Dame Judi Dench and Gregory Doran, Artistic Director Emeritus at the Royal Shakespeare Company, have written the introduction and foreword for a landmark Folio Society edition of William Shakespeare’s The Complete Plays to mark the 400th anniversary of the First Folio being published.

Limited to 1,000 sets, each hand-numbered and signed by artist and illustrator, Neil Packer, with new introductions by Dame Judi Dench and Gregory Doran, The Complete Plays will be priced at £1,000 each and available exclusively from The Folio Society from 26 September 2023. The Complete Plays will mark the 400th anniversary of the registration of Shakespeare’s First Folio, which was published in November 1623 and is considered one of the most influential books in history.

Dame Judi Dench has starred in numerous Shakespeare and Shakespeare-inspired productions on the stage and screen, from playing Ophelia in Hamlet to portraying Queen Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love.

Described by the Sunday Times as “one of the great Shakespeareans of his generation” and the Financial Times as “one of the supreme Shakespearian directors of our era”, Gregory Doran was at the RSC for 35 years, with 10 years as Artistic Director.

The magnificent new set of The Complete Plays will be published in three volumes: comedies; histories; tragedies.

Exquisitely illustrated by artist Neil Packer, renowned as a master of his art, the set will be presented in a box of remarkable design. Packer is known for bringing literature alive and has illustrated 56 projects, including Harry Potter, The Divine Comedy, The Odyssey, and Catch 22.

Neil Packer, illustrator, said: “This edition is a celebration and a homage to the 1623 First Folio and although it is in no way a facsimile of that edition, we did want it to look and literally feel like it is a direct successor.”

“I was keen to tie the images to the ‘theatre’ rather than ‘real world’ and so I have tried to inject an element of toy theatre into them. You could almost imagine the figures depicted as tiny cardboard cut outs in a miniature theatre.”

Representing the finest in British craftsmanship, each copy of the Folio Society’s The Complete Plays will be meticulously hand-made by dedicated experts passionate about artisan bookmaking. The elegant bindings will be created using techniques established in Shakespeare’s lifetime. The book bindings, designed by Neil Packer, are inspired by 16th-century blackwork embroidery. The stunning silk and linen-woven bindings have been woven by Stephen Walters & Sons, the British weavers known for recently creating Queen Camilla’s Coronation robes. The Complete Plays will be printed and bound by quality book binders, Smith Settle.

Tom Walker, Publishing Director at The Folio Society, said: “This is a thrilling example of contemporary bookmaking at its very finest: using the most traditional of production techniques at the same time as designing and crafting an edition which is exquisitely modern and made to last for generations.”