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Sophisticating the First Folio
The obsession with the First Folios in the 19th century led booksellers and collectors to create what are known as "sophisticated" or "made-up" folios. These consisted of incomplete folios that were "perfected" through the addition of pages from other incomplete First Folios or through the creation of printed or handwritten facsimile pages.
All of the Folios selected for the tour are made-up copies, as are the vast majority of the 82 First Folios in the Folger vault. The stories of their incompleteness and their consequent "perfection" reveal the desire of earlier owners and collectors to own complete copies, and the lengths that booksellers would go to satisfy the demand. |