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Shakespeare expert Dr Emma Smith looks at the Oxford story of the first collected edition of Shakespeare’s plays, published in 1623 and known as the First Folio.

Copies of Shakespeare’s First Folio have travelled far and wide since the book’s publication. Smith focuses on the varied stories of copies in and around Oxford to understand the different meanings this book has gathered over four centuries. From the adventures of the Bodleian’s copy in – and beyond – the library, to the impact of the First Folio on Shakespeare’s great 18th-century interpreter David Garrick – find out why this iconic book matters, and more about how readers, performers, actors, collectors and scholars (as well as some wine glasses and cats) have left their mark on its pages. 

Smith is a fellow and tutor in English at Hertford College, Oxford. She has published and lectured widely on Shakespeare and his contemporaries.

Presented by the Bodleian Libraries