In May 2023 I took myself off to London to see as many of the First Folio copies that were on display as part of the celebrations of the 400th anniversary of the printing of the First Folio. This is a pictorial record of the day to accompany the podcast episode first released 5th June 2023 as part 1 of a short mini-series on the First Folio.
These three copies were all on display at Christie’s. the world famous auction house. Here is the Murray copy open at the famous frontispiece portrait of Shakespeare.
Then the Arundel Castle copy, open at the start of Richard 2nd, featuring the ancestor of the current owner, the Duke of Norfolk.
Then the Honeyman copy, open at the start of The Tempest.
Also on display at Christie’s was the Gray-Blatchford-Sterling copy showing Troylus and Cressida.
The Vernon copy was open at the start of Twelfth Night and shows the decretive scrolls used to fill empty space at the end of a play.
and finally the Halliwell-Watson copy showing the opening of Macbeth.
The Victorian memorial to John Heminge and Henry Cowell situated in the small park in Love Lane.
and the modern British Library building that houses many great British and global literary treasures.
Shakespeare’s Globe – a modern replica sited just a few hundred yards from the site of the original theatre – as seen from the Millennium Bridge.
From the same bridge there are great views of the Southwark side of the river Thames and towards Tower Bridge and the modern spires of the city.
