Heminges was mentioned in Shakespeare's will, along with Richard Burbage and Henry Condell, each being bequeathed 26 shillings and eightpence to buy mourning rings. Stanley Wells and others have wondered if that bequest represented a kind of pact for the three men to create and publish an edition of Shakespeare’s collected plays. Burbage died before the publication of the "First Folio", but Heminges and Condell became co-editors of the book. They mentioned in their preface, "To the great Variety of Readers", that they wished "the Author himselfe had liv'd to have set forth, and overseen his owne writings", they also mention their own care and pain "to haue collected & publish’d" the works. Their editorial efforts were vital to preserving a number of Shakespeare's plays, some of which might have been lost otherwise.