The facsimile opposite represents the title-page of the 1623 Folio edition of Shakespeare's plays, in which 'The Tempest' occupies first place. The photograph is made from the Elizabethan Club copy. On the page facing the title the Folio has the following note, signed with Ben Jonson's initials:

"To the Reader.

This Figure, that thou here seest put,
It was for gentle Shakespeare cut:
Wherein the Grauer had a strife

with Nature, to out-doo the life:
O, could he but haue drawne his wit
As well in brasse, as he hath hit
His face, the Print would then surpasse
All, that was euer writ in brasse.

But, since he cannot, Reader, looke

Not on his Picture, but his Booke.

B. I'

SHAKESPEARES

COMEDIES,
HISTORIES, &
TRAGEDIES.

Published according to the True Originall Copies.