Comedies, histories, and tragedies: What more could a book lover ask for? William Shakespeare’s First Folio, printed 401 years ago, includes some of his greatest hits, including Romeo and Juliet and The Tragedy of Hamlet. Only 235 known copies remain from the 750 originally published six years after the author’s death. One resides in Rauner Special Collections Library. 

None of the Bard’s original manuscripts have survived, so the First Folio is as good as it gets for bibliophiles who want to get up close and personal with his original work. Little wonder that it is one of the library’s most requested books.

“Handling an object such as the First Folio, and having awareness of its materiality, teaches students about contemporary societal values and cultural norms of the object’s time period,” says Rauner librarian Morgan Swan. “It’s a gateway.”  

The Collector
Allerton Cushman Hickmott, class of 1917, donated the First Folio to the College in the 1970s. A financial executive, Hickmott (1885-1977) accumulated a large, noteworthy collection of 17th-century English literature. He also gave Dartmouth his copy of Shakespeare’s Second Folio, a heavily edited update published in 1632

Works in Progress
Thirty-six plays appear in the First Folio. Only half of them had been previously published. The scripts include alterations made to the originals by actors, directors, and Shakespeare after they had been performed. 

“Looke not on his Picture, but his Booke”
The title page features a portrait of Shakespeare engraved by artist Martin Droeshout. The playwright’s name appears in the largest type, not unlike today’s bestselling authors. 

Will Power
A copy of Shakespeare’s First Folio sold at auction for $9.98 million in 2020, a world auction record for any printed work of literature. Previously, the top price paid for a First Folio was $6.17 million in 2001.

The Paper’s The Thing  
The value of a First Folio depends on how many original leaves it contains. Most copies, including the volume at Rauner, have missing leaves that were replaced with pages from several other First Folio volumes.