The exhibition, titled 'Shakespeare Recovered,' is set to run from April 4 to November 2, 2025, at Palace Green Library in Durham.

The Folio was returned to Durham in 2010 after being badly damaged, and antiques dealer Raymond Scott was jailed for eight years for handling the stolen book, although he was cleared of the theft itself.

Notably, the First Folio reappeared at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C. in 2008, having been missing for 10 years.

Published in 1623, the First Folio is the first collected edition of Shakespeare's plays, containing 36 works such as Anthony and Cleopatra, Macbeth, and The Tempest.

Originally purchased by Bishop John Cosin in the 1620s, the Folio was added to his library in 1669, and of the approximately 750 copies printed, only 235 are known to survive.

Stuart Hunt, the university librarian, noted the book's exceptional history of theft and recovery, emphasizing the opportunity to examine the Folio's unique features.

Technological advancements have uncovered hidden details in the Folio, including ancient doodles.

The exhibition will showcase multiple pages side by side and reveal the original binding, providing insights into 17th-century bookmaking.

Hand-made replicas will also be displayed to illustrate how the First Folio would have appeared in the 1600s.

Without the First Folio, many of Shakespeare's plays might have been lost to history.

A stolen copy of Shakespeare's First Folio, taken from Durham University's Cosin's Library in 1998, will be displayed for the first time in over a decade.