Home / Topics / First Folio Tweet Threads

First Folio Tweet Threads

Lead Draft lead packet

Topic: First Folio Tweet Threads

No verified sourced facts have been isolated in this packet yet; current value is mainly as a source map or lead packet.
Folgerpedia summarizes the orthodox bibliographical baseline: the 1623 First Folio was published seven years after Shakespeare's death, compiled by John Heminges and Henry Condell, and preserved 18 plays that first appeared in print there.
The Folgerpedia page also states that about 750 copies are believed to have been printed and that 235 copies are currently known, with the Folger holding 82.

“Love’s Martyr, Shakespeare’s Merry Wives of Windsor, and Devils Charter all begin with curious references to the Star Chamber.”
“Henry Neville makes a curious reference to it himself in 1604.”
“The fact that Henry Neville owned copies of Gli Hecatommithi (source for Othello and Measure for Measure) and Gesta Danorum (source for Hamlet) along with many many other known Shakespeare sources is a complete and utter coincidence.”
“The fact that in 1593 Venus and Adonis and 1594 Rape of Lucrece were dedicated to the Earl of Southampton and Henry Neville was his co-conspirator in the Essex Rebellion in 1601 is a total and absolute coincidence as is the pro-Essex content of Henry V.”
“The fact that Ben Jonson wrote an Epigram to Henry Neville and Henry Neville was both close with the Herbert/Sidney family both as friends and political allies is a complete and total coincidence with the First Folio edited by Ben Jonson and dedicated to the Herbert Brothers.”
“The connection between Shakespeare’s sonnets and the Tempest and the Virginia Company, for which Henry Neville was a director along with Southampton and William Herbert, is a complete and utter coincidence.”

“Then in 1622 Walkley published a Quarto of the unpublished Othello... Which also appeared a year later in the First Folio.”
“Tracing the publication history of the First Folio is a key part of solving the Shakespeare Authorship Question.”
“Anne Killigrew Neville is likely a key figure in Shakespeare authorship research.”
“This dedication ties the Neville family directly to John Fletcher, Shakespeare's co-author.”

“Here is a transcription of the famous Shakespeare/Jonson anecdote.”
“It was collected by Henry Neville's granddaughter's husband.”
“This is not widely known. It's very important.”
“Who was the First Folio dedicated to. Basics. Start there. Read the dedication. Work backwards.”

“Who now calls on thee Neville means, now that you have passed away, we call on you in prayer and love and remembrance.”
“This is the most important document in Neville research because Jonson is the most important character in this story.”

“In 1623 when the First Folio was printed, the Herbert brothers were the patrons of the Neville family.”
“The author was dead of course. But that doesn't mean his descendants weren't involved.”
“Remember in the Epigram Jonson wrote to Henry Neville he specifically mentions posterity.”

This is a lead packet, not a primary-source packet.
The thread aggregates multiple source clusters already represented elsewhere in the corpus.
Its value is as a preserved Ken Feinstein synthesis layer for First Folio-related lines of inquiry.
Use this packet to route work, not as the final evidentiary basis for a claim. The verified facts belong in the dedicated Ben Jonson, Herbert brothers, Jaggard/Blount, Walkley, Windebank, and source-book packets.