Title page from The Life of King Henry the Eight (facs. 1st Folio 1623)

Part of: Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies (facs. 1st Folio 1623) The Life of King Henry the Eight (facs. 1st Folio 1623)

Shakespeare’s Henry VIII may be best known not for its plot or poetry, but because during one of its earliest performances a cannon, shot for special effects, caught the theater’s thatched roof on fire, and the Globe burned to the ground. The historical material is equally incendiary, as Shakespeare deals with Henry’s divorce and his creation of the English church. This is a facsimile edition of the play from the First Folio edition of 1623

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