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This fall, librarians at a public library in St. Omer, France were preparing for an exhibition on British literature when they stumbled upon an extraordinary find: A first folio of Shakespeare's plays. These books are considered among the rarest in existence, and this particular discovery brings the known total to 233.
This Folio, which includes 36 of Shakespeare's 38 plays, had been misidentified as "an unremarkable old edition," according to the New York Times. Printed in 1623, seven years after Shakespeare's death, the volume was missing its title and other introductory pages. However, Rémy Cordonnier, the director of the library’s medieval and early modern collection, suspected it might be a first folio. To confirm, he reached out to Eric Rasmussen, a Shakespeare expert from the University of Nevada. Rasmussen was able to authenticate the book within minutes.
"This is massive," Rasmussen told the Times. "First folios are incredibly rare, and when one does appear, it’s usually in poor condition. But this one is stunning."
Each First Folio has its unique characteristics, and this one is no different; it also includes several handwritten annotations, such as a modification in Henry IV, where "hostess" Mistress Quickly is changed to "host" and "wench" is swapped for "fellow," potentially suggesting a change in gender during a past performance of the play.
There is a possibility that this Folio was left behind when St. Omers College—established in 1593 by Jesuit priests to provide a Catholic education to English boys—was expelled from the region in 1762. (The college later renamed itself Stonyhurst College and is now located in Clitheroe, England.) "This specific copy bears the name Neville on its first page," Rasmussen told NPR. "Neville was the alias adopted by the Scarisbrick family, Catholic nobles. Edward Scarisbrick, who used the name Neville, is known to have attended Saint-Omer College."
