The Saint-Omer Folio in its library

Ever since the discovery of a First Folio in the Saint-Omer library in northern France (on the premises of the former English Jesuit College of St Omers), the academic world has been abuzz with speculation about Jesuit interest in Shakespeare. Based on a thorough investigation of the material context of the Folio in the Saint-Omer library, this essay shows that the Folio belonged to two sets of books in its original milieu: books signed ‘Nevill’ and donated in 1736, and books stamped with the letters ‘P S’, which were presumably included in a reserve. This article analyses the new findings.