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The Second Folio, first issue, the edition that the Puritan scold William Prynne complained was printed on best crown paper. The Second Folio is notable for containing the first published poem in English of the 24-year-old John Milton, his lines ("What needs my Shakespeare for his honoured Bones...") printed anonymously on the Effigies leaf. The original edition was probably 1,000 copies, shared between the five publishers listed in the colophon. Copies were allocated between them according to the number of rights held. An entry in the Stationers' Register dated 16 November 1630 transferred the rights to 16 Shakespearean plays from Edward Blount to Robert Allot; these were 16 of the 18 plays in the First Folio that had not been previously published in quarto playbooks. Possession of the rights to those 16 plays made Allot the "principal publisher" of the Second Folio, and he received the lion's share of copies. This copy is one of those printed for him, in Todd's first issue, with the Effigies leaf in Smith's state C (initial "S" against a filigreed background). As Todd showed in 1953, copies of the first issue of the Second Folio were printed and sold in the manner stated on the title page in 1632; later issues, although still dated 1632, have the title and conjugate Effigies leaf on thicker paper and were sold by Allot's successors in 1641 and after. An early reader has taken exception to the innuendo-laden dialogue about "country matters" between The Second Folio, first issue, the edition that the Puritan scold William Prynne complained was printed on best crown paper. The Second Folio is notable for containing the first published poem in English of the 24-year-old John Milton, his lines ("What needs my Shakespeare for his honoured Bones...") printed anonymously on the Effigies leaf. The original edition was probably 1,000 copies, shared between the five publishers listed in the colophon. Copies were allocated between them according to the number of rights held. An entry in the Stationers' Register dated 16 November 1630 transferred the rights to 16 Shakespearean plays from Edward Blount to Robert Allot; these were 16 of the 18 plays in the First Folio that had not been previously published in quarto playbooks. Possession of the rights to those 16 plays made Allot the "principal publisher" of the Second Folio, and he received the lion's share of copies. This copy is one of those printed for him, in Todd's first issue, with the Effigies leaf in Smith's state C (initial "S" against a filigreed background). As Todd showed in 1953, copies of the first issue of the Second Folio were printed and sold in the manner stated on the title page in 1632; later issues, although still dated 1632, have the title and conjugate Effigies leaf on thicker paper and were sold by Allot's successors in 1641 and after. An early reader has taken exception to the innuendo-laden dialogue about "country matters" between Hamlet and Ophelia (Act 3, Scene 2 in modern editions) and has censored six lines at the foot of the left-hand column with ink, as well as rubbing hard enough at the paper to create a hole with loss of four letters to the line "Come, some music" on the verso. From the library of the noted physician and book collector Bent Juel Jensen (1922-2006), acquired by him from Maggs Bros. in 1952, with his pencilled note to that effect on the rear pastedown. In 1953, he bought another To the Reader leaf and later commissioned Sangorski & Sutcliffe to restore and replace the original with it; their invoice for the work, dated 27 April 1961, is laid in. Folio (329 x 218 mm). Seventeenth-century dark calf, sides decorated in blind with a central two-line frame enclosing a narrow floral roll, vase of flowers tool at corners, two-line outer rule. Expertly rebacked by Sangorski & Sutcliffe with original spine laid down, old red morocco label, leather restorations to upper and lower spine compartments, lower outer corner of front board, and smaller repairs to other corners, endpapers replaced. Housed in a custom brown morocco folding case, spine lettered and decorated in gilt. 454 leaves, complete. Title incorporating large engraved portrait of Shakespeare by Martin Droeshout, woodcut head- and tailpieces and initials. Early ownership inscription of James Harrison cropped at head of L1r, a few marginal corrections supplied in ink. "To the Reader" leaf supplied from another copy and restored at blank upper outer margin, title page mounted and repaired (some restoration affecting a few letters), a few scattered spill burns or rust holes touching letters, G3 with clean marginal tear into text neatly mended without loss, small hole in M3 with loss of one letter on recto, paper flaw in q4 affecting a few letters on three lines either side of the leaf, some mild scattered staining, including water, foodstuffs, and ink (all minor, except at the foot of qq4 recto, Hamlet, where an effort has been made to block out six lines on the recto, with small loss to one line on the verso), last leaf (ddd4) repaired and restored at lower outer corner with portion of printed frame supplied, text not affected. Overall, a very good copy. ESTC S111233; Pforzheimer 906; STC 22274. William B. Todd, "The Issues and States of the Second Folio and Milton's Epitaph on Shakespeare", Studies in Bibliography, vol. 5, pp. 81-108.

The First Folio is the first collected edition of William Shakespeare's plays, published in 1623. It is also known as 'Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies'.