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April 29, 2024 8:29 AM Subscribe
A Series of Headaches is a video from the London Review of Books following printer Nick Hand as he prints a page from the magazine using methods as close as he can get to those used to print the First Folio of Shakespeare plays. The page selected is an old LRB article about the First Folio by Michael Dobson [archive link]. The video is made in conjunction with Folio400, a website with lots of information about the First Folio, as well as a series of articles on it.
I'm curious: was there anything like the First Folio produced for other playwrights of the time? It seems it must be a sign of how much Shakespeare's work was esteemed even by his contemporaries, but I'm wondering if he was unique in that.
posted by tavella at 8:43 AM on April 29 [3 favorites]
posted by tavella at 8:43 AM on April 29 [3 favorites]
Shakespeare's friend & rival Ben Johnson published a collected edition of his "Workes" in 1616 and was roundly mocked for his pretensions to artistry, as the term "Works" was generally reserved for more serious forms of writing than mere stage plays. AFAIK, this was the first major collection of plays, followed by Shakespeare's posthumous First Folio in 1623, and then a folio of the collected works of Beaumont & Fletcher in 1647(?). I don't think there are any others pre-Restoration?
posted by Saxon Kane at 9:19 AM on April 29 [5 favorites]
posted by Saxon Kane at 9:19 AM on April 29 [5 favorites]
Six comedies of John Lyly’s were published together in a duodecimo a few years after the First Folio. That’s pretty close to the complete works, as there only eight plays he’s known to have written.
posted by Kattullus at 9:22 AM on April 29 [3 favorites]
posted by Kattullus at 9:22 AM on April 29 [3 favorites]
Lauren Gunderson wrote a play about this topic.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:56 AM on April 29 [3 favorites]
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:56 AM on April 29 [3 favorites]
well that is an incredibly lovely film
posted by Joeruckus at 9:59 AM on April 29 [2 favorites]
posted by Joeruckus at 9:59 AM on April 29 [2 favorites]
I'm curious: was there anything like the First Folio produced for other playwrights of the time? It seems it must be a sign of how much Shakespeare's work was esteemed even by his contemporaries, but I'm wondering if he was unique in that.
As noted above, Johnson's "Workes" was the only thing even vaguely similar in terms of "popular" writing (and certainly not something done for something as lowbrow as plays).
In 1619 (three years after Shakespeare's death) there was a book published (now called the False Folio) (Actually a Quarto) which collected 10 plays alleged to all be by Shakespeare into one volume. There is some thought that First Folio was created not only to honor Shakespeare but also to produce something of an "authorized" version of his works. 18 of the 36 plays in the FF had never appeared in print, and would be lost to us today if not for the FF printing.
If you're interested in this kind of stuff, I highly recommend a book called The Book of William, which has a great history of the FF, how it was created, and how it influenced Shakespeare's legacy and the way we perceive him as a result of that book.
posted by anastasiav at 10:51 AM on April 29 [2 favorites]
As noted above, Johnson's "Workes" was the only thing even vaguely similar in terms of "popular" writing (and certainly not something done for something as lowbrow as plays).
In 1619 (three years after Shakespeare's death) there was a book published (now called the False Folio) (Actually a Quarto) which collected 10 plays alleged to all be by Shakespeare into one volume. There is some thought that First Folio was created not only to honor Shakespeare but also to produce something of an "authorized" version of his works. 18 of the 36 plays in the FF had never appeared in print, and would be lost to us today if not for the FF printing.
If you're interested in this kind of stuff, I highly recommend a book called The Book of William, which has a great history of the FF, how it was created, and how it influenced Shakespeare's legacy and the way we perceive him as a result of that book.
posted by anastasiav at 10:51 AM on April 29 [2 favorites]
Thanks for sharing--I'm looking forward to watching this tonight!
posted by indexy at 1:32 PM on April 29 [1 favorite]
posted by indexy at 1:32 PM on April 29 [1 favorite]
Lovely documentary. I especially liked the comments at the end, about the autonomy granted by non digital production
posted by Zumbador at 12:56 AM on April 30 [2 favorites]
posted by Zumbador at 12:56 AM on April 30 [2 favorites]
That Dobson article’s description of the Lilly Library and Indiana University, though. Oof.
Far away in south central Indiana, for example, can be found the Lilly Library, an Albert Speer-style Neoclassical limestone bunker funded by the multinational pharmaceuticals corporation which manufactures Prozac. Here, at a university of little other interest except to basketball fans...posted by Thorzdad at 3:57 AM on April 30 [2 favorites]
I like the description of the Glasgow University first folio which was annotated by someone who appears to have known the actors who originally performed the works.
Would love to know how someone worked out that oak galls would somehow make the basis of the best ink.
posted by rongorongo at 8:07 AM on April 30 [1 favorite]
Would love to know how someone worked out that oak galls would somehow make the basis of the best ink.
posted by rongorongo at 8:07 AM on April 30 [1 favorite]
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posted by avocet at 8:31 AM on April 29 [14 favorites]