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The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight

or All is True

by John Fletcher and William Shakespeare.

(1623 Folio)
 
  1. The principal edition of King Henry VIII is the 1623 Shakespeare folio, usually referred to as the First Folio of Shakespeare or often just the First Folio. All subsequent editions of the play are derived from this one.

  2. The text may be viewed in three formats: divided into acts and scenes as it is in the folio; divided by folio page number; or as a single long file.


  3. King Henry VIII was first published in the 1623 First Folio, although the composition is normally thought to be closer to 1613. For many early modern English plays the exact date of composition can be difficult to fix with any certainty, however, it is not the case for Henry VIII. The spectacular event of the destruction of the Globe Theatre by fire on 29 June 1613 serves to date the play quite accurately for it was during a performance of Henry VIII (possibly the first performance) that the theatre caught fire. There are several contemporary reports which tie the Globe fire to a performance of Henry VIII, and it is also from these reports that the alternate title of All is True derives.
     
  4. Briefly, the generally accepted view is that the discharging of the cannons which is called for act 1, scene 4 (TLN 731) caused a small fire to take root in the roofing thatch where it then spread throughout the theatre. No lives were lost but the theatre was completely destroyed. Given that the Globe was one of the two principal performance spaces for Shakespeare's company The King's Men (the other being Blackfriars) it would doubtless have proved a considerable financial shock for the company.
     
  5.           The Authorship Question

     




  8. No attempt has been made to regularize either spelling or punctuation within the text, it is in effect a HTML facsimile of the original folio.  

© Twilight Pictures, Wednesday, February 27, 2002. This text is freely available for educational, non-profit uses only. Please report any errors or suggestions to Drew Whitehead.