The Printing of Shakespeare's First Folio Quiz

Answer: 1623

1603 James I came to the throne of England upon the death of Queen Elizabeth I. James was also King James VI of Scotland.

1616 is the year that Shakespeare died. Some people say he was getting drunk with some of his mates, was caught in a thunderstorm, and died of pneumonia. Interesting as this story might be there is no evidence to suggest it is true.

1632 is the date of the 2nd Folio.

Answer: 1 Pound

1 pound. In today's money it would cost about 90 pounds to about 110 pounds or about $140 to $145 depending on the exchange rate. A copy was evaluated at $15 million in 2008.

A guinea was worth about 1 pound 1 shilling or about $1.65 depending on the currency exchange rate. So 2 guineas was worth about $3.30. Interestingly enough gentlemen were paid in guineas, the plebes (the rest of the unwashed masses) were paid in pounds.

A groat was a silver coin worth 4 pence (Sterling). So 10 groats would be worth about 40 pence (sterling). In today's money it would be worth about 30 pounds or $45 depending on the exchange rate. This would be face value only. It would probably be worth much more to a coin collector. As an aside, Shakespeare seems to be mentioned, unfavorably in Robert Greene's pamphlet "A Groats-Worth of Wit" when he writes

"...for there is an upstart Crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his Tygers hart wrapt in a Players hyde, supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blanke verse as the best of you: and being an absolute Johannes fac totum, is in his owne conceit the onely Shake-scene in a countrey."

Of course Greene was a particularly nasty person who only thought of himself as a decent playwright. He died broke in 1592.

The shilling was a coin that went back to the Anglo Saxon period and was worth 1/20th of a pound. So 15 shillings was worth about 3/4 of a pound or about $1.00 depending on the exchange rate.

Answer: 36

The First Folio did not contain all of Shakespeare's plays. In the 1623 First Folio "Two Noble Kinsmen" (1612-14) and "Pericles - Prince of Tyre" (1609) are not found. These two plays are thought to have been written in collaboration with other playwrights.

Answer: James Mabbe

James Mabbe is the correct answer. He was an Oxford educated poet and translator. He translated works by Miguel de Cervantes, the author of "Don Quixote." His First Folio poem is eight lines long.

"WEE wondred (Shake-speare) that thou went'st so soone
From the Worlds-Stage, to the Graves-Tyring-roome.
Wee thought thee dead, but this thy printed worth,
Tels thy Spectators, that thou went'st but forth
To enter with applause. An Actors Art,
Can dye, and live, to acte a second part.
That's but an Exit of Mortalitie;
This, a Re-entrance to a Plaudite."

Ben Jonson is probably the best known of the poets who wrote dedicatory poems in the First Folio. Jonson took a little dig at Shakespeare's lack of university education with the lines "And though thou hadst small Latine, and lesse Greeke,/From thence to honour thee, I would not seeke. . ." Jonson's First Folio poem is the longest.

Hugh Holland was a Welsh-born, Cambridge educated, poet and travelled throughout Europe and the middle east. His First Folio poem is a sonnet 14 lines in length.

Leonard Digges was an Oxford educated poet and translator. His father, Thomas, was a famous astronomer. His First Folio poem is 22 lines long.

Answer: Martin Droeshout

Martin Droeshout is the correct answer. This engraving in the First Folio is praised for its accuracy by Ben Jonson. This engraving is also used in the second and third Folios, but because of crosshatching in the subsequent folios, Shakespeare's forehead seems to be expanding.

Nicholas Hilliard was a well known artist who painted tiny portraits of the rich and famous during the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods. One of his miniatures, "Man Clasping Hand From A Cloud,"(1588)is possibly a portrait of Shakespeare.

John Taylor is believed to be the artist who painted the Chandos portrait of Shakespeare. No other works of art by Taylor are known. He was, however, a member of the Worshipful Company of Painter-Stainers. It is known as the Chandos portrait because it belonged to the family of the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos.

Gerard Johnson came to England from Holland. He and his father were both sculptors. Gerard Johnson's bust of Shakespeare is found over his tomb in Trinity Church, Stratford on Avon.

Answer: About 1000

About 225 copies of the First Folio are believed to still exist.

Answer: Five

There are believed to have been five compositors who put together the type for the First Folio. They are named A through E, and are distinguished from each other by spelling, accuracy, etc. A is the most competent compositor, and E is least. One of them is believed to have been named John Shakespeare (no relation to William) who worked with William and Issac Jaggard who printed the book. One of the compositors was thought to have been an apprentice because of his many errors and the limited number of lines he worked on.

Answer: The Tempest

None of these four plays had been printed before the First Folio.

Answer: Troilus and Cressida

The reason that "Troilus and Cressida" did not appear in the Table of Contents may have been because there were some problems with the rights to the play. The problems seem to have been resolved, or possibly who had the rights to the play were ignored. This was a fairly common practise among printers of the time.

Answer: One

A sheet of paper is folded once to create a folio. It consists of two leaves and four pages. The First Folio was printed in "sixes." This means that three sheets of paper were folded once and then slipped inside each other for six leaves and twelve pages.

The printing sequence would be pages 1 and 12 were printed together on the outer leaf. Then pages 2 and 11 were printed together on the inner leaf. Next came 3 and 10 as the outer leaf and 4 and 9 as the inner leaf. Finally 5 and 8 were the outer and 6 and 7 were the inner.

When all this printing was finished the 12 pages were stitched together to await binding. The printer could then start on pages 13 through 24. Try keeping all that in your head at once.