STC 22273 Folio 1 number 26, rear endpaper
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Creator: William Shakespeare
Title: Mr. VVilliam Shakespeares comedies, histories, & tragedies : published according to the true originall copies.
Date: London : Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed. Blount, 1623.
Repository: Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, DC, USA
Call number and opening: STC 22273 Fo. 1 no. 26, rear endpaper
View online bibliographic record
Terms of use
Images that are under Folger copyright are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. This allows you to use our images without additional permission provided that you cite the Folger Shakespeare Library as the source and you license anything you create using the images under the same or equivalent license. For more information, including permissions beyond the scope of this license, see Permissions. The Folger waives permission fees for non-commercial publication by registered non-profits, including university presses, regardless of the license they use. For images copyrighted by an entity other than the Folger, please contact the copyright holder for permission information.
Copy-specific information
Creator: William Shakespeare
Title: Mr. VVilliam Shakespeares comedies, histories, & tragedies : published according to the true originall copies.
Date: London : Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed. Blount, 1623.
Repository: Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, DC, USA
Call number and opening: STC 22273 Fo. 1 no. 26, rear endpaper
View online bibliographic record
Heather Wolfe, "Anonymous manuscript epitaph on Shakespeare, written in a contemporary hand on the rear endleaf of a copy of the First Folio," Shakespeare Documented, https://doi.org/10.37078/203.
Folger Shakespeare Library, STC 22273 Folio 1 number 26, rear endpaper. See Shakespeare Documented, https://doi.org/10.37078/203.
Three epitaphs to Shakespeare are copied onto the last leaf of this First Folio. The first is from Shakespeare’s monument in Holy Trinity Church. The second, which describes him as "the wittiest poet in the World," “whom none but death could shake,” survives only in this manuscript. The third comes from Shakespeare’s tombstone on the floor of Holy Trinity Church. The handwriting style is consistent with an early 17th-century dating.
An Epitaph on Mr William Shakespeare
Stay passenger why go’st thou by so fast
read if thou Canst, whom envious death hath placed
within this monument: Shakespeare: with whom
quick nature died; whose name doth deck this tomb
far more than cost; since all that he hath writ
leaves living art but Page unto his wit./
Another upon the same
Here Shakespeare lies whom none but death could shake
and here shall lie till judgement all awake;
when the last trumpet doth unclose his eyes
the wittiest poet in the world shall rise./
an Epitaph (upon his Tomb stone incised)
Good Friend for Jesus’ sake forebear
To dig the dust enclosed here
blest be the man that paved these stones
but Cursed be he that moves these bones./
An Epitaph on Mr William Shakespeare
Stay passenger why go’st thou by so fast
read if thou Canst, whom enuious death hath plact
within this monument: Shakespeare: with whom
quick nature dy’d; whose name doth deck this toombe
far more than cost; sith all that hee hath writt
leaues liuing art but Page vnto his witt./
Another vpon the same
Heere Shakespeare lyes whome none but death could shake
and heere shall ly till iudgement all awake;
when the last trumpet doth vnclose his eyes
the wittiest poet in the world shall rise./
an Epitaph (vpon his Toombe stone incised)
Good ffriend for Iesus sake forbeare
To digg the dust inclosed heere
blest bee the man that pau’d these stones
but Cur’sd bee hee that mooues these bones./
Written by Heather Wolfe
Last updated February 23, 2020
