", date "corrected" to 1609 in second state. *''

Sir John Oldcastle ''Sir John Oldcastle'' is an Elizabethan play about John Oldcastle, a controversial 14th-/15th-century rebel and Lollard who was seen by some of Shakespeare's contemporaries as a proto-Protestant martyr. Publication The play was originally p ...

'' – "printed for T. P. 1600". False date. *''

A Yorkshire Tragedy ''A Yorkshire Tragedy'' is an early Jacobean era stage play, a domestic tragedy printed in 1608. The play was originally assigned to William Shakespeare, though the modern critical consensus rejects this attribution, favouring Thomas Middleton. ...

'' – "Printed for T. P. 1619." *''The Whole Contention Between the Two Famous Houses, Lancaster and York'' – "Printed at London, for T. P." This was the major innovation of the collection: Jaggard joined together two previously separate texts, ''The First Part of the Contention Betwixt the Two Famous Houses of York and Lancaster'' (the early version of ''

Henry VI, Part 2 ''Henry VI, Part 2'' (often written as ''2 Henry VI'') is a Shakespearean history, history play by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1591 and set during the lifetime of King Henry VI of England. Whereas ''Henry VI, Part 1'' ...

,'' published by Thomas Millington in 1594 and 1600), and ''The True Tragedy of Richard Duke of York'' (the early version of ''

Henry VI, Part 3 ''Henry VI, Part 3'' (often written as ''3 Henry VI'') is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1591 and set during the lifetime of King Henry VI of England. Whereas '' 1 Henry VI'' deals with the loss of Eng ...

,'' published by Millington in 1595 and 1600). In 1602, Pavier had acquired the rights to both plays from Millington. ''Pericles'' was printed after ''The Whole Contention'', since their

signatures A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a Handwriting, handwritten (and often Stylization, stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and ...

(the alphanumeric designations of the quires in sequence) run together; but the nine plays were apparently bound together in no particular order. (The few existing collections vary.) As Jaggard lacked rights to Hayes' ''Merchant of Venice'', he may also have lacked rights to Butter's ''Lear'' and Johnson's ''Merry Wives''. There is much about the False Folio affair that remains unclear, such as subjective questions of Jaggard's motivation. Jaggard had a previous odd connection with the Shakespeare canon: he had printed the questionable miscellany ''

The Passionate Pilgrim ''The Passionate Pilgrim'' (1599) is an anthology of 20 poems collected and published by William Jaggard that were attributed to " W. Shakespeare" on the title page, only five of which are considered authentically Shakespearean. These are two ...

'' as Shakespeare's in 1599 and 1612. Some Shakespeare scholars have wondered why the King's Men used Jaggard as the printer and one of the publishers of the First Folio, just a couple of years after the False Folio affair. (Work on the First Folio began almost certainly in 1621.) It may have been a case of necessity, since Jaggard had a large-capacity print shop. (He had demonstrated his ability to print a volume of ten plays.) Pavier's role in the matter is also debated; his initials occur on five of the nine volumes (six of the ten plays), and some contemporary commentators see Pavier's role as more significant than Jaggard's – referring to the books as the "Pavier quartos" instead of the "False Folio." Pollard focused much of his attention on the concept of literary "piracy," and his viewpoint coloured much of the scholarly attitude and approach to the False Folio during the twentieth century. By the start of the twenty-first century, some researchers began to take a less melodramatic and more nuanced view of the questions involved, a view that no longer casts Jaggard and Pavier as the villains in a moral contest.Sonia Massai, ''Shakespeare and the Rise of the Editor,'' Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Gallery of comparisons between authorised quartos and Pavier's misdated quartos

File:Henry V 1600 Q titlepage.JPG, First edition ''Henry V'' (1600). File:Henry V 1619.jpg, Falsely dated ''Henry V'' (1619). File:MND title page.jpg, First edition ''Midsummer Night's Dream'' (1600). File:Midsummer's Night Dream 1619.jpg, Falsely dated ''Midsummer Night's Dream'' (1619). File:Whole Contention.JPG, ''The Whole Contention Between the Two Famous Houses of York and Lancaster'' (1619) combined Shakespeare's ''King Henry VI'' parts 2 and 3. File:Pericles 1609.jpg, First edition ''Pericles'' (1609). File:Pericles Pavier 1619 1st state.jpg, Pavier's unauthorised ''Pericles'' (1619), first state. File:Pericles Pavier 1619 2nd state.jpg, Falsely dated ''Pericles'' (1619), second state. File:Merchant venice tp.jpg, First edition ''Merchant of Venice'' (1600) File:Merchant of Venice 1619.jpg, Falsely dated ''Merchant of Venice'' (1619). File:Oldcastle 1600 TP.jpg, First edition ''Sir John Oldcastle'' (1600) File:Oldcastle 1619 TP.jpg, Falsely dated and attributed ''Sir John Oldcastle'' (1619)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Folio, False Bibliography English Renaissance plays Early editions of Shakespeare 1619 books 1619 in England

Gallery of comparisons between authorised quartos and Pavier's misdated quartos

See also

References