SC #: 5114

Location: Free Library of Philadelphia

Shelfmark: RBD EL SH15M 1623

Notes about issue: This edition exists in three distinct states: the first includes copies that were sold without Troilus and Cressida; the second contains Troilus and Cressida but without its prologue and with a redundant final page of Romeo and Juliet crossed out by the printer; the third includes a cancel leaf with the Prologue of Troilus on its recto and the first page of the play, reprinted from a new setting of type, on its verso. In none of the states is Troilus included in the "Catalogue" of plays.

Provenance: Belleroche family ; Christie’s ; MacGeorge, Bernard Buchanan (1845?–1924) ; Milton, John (1608–1674) ; Perry, Marsden J. (1850-1935) ; Rosenbach, A.S.W. (1876-1952) ; Wichfeld, Josephine Widener (1902–1961) ; Widener, Joseph Early (1872–1943) ; Widener, Peter A.B. (1895–1948)

Provenance notes: First binder's leaf verso: "ex libris joseph widener." Identified by Claire Bourne and Jason Scott-Warren as the copy once owned by John Milton.

Leaf Height: 32.7 cm

Leaf Width: 20.7 cm

Marginalia: Extensively annotated with verbal corrections and alterations, and marginal brackets. Prologue to Romeo and Juliet is added in MS.

Rasmussen & West #: 179

Rasmussen & West notes: Joseph Early Widener (1872-1943), an owner of this copy, was the second member of the Widener family to own a First Folio. His nephew, Harry Elkins Widener (1885-1912), had acquired a Folio, copy 151, in 1907. Joseph lost his older brother, George Dunton Widener, and nephew Harry in the sinking of the Titanic in 1912...This volume is heavily annotated and the manuscript is in two hands that appear to date from the 17th century. Many of the annotations are focused on removing perceived obscenities and correcting typographical mistakes. There are also examples of more detailed literary commentary, identification of sources, and the marking of songs.

Binding: The binding is dark brown calfskin. There is no ornamentation on the boards. The spine has six ribs and gold-tooled ornamentation. The second panel has a reddish leather patch with “SHAKESPEA | WORKS” gold-tooled on it. William Spawn believed the binding was done in London in the eighteenth century. The British Library's binding specialist confims that the binder was also a binder for Samuel Pepys.

For scholarship on this copy, see: Claire M.L. Bourne and Jason Scott-Warren, '“thy unvalued Booke”: John Milton's Copy of the Shakespeare First Folio,' Milton Quarterly 56 (2022): 1–85.