First Folio Discovered in France
I'm sure a lot of people have seen this already but in case you haven't - the most exciting history news story of the day is the discovery of a Shakespeare First Folio in a library in St Omer in Northern France! It had been wrongly catalogued as an 18th century edition, meaning no-one realised its true value until now.
It was discovered by librarians planning an exhibition on the historic links between the region and England.
"The work has several pages missing, including the title page," librarian Remy Cordonnier told the press.
The Folio collects 36 of Shakespeare's 38 known plays for the first time, and was originally printed in 1623, seven years after the playwright's death.
The Folio contains several handwritten notes, which may illuminate how the plays were performed in Shakespeare's time.
In one scene from Henry IV, the word "hostess" is changed to "host" and "wench" to "fellow" - possibly reflecting an early performance where a female character was turned into a male.
The library says it has no plans to sell the book but intends to display it as the centrepiece of the forthcoming exhibition of its rare books by English authors.
However, the Folio is not the rarest book the Saint-Omer library owns. It also has a Gutenberg Bible, of which fewer than 50 are known to survive.
Source
It was discovered by librarians planning an exhibition on the historic links between the region and England.
"The work has several pages missing, including the title page," librarian Remy Cordonnier told the press.
The Folio collects 36 of Shakespeare's 38 known plays for the first time, and was originally printed in 1623, seven years after the playwright's death.
The Folio contains several handwritten notes, which may illuminate how the plays were performed in Shakespeare's time.
In one scene from Henry IV, the word "hostess" is changed to "host" and "wench" to "fellow" - possibly reflecting an early performance where a female character was turned into a male.
The library says it has no plans to sell the book but intends to display it as the centrepiece of the forthcoming exhibition of its rare books by English authors.
However, the Folio is not the rarest book the Saint-Omer library owns. It also has a Gutenberg Bible, of which fewer than 50 are known to survive.
Source