Romeo and JulietAstrological allusions and earthquake reference may suggest composition in 1595-96.Reference in Act 1 Scene 2 to courtiers being afraid of a strange lion may allude to an incident in Scotland in 1594 A Midsummer Night's DreamOften dated to 1595-96.Love's Labour's LostAn edition of the play in 1598 refers to it being 'presented before her Highness this last Christmas', and most scholars date it to 1595-96.The Comedy of ErrorsWas possibly written for Gray's Inn Christmas festivities for the legal profession in December 1594.

Richard IIICould have been written in 1592, shortly before the plague struck, or in 1594 when the theatres reopened post-plague.Henry VI Part IGenerally assumed to be the 'harey the vi' performed at the Rose Theatre in 1592.Titus AndronicusWritten in 1591/92, with its first performance possibly in January 1594.The Two Gentlemen of VeronaKnown to be written around the 1590s as it was mentioned by Francis Meres in his list of Shakespeare's plays in 1598, no firm evidence for a particular year.Henry VI Part IIIWritten immediately after Part II, a short version of the play was published in Octavo form in 1595.

Henry VI Part IIBelieved to have been written in 1591 and Shakespeare's first play based on English history.

It was put up for auction by Mills College, a private liberal arts college in Oakland, California. The October 14 sale was the first time in nearly 20 years that a complete copy of the First Folio had come to auction. Without the First Folio some of Shakespeare's most famous lines would likely have been lost, including classics like 'Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears,' from Julius Caesar, and 'If music be the food of love, play on,' from Twelfth Night. The book's large size – previously reserved for law books and works of theology – helped raise Shakespeare's status in future years, Christie's books experts said. The First Folio marked the first time that Shakespeare's plays had been organised as comedies, tragedies and histories. It will ultimately serve as a centrepiece of a great collection of intellectual achievements of man,' Loewentheil said in a statement. 'It is an honour to purchase one of only a handful of complete copies of this epochal volume. It includes 18 plays that had never been published before and might have been lost, including Macbeth and Julius Caesar. The price also marked a new world auction record for any printed work of literature, and smashed the previous high of $6.16 million for a Shakespeare First Folio that was set in 2001, the auction company said.Ĭomedies, Histories and Tragedies was compiled by friends of the English playwright seven years after his death. From Margaret Atwood to Edward Snowden: eight must-stream sessions from Frankfurt Book Fair

Collection of shakespeare plays