"The First Folio" is the collected edition of Shakespeare's plays and is one of the world's most famous books in the world (as well as being one of the highlights of the British Library's Treasures Gallery).

Published seven years after his death by Isaac Iaggard and Edward Blount, it was edited or overseen by his fellow actors, John Heminge and Henry Condell, and contains the texts of 36 plays, half of which had not previously been published.

The British Library and the Globe Theatre are working together to produce a series of facsimile editions of individual plays from the book, beginning with "Othello", "The Merchant of Venice" and "Love's Labour's Lost".

In addition to the text for the play, each title will include copies of the preliminary pages from the "Folio" including the portrait of Shakespeare, engraved by Martin Droeshout, and an introduction by Anthony James West, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of English Studies, University College London.