Studies in Shakespeare: Shakespeare's English Kings
Fall 2001
1.
Quarto vs. Folio editorial exercise
How would you justify an editorial decision in favor of one word over
another?
Most of Shakespeare's plays survive in multiple contemporary copies. There may be one or more different editions of a quarto, usually published within a few years of the original performance, as well as the version found in the 1623 First Folio edition of the 'Complete Works.'
Usually an editor will sit down with quarto and folio versions of the play, compare variants across the two (or more) versions, and make a number of decisions about which variant to select.
There are a number of ways to justify one's decision -- these range from arguing for the inherent superiority of one text over the other (e.g. 'the Folio clearly represents a revised version' or 'the Quarto clearly represent Shakespeare's original intention') to the logic of evidence internal to the play itself ('in the context of the scene, it makes most sense for Richard to make a pun on his majesty here').
Sometimes even the title itself can be troublesome; recall how the quarto version of Richard II was called a 'Tragedie,' and only later entitled a 'History' in the 1623 folio.
Click on the link below to examine a facsimile of the 1608 quarto title-page.
