John Heminge and Henry Condell were fellow members of Shakespeare's acting company, the King's Men.

Here is their preface to Shakespeare's First Folio - the first volume to feature all of his collected plays. After asking the public to "read and censure" ("but buy it first"!) they described why they had brought his plays together:

"to keep the memory of so worthy a friend and fellow alive as was our Shakespeare... [we] gather his works and give them to you to praise him." [click here to view more of the page]