This, the second edition of the collected plays of William Shakespeare, is commonly known as "the second folio." The so-called "first folio" was printed in London and issued in 1623 by Isaac Jaggard and Edward Blount. It contained 36 plays, 18 of which had never before appeared in print, including Macbeth, The tempest, and Julius Caesar. Before the first folio, a number of Shakespeare's plays had been published in various smaller formats that were often edited poorly, with significant textual divergences between editions.

The front matter contains commendatory verses and epistles dedicatory from contemporaries and admirers of Shakespeare, including Ben Jonson, James Mabbe, Leonard Digges, Hugh Holland, and John Milton. "An epitaph on the admirable dramaticke," included for the first time in the second folio, is Milton's first published poem.

This edition was issued with numerous variant imprints, each reflecting the names of different booksellers who had shares in the venture. Remainder stock was reissued, probably ca. 1641 and again at a later date. See: Todd, W.B., "Issues and states of the Second Folio", in Studies in bibliography, v.5 (1952-53), p. [81]-108. Greg also enumerates these variants.

Colophon: Printed at London by Thomas Cotes, for John Smethwick, William Aspley, Richard Hawkins, Richard Meighen, and Robert Allot, 1632.

Signatures: [superscript pi]Áœ *́þ A-2B́œ 2C℗ø a-ýœ 2a-3ćœ 3d́þ

Numerous missigned leaves and errors in pagination are present. See Greg for further detail.

Title page vignette (Droeshout portrait); head- and tailpieces; initials.

Bartlett, H.C. Shakespeare early editions, 120

Boston Public Library. Barton collection catalogue, p. 2

ESTC S111235

Greg, III, p. 1113-15[dagger]

Pforzheimer, 906

STC (2nd ed.) 22274a

Boston Public Library (Rare Books Department) copy bound in modern red morocco with raised spine bands and housed in a green cloth box. All text block edges are gilt. Margins of the final leaf (3d4) are trimmed away and the remaining page content laid into a new sheet. Leaf [superscript pi]A1 is rebacked. All leaves of front matter appear to be tipped-in, though tight gutters preclude definitive examination of 2 and 4. Additional leaves that have been similarly treated include: C4, G1, S2, S3, Z6, 2A1, a2, d1, 2d5, 2h2, 2i3-2i5, 2t6, 2v1, and 3d3. Some of these leaves contain watermarks that indicate their origins outside of this copy. At least half of sheet [superscript pi]A2.5, which contains both the title page and the Milton epitaph, represents one such example, as both of its leaves contain watermarks and only one half of a folio sheet is normally so marked. Richard Heber's inscription and ink stamp are both present on the front flyleaf recto. The armorial bookplate of the Barton Library is present on the front pastedown.

Boston Public Library (Rare Books Department) copy contains front matter that displays the typographical peculiarities characteristic of the first issue, variant Ib, as described by W.B. Todd. However, because the issues and variants are differentiated via their front matter, the entirety of this copy cannot be conclusively ascribed to any one of them.