Shakespeare A to Z | Quartos and Folios
The terms quarto and folio are used to refer to the formats of books. To make a quarto, each sheet of paper is folded in half twice, producing a gathering of four leaves or eight pages. To make a folio, each sheet of paper is folded in half just once, forming a gathering of two leaves or four pages. Of Shakespeare’s 38 plays, at least 22 were initially published as quartos. The first edition of Shakespeare’s collected plays, however, was published in folio format and is known as the FIRST FOLIO.
Early scholars used the First Folio as their main source for the plays, but...
[The entire page is 274 words long]