Performed variously as escapist fantasy, celebratory fiction, and political allegory, The Tempest is one of the plays in which Shakespeare's genius as a poetic dramatist found its fullest expression. Significantly, it was placed first when published in the First Folio of 1623, and is now generally seen as the playwright's most penetrating statement about his art. Stephen Orgel's wide-ranging introduction examines changing attitudes to The Tempest, and reassesses the evidence behind the variou...

Shakespeare's Plays or Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies by William Shakespeare was first published by Jaggard & Blount in London in 1623. What is now called the First Folio was in fact the first collection of plays written by William Shakespeare.

The First Folio is distinguished by an elaborate title page, frontispiece with first-state portrait, complete edition with leaves intact, containing Troilus and Cressida and its prologue, Romeo and Juliet ending on Gg. Roman and italic text types, ...