The earliest texts of
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
's works were published during the 16th and 17th centuries in
quarto or
folio
The term "folio" () has three interconnected but distinct meanings in the world of books and printing: first, it is a term for a common method of arranging Paper size, sheets of paper into book form, folding the sheet only once, and a term for ...
format. Folios are large, tall volumes; quartos are smaller, roughly half the size. The publications of the latter are usually abbreviated to Q1, Q2, etc., where the letter stands for "quarto" and the number for the first, second, or third edition published.
Plays
Eighteen of the 36 plays in the
First Folio
''Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies'' is a collection of plays by William Shakespeare, commonly referred to by modern scholars as the First Folio, published in 1623, about seven years after Shakespeare's death. It is cons ...
were printed in separate and individual editions prior to 1623. ''
Pericles
Pericles (; ; –429 BC) was a Greek statesman and general during the Golden Age of Athens. He was prominent and influential in Ancient Athenian politics, particularly between the Greco-Persian Wars and the Peloponnesian War, and was acclaimed ...
'' (1609) and ''
The Two Noble Kinsmen'' (1634) also appeared separately before their inclusions in folio collections (the Shakespeare Third Folio and the
second Beaumont and Fletcher folio, respectively). All of these were
quarto editions, with two exceptions: ''The True Tragedy of Richard Duke of York'', the first edition of ''
Henry VI, Part 3
''Henry VI, Part 3'' (often written as ''3 Henry VI'') is a Shakespearean history, history play by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1591 and set during the lifetime of King Henry VI of England. Whereas ''Henry VI, Part 1, ...
'', was printed in
octavo form in 1595, as was the 1611 edition of ''The most lamentable tragedy of Titus Andronicus''. In chronological order, these publications were:
*''
Titus Andronicus,'' 1594, 1600, 1611 (octavo)
*''
Henry VI, Part 2,'' 1594, 1600, 1619
*''
Henry VI, Part 3
''Henry VI, Part 3'' (often written as ''3 Henry VI'') is a Shakespearean history, history play by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1591 and set during the lifetime of King Henry VI of England. Whereas ''Henry VI, Part 1, ...
,'' 1595 (octavo), 1600, 1619
*''
Edward III
Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring royal authority after t ...
,'' 1596
*''
Romeo and Juliet
''The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet'', often shortened to ''Romeo and Juliet'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare about the romance between two young Italians from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's ...
,'' 1597, 1599, 1609
*''
Richard II,'' 1597, 1598, 1608, 1615
*''
Richard III
Richard III (2 October 1452 – 22 August 1485) was King of England from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the Plantagenet dynasty and its cadet branch the House of York. His defeat and death at the Battle of Boswor ...
,'' 1597, 1598, 1602, 1605, 1612, 1622
*''
Love's Labour's Lost,'' 1598
*''
Henry IV, Part 1
''Henry IV, Part 1'' (often written as ''1 Henry IV'') is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written no later than 1597. The play dramatises part of the reign of King Henry IV of England, beginning with the Battle of H ...
,'' 1598, 1599, 1604, 1608, 1613, 1622
*''
Henry IV, Part 2,'' 1600
*''
Henry V,'' 1600, 1602, 1619
*''
The Merchant of Venice,'' 1600, 1619
*''
A Midsummer Night's Dream
''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a Comedy (drama), comedy play written by William Shakespeare in about 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One s ...
,'' 1600, 1619
*''
Much Ado About Nothing
''Much Ado About Nothing'' is a Shakespearean comedy, comedy by William Shakespeare thought to have been written in 1598 and 1599.See textual notes to ''Much Ado About Nothing'' in ''The Norton Shakespeare'' (W. W. Norton & Company, 1997 ) p. ...
,'' 1600
*''
The Merry Wives of Windsor,'' 1602, 1619
*''
Hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...
,'' 1603, 1604, 1611
*''
King Lear
''The Tragedy of King Lear'', often shortened to ''King Lear'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is loosely based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his ...
,'' 1608, 1619
*''
Troilus and Cressida,'' 1609
*''
Pericles, Prince of Tyre,'' 1609, 1611, 1619
*''
Othello,'' 1622
*''
The Two Noble Kinsmen,'' 1634.
Six of the preceding were classified as "
bad quartos" by
Alfred W. Pollard and other scholars associated with the
New Bibliography. Popular plays like ''1 Henry IV'' and ''Pericles'' were reprinted in their quarto editions even after the First Folio appeared, sometimes more than once.
