When Isaac Jaggard printed the first folio in 1623, he prefaced the plays with several dedications, a portrait of Shakespeare, and a list of “Principall Actors” (Figure 20.1). Historians have inferred that Heminges and Condell prepared the actors' list with the same care that seems to have surrounded the rest of the folio. Nevertheless, as one document defining Shakespeare's companies, the list poses many unanswered questions. What does the list represent, and what characteristics, if any, did the players share? Why did the compilers include some players who had short careers with the company alongside those who had invested the greater part of their careers in that group? What, if anything, is implied by the order of the players' names in the list? What questions does the list not answer? Perhaps most surprising are the many issues that interest contemporary historians, but which didn't somehow seem worth preserving to Heminges and Condell, who knew the players best.