Shakespeare's Globe

This copy of the First Folio is on display at Shakespeare’s Globe. Commonly known as the Munro copy, it belonged to Sir Thomas Munro, member of the East India Company and administrator in India. Prior to that, the copy was owned by Gilbert Laing Meason until 1837 when Munro acquired it. It stayed in the family until it was sold to R. Spencer at an auction in 1976 for £12,000, and later in 2008, also during an auction sale, this time for £446,250, to a private owner. This copy shows various instances where repairs have been made: the title page is a facsimile although the portrait is original. Ben Jonson’s verses as well as some pages at the end of Cymbeline are also facsimiles. The volume contains some names and initials written in at several places in the book: “Ann Bruce” can be seen written around the title of The Tempest; “James Graham with his hand” is found at the bottom of a play. A manicule indicating Ophelia’s line “rich gifts wax poor, when givers prove unkind” can be seen as well as various ways to highlight selected lines. Emma Smith also notes that this Folio shows “lots of signs of convivial reading: some greasy stains that probably represent food, and some tiny burn holes that are clues to pipe-smoking”. Some early readers have also corrected mistakes in the printed text: adding speech prefixes and missing words for instance.