![]() His poems would be reintegrated into his works only at the end of the 18th century, by which time interest was greater in the sonnets than in the narrative poetry (see “ Scandalous Sonnets”).Ī prefatory poem by Ben Jonson likewise makes a lasting claim in describing Shakespeare’s relevance as transcending cultural change: “not of an age, but for all time!” Paradoxically, the poems’ popularity in 1623 and unavailability for inclusion in the First Folio may be why Shakespeare would become known almost exclusively as a playwright thereafter. If they were even approached by Heminge and Condell, the copyright holders of Shakespeare’s narrative poems had no incentive to make the works available to the Folio’s publishers – the two narrative poems would continue to sell well through the 1630s. Venus and Adonis had been published 16 times by 1623: even Richard III, published 6 times by 1623 and Shakespeare’s most popular play in print, was not nearly as strong a seller. Shakespeare’s narrative poems, The Rape of Lucrece and especially Venus and Adonis, were bestsellers, the works for which he was arguably best known. Notably absent from the First Folio’s generic categories was poetry. These labels worked well with some plays and raised questions about others. Comedy, history, and tragedy were the only generic rubrics they provided. Heminge and Condell divided the plays into three genres, suggesting a way of categorizing them that still often shapes analysis of these plays. In its organization and prefatory content, the First Folio suggested ideas about Shakespeare and approaches to his work that would prove influential for centuries. (Some surviving copies of the First Folio indicate that Troilus and Cressida was intended to be placed elsewhere in the book, with printing halted when copyright presumably was not yet available.) This was a complex endeavor: the copyright of one play, Troilus and Cressida, must have been secured only at the last minute, as it is printed first in the “Tragedies” without being listed in the table of contents. They would have tracked down the various publishers holding copyright of many of Shakespeare’s plays as well as the surviving texts of those plays that were unpublished. The First Folio was shepherded into print by Shakespeare’s fellow shareholders in the King’s Men company, John Heminge and Henry Condell. In this copy, a former owner has written the title in by hand. The absence of Troilus and Cressida in the Catalogue, though it is printed in the book, hints at difficulties the publisher may have had in obtaining copyright of this play. The Catalogue (table of contents) of the First Folio suggests that Shakespeare’s peers thought of his plays as categorized into different genres. They might well not have been searched out without a sense that all of Shakespeare’s works – at least his dramatic works – were “for all time,” as the Folio was first to argue. Some of these editions survived in just a few copies or even a single copy. The early quartos are the rarest of Shakespeare’s texts, precisely because they were not much valued for so long. Not until the 18th century, when Shakespeare’s reputation had grown considerably and when his editors began a concerted hunt for all early Shakespeare editions to help them generate “authoritative” texts of the plays, were many of these earlier publications located and studied. ![]() These 18 had been published in the smaller, less culturally prestigious quarto format (and one in a smaller edition) seen as appropriate to plays, themselves not valued highly (see “ Jonson’s Workes”). Had the First Folio not inaugurated an account of Shakespeare as a playwright of particular importance, all of whose works were to be valued and seen as a collective body, many of the other 18 plays it included that had already been published by 1623 might similarly have been lost to time. Yet even this measure of 18 otherwise unpublished plays understates the role of the First Folio in preserving Shakespeare’s corpus. You'll also save money if you build the home yourself rather than hire someone, but you'll need a license and a special type of construction loan.The frontispiece image of William Shakespeare has become famous, even as the poem opposite, written by Ben Jonson, urges the reader to see the author as more truly represented by the “wit” within the pages of the book. Remember, the actual cost of building a home will be based on several factors, including where you live and whether you're hiring a production builder or customized builder. You may also spend money on clearing land to build your home on a plot, repairing an existing foundation, or structuring your home so it's built on stilts. That's because costs can depend on factors such as where you live and which materials you're using for your home. ![]() You'll notice some of these expenses vary drastically. ![]()
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