The First Folio, printed in 1623, represented the first time that nearly all of
William Shakespeare’s plays were published together. It is also the first time
that nearly half of his plays appeared in print, and the first time that the plays
were sorted into the categories of “comedy,” “tragedy,” and “history” that are
still used today. The Rosenbach does not have a First Folio. (Dr. Rosenbach sold
his copy in 1952 a few months before his death.) We own two Second Folios,
one of which you see here. The Second Folio was published in 1632 and includes
almost 1,700 language changes from the First Folio.