In celebration of the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth, I will be posting about our holdings every day in April.

The first play by Shakespeare to be printed, as far as we know, was Titus Andronicus in 1594, which survives in only one copy. It was discovered in Sweden in 1904, purchased by Henry Clay Folger, and now resides at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C.  Of the many editions of the plays which were published in quarto prior to 1700, the Watkinson owns only two—the first separate edition (1684) of Julius Caesar, and the fourth edition (1681) of Othello.

Both of these were given by Allerton C. Hickmott (Hon. 1958), a very generous donor to the Watkinson who gave both books and funds for acquisitions. Among his many gifts were private press books and English imprints ranging from the 16th to the 19th centuries, especially (as here) Elizabethan and Jacobean titles.

In the case of Julius Caesar, five more editions were produced in the next 6 years, mostly due to the performances of actor Thomas Betterton and to a general interest in the tragedies.