“There is nothing that begins so easily and takes us so far as the collecting of books.”
I’ve always felt there was something irresistible about a good origin story. While the title of this blog is an obvious nod to one of the most famous books of all time – William Shakespeare’s First Folio – it’s also a quiet tribute to the first book that inspired in each of us a love of reading. For me it began in the fourth grade with Bilbo’s first step outside the Shire in the company of a motley band of dwarves and a wiley old wizard. Tolkien’s beautifully expressive language ignited a love of literature that wound its way from Middle Earth to the forum of ancient Rome and far beyond.
The First Folio is where that spark ended up: at the intersection of literature, history, and the physical book. Here you’ll find everything from Renaissance book-hunters to beautiful bindings and unique personal libraries built over the course of a lifetime—bookish origin stories hiding inside other origin stories.
Whatever your own literary beginning—whether you started with hobbits, Hardy, or Hogwarts—I hope you find here a bit of adventure, a moment of solace, and the occasional spark of curiosity that sends you down a new rabbit hole.
– Joshua Rankin, The First Folio
