Fourth folio

Title page

Fourth Folio ( English Fourth Folio ) - the publication of the works of Shakespeare in 1685, repeating the Third folio . On the title page, a phrase from the 1664 edition was reproduced: “Seven plays never before printed in folio” ( Eng. Seven Plays Never before printed in Folio ) ^[1] .

Published by publishers R. Bentley, E. Brewster, R. Chizwell and G. Herringman (the last three subsequently participated in the publication of Ben Johnson's Third Folio in 1692). The publication included the same 43 plays as the Third Folio; The title page with a portrait of Shakespeare was reproduced by the First Folio ^[2] . Due to the thoroughness of the editorial work, the Fourth folio became the basis for Shakespearean editions of the 18th century ^[3] , in particular, collected works edited by Nicholas Rowe in 1709, editions of Pope, Theobald, and others. The reason for each play is located on a new page and is framed in a separate title page; although the composition of the meeting is repeated by the Third Folio, it is not a simple reprint. Structurally, the Fourth folio is divided into three parts, each with a separate pagination: comedy (272 pages), history and tragedy (including Romeo and Juliet , 328 pages) and the tragedy itself (including 7 apocryphal plays, 303 pages). Two pages in the play “The fruitless efforts of love ” are printed in smaller print, apparently, this was due to a typesetter error that did not fit into the allotted volume ^[4] .