Seven years after William Shakespeare's death, his fellow actors John Heminges and Henry Condell gathered his scattered, unprinted theatrical manuscripts in London, England, to publish the First Folio. Had they not undertaken this expensive, risky publishing gamble, 18 of Shakespeare's greatest plays—including Macbeth, Julius Caesar, and The Tempest—would have been permanently lost to history, as no other written copies existed. This single volume narrowly rescued his legacy from total oblivion.

The successful printing of the First Folio completely secured Shakespeare's position as the foundational cornerstone of English dramatic poetry. It preserved the complex blank verse and rich vocabulary that would inspire every subsequent generation of English-language poets, playwrights, and lyricists.