PARIS — The accidental discovery in a small library in northern France of an original first folio of Shakespeare’s plays has sent a jolt of excitement around the world of Shakespeare scholars.
The find brings the total of known folios in the world to 233, and is significant as each first folio can contain variations that shed light on the bard’s intentions. Among the 900 pages of the most recent discovery are rare annotations that suggest it was used for performance.
Scholars have not yet had a chance to carry out the painstaking comparisons with the texts of other folios to determine what variations the latest discovery might contain.
Remy Cordonnier, the director of the Saint-Omer library’s medieval and early modern collection, happened upon the folio among the belongings of a Jesuit evangelist that were bequeathed from a now-defunct Jesuit college in the town.
“I first tried to keep a level head as I wasn’t sure 100 percent of its authenticity,” Cordonnier said.
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