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Literary folios such as Ben Jonson's 1616 Workes and William Shakespeare's 1623 Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies have featured prominently in book history scholarship, shedding light as they do on discussions of authorship, the development of drama, and the maturity of the literary book trade. However, literary scholars have only begun to identify the significance of the folio format, frequently associating it with a heightened cultural esteem, and sometimes simply regarding folio a necessary and practical format for containing works of great length. Both of these treatments are appropriate in some cases; however, as this monograph makes clear, the format played a more fundamental role in book history by encapsulating the unstable negotiation between commerce, cultural prestige, and the fundamental nature of the printed book.
