The Shakespeare First Folios: A Descriptive Catalogue
Eric Rasmussen -- along with UNR graduate students Mark Farnsworth, Lara Hansen, Trey Jansen, and Sarah Stewart -- has published
The Shakespeare First Folios: A Descriptive Catalogue (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012). This 935-page book is the result of two decades of research during which 232 surviving copies of this immeasureably important book were located -- a remarkable 72 more than were recorded in the previous census over a century ago -- and examined
in situ. The only comprehensive listing of all extant copies of the First Folio, this work offers full bibliographic descriptions of each extant copy, including detailed accounts of press variants, watermarks, damage or repair, leaves in facsimile, annotations, bindings, and provenance (including fascinating stories about previous owners and incidents). This unique reference work will prove essential to Shakespeare scholars, auction houses, book collectors, curators, librarians, and specialist book dealers, as well as students of Shakespeare and all readers with an interest in the history of the book.
