{"id":106,"date":"2026-01-24T20:25:47","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T20:25:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fox.withemes.com\/commentary\/about\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T23:44:35","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T23:44:35","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/thefirstfolio.com\/?page_id=106","title":{"rendered":"About"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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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\u2019s First Folio<\/em> – it\u2019s also a quiet tribute to the first book<\/em> that inspired in each of us a love of reading.  For me it began in the fourth grade with Bilbo\u2019s first step outside the Shire in the company of a motley band of dwarves and a wiley old wizard.  Tolkien\u2019s beautifully expressive language ignited a love of literature that wound its way from Middle Earth to the forum of ancient Rome and far beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The First Folio<\/strong> is where that spark ended up: at the intersection of literature, history, and the physical book. Here you\u2019ll find everything from Renaissance book-hunters to beautiful bindings and unique personal libraries built over the course of a lifetime\u2014bookish origin stories hiding inside other origin stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whatever your own literary beginning\u2014whether you started with hobbits, Hardy, or Hogwarts\u2014I 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Joshua Rankin<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“There is nothing that begins so easily and takes us so far as the collecting of books.”<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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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\u2019s First Folio – it\u2019s 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\u2019s first step outside the Shire in the company of a motley band of dwarves and a wiley old wizard.  Tolkien\u2019s beautifully expressive language ignited a love of literature that wound its way from<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-106","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nAbout - The First Folio<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"About - 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