First Folio

High school (ages 12+)
Art & Creativity

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/first-folio

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the publication date?November 8, 1623
2. What is the editors and compilers?John Heminges and Henry Condell
3. Why did John Heminges and Henry Condell create the First Folio?They wanted to save Shakespeare's plays, which were only in fragile manuscripts or small quarto editions. Printing them in a large, high‑quality folio made the plays more permanent and respected.
4. How many copies of the First Folio were made and how many still exist?About 750 copies were printed in 1623. Today only 235 copies are known to survive.

Folio: A large book format created by folding large sheets of paper once, resulting in pages of significant size.
Quarto: A smaller book format produced by folding paper sheets four times, yielding smaller pages than a folio.
Canonical: Considered to be part of an accepted, authoritative collection of works, especially in literature.
Ephemeral: Lasting for a very short time; transient, referring to works not intended for permanent preservation.