Henry VI Part 1

This facsimile edition of Henry VI Part 1 is taken from the large and handsome book known simply as the ‘First Folio’. This is the earliest collected edition of Shakespeare’s plays and was was printed in 1623, just seven years after his death.


For students of Henry VI Part 1, going back to these First Folio plays is an essential part of a more complete understanding of Shakespeare's work.


Eighteen of Shakespeare’s plays had already been published in the small, cheap format known as quartos during his lifetime, including such favourites as A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet. The First Folio added another eighteen, including Macbeth, The Tempest and Twelfth Night all of which are indispensable to the modern repertory. Without the First Folio only half of Shakespeare’s dramatic output would have survived.


Henry VI Part I is one of Shakespeare's history plays, possibly written with Thomas Nashe in 1591. It draws heavily on inspiration from Holinshed's 'Chronicles', as well as Edward Hall's 'The Union of the Two Noble and Illustre Families of Lancaster and York'. It is not generally regarded as one of Shakespeare's finer plays.


This is an eBookTreasures facsimile edition.