Poetry
Shakespeare's poems were also printed in quarto or octavo form:
*''
Venus and Adonis,'' Q1—1593, Q2—1594 (with later editions in octavo);
*''
The Rape of Lucrece
''The Rape of Lucrece'' (1594) is a narrative poem by William Shakespeare about the legendary Roman noblewoman Lucretia. In his previous narrative poem, ''Venus and Adonis (Shakespeare poem), Venus and Adonis'' (1593), Shakespeare had included ...
,'' Q—1594 (with later editions in octavo);
*''
The Phoenix and the Turtle,'' Q1—1601, Q2—1611 (in Robert Chester's ''Love's Martyr'');
*''
The Sonnets'' and ''
A Lover's Complaint,'' Q—1609.
Differing from the quartos of the plays, the first editions of Shakespeare's narrative poems are extremely well printed. "
Richard Field, Shakespeare's first publisher and printer, was a Stratford man, probably a friend of Shakespeare, and the two produced an excellent text." Shakespeare may have had direct involvement in the publication of the two poems, a check such as
Ben Jonson
Benjamin Jonson ( 11 June 1572 – ) was an English playwright, poet and actor. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence on English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for the satire, satirical ...
exercised in reference to the publication of his works, but as Shakespeare clearly did not do in connection with his plays.
John Benson published a collected edition of Shakespeare's ''Poems'' in 1640; the poems were not added to collections of the plays until the 18th century. (The disputed miscellany ''
The Passionate Pilgrim'' was only printed in octavo: twice in 1599, with another in 1612, all by William Jaggard.)
Folios

The folio format was reserved for expensive, prestigious volumes. During Shakespeare's lifetime, stage plays were not generally taken seriously as literature and not considered worthy of being collected into folios, so the plays printed while he was alive were printed as quartos. His poems were never included in his collected works until the eighteenth century.
It was not until 1616, the year of Shakespeare's death, that
Ben Jonson
Benjamin Jonson ( 11 June 1572 – ) was an English playwright, poet and actor. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence on English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for the satire, satirical ...
defied convention by issuing a folio collection of his own plays and poems. Seven years later the folio volume ''Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories & Tragedies'' appeared; this edition is now called the
First Folio
''Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies'' is a collection of plays by William Shakespeare, commonly referred to by modern scholars as the First Folio, published in 1623, about seven years after Shakespeare's death. It is cons ...
. It contains 36 plays, 18 of which were printed for the first time. Because Shakespeare was dead, the folio was compiled by
John Heminges and
Henry Condell (fellow actors in Shakespeare's company), and arranged into comedies, histories and tragedies. The First Folio is generally looked to by actors and directors as the purest form of Shakespeare's text. While punctuation and grammar are not always accurate by today's rules, these things served as direction to the actors on how to say the lines.
The First Folio was compiled by Heminges and Condell but published by a trio of stationers (booksellers and publishers):
William Jaggard, his son Isaac Jaggard, and
Edward Blount.
William Aspley and
John Smethwick participated in the endeavor as subsidiary partners. It contained, in addition to blandishments provided by various admirers of Shakespeare, such as the dedication signed by "John Heminge and Henry Condell", 36 plays. They included ''Troilus and Cressida'', which was not, however, listed in the table of contents, but omitted ''Pericles'' and ''The Two Noble Kinsmen'', which are now usually considered canonical. The Jaggards were printers, and did the actual printing of the book. The elder Jaggard has seemed an odd choice to many commentators, given his problematical relationship with the Shakespeare canon: Jaggard issued the suspect collection ''
The Passionate Pilgrim'' in 1599 and 1612, and in 1619 printed the so-called
False Folio, ten pirated or spurious Shakespearean plays, some with false dates and title pages. It is thought that the printing of the First Folio was such an enormous task that the Jaggards' shop was simply needed to get the job done. William Jaggard was old, infirm, and blind by 1623, and in fact died a month before the First Folio was complete.
The First Folio was reprinted three times in the 17th century:
The
Second Folio appeared in 1632. Isaac Jaggard had died in 1627, and Edward Blount had transferred his rights to stationer
Robert Allot in 1630. The Second Folio was published by Allot, William Aspley,
Richard Hawkins,
Richard Meighen, and John Smethwick, and printed by
Thomas Cotes. It contained the same plays as the First Folio and much of the same additional material, with the addition of an unsigned poem by
John Milton.
