Francis Windebank's First Folio

Topic: Francis Windebank's First Folio?

1. Verified Sourced Facts

• No independently verified provenance chain has been isolated in this packet yet. The current file preserves a Ken Feinstein blog-led investigation anchored to image witnesses and named external sources.
• The First Folios project page for the State Library of New South Wales confirms that the copy was presented to the library by Richard and George Tangye in 1885, is the only First Folio known to be housed in Australia, and contains 17th-century inscriptions.
• The same page records the inscription at the end of Hamlet as:

“Elizabeth Windebank Her Book”

• The same page states that Troylus and Cressida was added in secretary hand to the Catalogue, with a starting page number added next to The Winters Tale.
• A State Library of NSW article similarly identifies the library's First Folio as the sole First Folio in Australia and describes it as a Tangye gift.

2. Ken Feinstein Twitter and Blog Information

• A Ken Feinstein blog post dated 17 May 2021 states that a First Folio held at the State Library of New South Wales contains two ownership marks:

“Elizabeth Windebank Her Book”

• The same post states that another inscription reads:

“The vnworthest of your seruants Tho: Hurst”

• The same post states:

“An additional notation in secretary hand adds Troilus and Cressida to the play list.”

• The same post identifies:

“Francis Windebank (1582-1641)”

• The same post describes him as:

“a prominent political figure and literary patron with connections to John Florio and poet John Suckling”

• The same post gives a proposed provenance chain beginning with:

“Thomas Windebank (elder): Close friend and neighbor of Henry Neville”

• The same post also notes:

“John Parkhurst, another Neville associate, served as chaplain accompanying Neville to France and was installed at Shellingford.”

• The same post states that the Thomas Hurst inscription is investigated using:

“Old Bailey Online trial record”

• The same post also cites:

“a dissertation by Professor Jennine Hurl-Eamon on Thomas Hurst”

3. Quoted Source Text

Ken Feinstein blog post, 17 May 2021

• “Elizabeth Windebank Her Book”
• “The vnworthest of your seruants Tho: Hurst”
• “An additional notation in secretary hand adds Troilus and Cressida to the play list.”
• “Francis Windebank (1582-1641)”
• “a prominent political figure and literary patron with connections to John Florio and poet John Suckling”
• “Thomas Windebank (elder): Close friend and neighbor of Henry Neville”
• “The Windebanks were close friends and neighbors of the Nevilles.”
• “John Parkhurst, another Neville associate, served as chaplain accompanying Neville to France and was installed at Shellingford.”
• “Old Bailey Online trial record”
• “a dissertation by Professor Jennine Hurl-Eamon on Thomas Hurst”

4. Citations

• Feinstein, Ken. “Francis Windebank's First Folio?” kenfeinstein.blogspot.com, 17 May 2021, https://kenfeinstein.blogspot.com/2021/05/francis-windebanks-first-folio.html. Local preservation: blog_windebank_first_folio_2021-05-17.md.
• “State Library of New South Wales.” First Folios, Adam Matthew Digital, https://firstfolios.com/view-first-folios/state-library-of-new-south-wales.
• Kells, Stuart. “All the Will in the World.” State Library of New South Wales, 2023, https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/stories/all-will-world.
• anne_killigrew_neville.md, related packet for Anne Neville / Windebank correspondence context.
• john_chamber.md, related packet for Parkhurst / France-adjacent clerical context.

5. Evidence Images

6. Notes on Access

• This packet preserves the blog post’s provenance investigation as a Ken Feinstein research packet.
• The question mark in the title matters: this packet preserves a proposed provenance chain, not an established ownership conclusion.
• The current repository named in the preserved blog post is the State Library of New South Wales.
• The preserved post names several external sources, but the local export does not preserve all of their stable URLs; where the post only preserves a source name, this packet keeps the source name without inventing a link.
• The Old Bailey Online reference and the Jennine Hurl-Eamon dissertation reference are not yet specific enough in the packet to be independently located.
• The strongest current evidence in this packet is the image-preserved inscription layer; the wider Windebank/Neville provenance chain remains a research argument rather than a hardened sourced fact.
• The official/public web layer now verifies the existence of the Elizabeth Windebank inscription and the Troilus/Cressida catalogue addition, but it does not verify the proposed Neville-to-Windebank provenance chain.