6 Myths About William Shakespeare That You Wrongly Believe

4. He Was Published In His Lifetime

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During Shakespeare€™'s life, the convention was that playwrights would sell their work to acting troupes. Having purchased a new play, the troupe would ensure copies were not made so competing companies couldn€™'t put on a rival production of the same play.

Having a printer make copies would have been considered madness. Amazing as it may seem, the complete works of Shakespeare you read today would not exist if it were not for the work of actors John Hemminges and Henry Condell, who edited and compiled the original collection of 36 plays under the title '€˜Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories & Tragedies'€™ after Shakespeare€™'s death.

Today, the 900 page collection is better known as the First Folio. Two plays were excluded from the first publication that were included in later printings.

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