The Third Folio was issued in 1663, published by
Philip Chetwinde; Chetwinde had married Robert Allot's widow and so obtained the rights to the book. To the second impression of the Third Folio (1664) he added seven plays, namely ''
Pericles, Prince of Tyre;'' ''
Locrine;'' ''
The London Prodigal;'' ''
The Puritan;'' ''
Sir John Oldcastle;'' ''
Thomas Lord Cromwell
''Thomas Lord Cromwell'' is an Elizabethan history play, depicting the life of Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex, the minister of King Henry VIII of England.
The play was entered into the Stationers' Register on 11 August 1602 by William Cott ...
;'' and ''
A Yorkshire Tragedy.'' (See:
Shakespeare Apocrypha.) All seven of these additional plays had been published as quartos while Shakespeare was alive, but only ''Pericles'' was eventually widely accepted into the Shakespearean canon.
The quartos of ''Pericles'' (1609 and 1611), ''The London Prodigal'' (1605) and ''A Yorkshire Tragedy'' (1608) were all attributed to William Shakespeare on their front pages. The quartos of ''Locrine'' (1595), ''The Puritan'' (1607) and ''Thomas Lord Cromwell'' (1602 and 1613) were attributed to W. S. on their title pages, but Shakespeare was not the only playwright with those initials;
Wentworth Smith has been put forward as another possible author of these works. ''Sir John Oldcastle'' was printed in 1619, three years after Shakespeare's death, as part of the False Folio. It was attributed to Shakespeare on its title page which also bore a false date of 1600.
The Third Folio is relatively rare, compared to the Second and Fourth, probably because unsold copies were destroyed in the
Great Fire of London
The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through central London from Sunday 2 September to Wednesday 5 September 1666, gutting the medieval City of London inside the old London Wall, Roman city wall, while also extendi ...
in 1666. One surviving copy was purchased by the Irish High Court judge and antiquarian
William O'Brien in the 1880s. It was put up for auction by
Sotheby's in 2017.
The Fourth Folio appeared in 1685, published by R. Bentley, E. Brewster, R. Chiswell, and
H. Herringman. It contains the same 43 plays as the Third Folio. Brewster, Chiswell, and Herringman were members of the six-man syndicate that published the
third Ben Jonson folio in 1692; Herringman was one of three stationers who issued the
second Beaumont and Fletcher folio in 1679.
The Fourth Folio in turn served as the base for the series of eighteenth-century editions of Shakespeare's plays.
Nicholas Rowe used the Fourth Folio text as the foundation of his
1709 edition, and subsequent editors —
Pope
The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...
,
Theobald Theobald is a Germanic dithematic name, composed from the elements '' theod-'' "people" and ''bald'' "bold". The name arrived in England with the Normans.
The name occurs in many spelling variations, including Theudebald, Diepold, Theobalt, Ty ...
, etc. — both adapted and reacted to Rowe's text in their own editions. (See:
Shakespeare's editors.)
''
The Two Noble Kinsmen'' did not appear in any Folio edition. It was not printed until 1634, although there is evidence of its being performed much earlier. The title page said "written by the memorable worthies of their time: Mr.
John Fletcher and Mr. William Shakspeare
'sic'' Gent."
[ William Thomas Lowndes, ''The Biographer's Manual of English Literature'' (London, rev. ed. by Henry G. Bohn, 1890) vol. 8, page 2304.] It was not included in most editions of Shakespeare (e.g., the Cambridge/Globe editions of Wright and Clark, ca. 1863) until the latter half of the 19th century (it appears, e.g., in Dyce's collected Works of Shakespeare in 1876) but it was not generally accepted into the Shakespeare canon until well into the 20th century, when, for example, it was included in the
Riverside edition of 1974.
See also
*
List of Shakespeare plays in quarto
*
Ben Jonson folios
*
Beaumont and Fletcher folios
Notes
References
*
Halliday, F. E. ''A Shakespeare Companion 1564–1964.'' Baltimore, Penguin, 1964.
*
Pollard, Alfred W. ''Shakespeare Folios and Quartos.'' 1909.
External links
First Folio��HTML version of this title.
First Foliofrom
Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks."
It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital li ...
First Folio��digitally scanned pages from a copy of the first folio
—high resolution scans of the British Library's 93 copies of Shakespeare plays printed in quarto before 1642
Quartos��high resolution scans of the 32 copies of Hamlet printed in quarto before 1642 with XML transcriptions
First Folio�� Walter Havighurst Special Collections, Miami University
Second Folio�� Walter Havighurst Special Collections, Miami University
Third Folio�� Walter Havighurst Special Collections, Miami University
Fourth Folio�� Walter Havighurst Special Collections, Miami University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Early Texts Of Shakespeare's Works
Early editions of Shakespeare