The Third Folio

Title page of the Third Folio, 2nd edition, 1664. Image: Meisei University, Tokyo.

The Third Folio was published in 1663 with a second issue printed in 1664. It is in this second edition that for the first time additions are made to the content found in F1. The editor, Philip Chetwinde, added seven plays: Pericles Prince of Tyre, The London prodigall, The History of Thomas Ld. Cromwell, Sir John Oldcastle Lord Cobham, The Puritan Widow, A York-shire tragedy, The tragedy of Locrine.

The title page proudly announces that these plays were 'never before printed in folio'; which does not mean they had not been printed at all. In fact, all of them had been published previously in quartos with Shakespeare's initials or name on them. However, from the seven, only Pericles, Prince of Tyre - published in quarto in 1609 - is now considered Shakespeare's work.

The Great Fire of London, in 1666, may be the reason why copies of the F3 are much rarer than the other folio editions, since many of booksellers’ copies were probably destroyed in the event.