from THE COMPLETE PELICAN SHAKESPEARE xlix-lii

So far as we know, only a few pages of a play in Shakespeare’s hand exists, a fragment from a play called Sir Thomas More We do have printed texts that have survived as either quartos or folios

A page obtained by folding a full sheet into four leaves upon which 8 pages of text are printed Each group of 4 leaves (called a "gathering" or "quire") could be sewn through the central fold to attach it to the other gatherings to form a book. The actual size of a quarto book depends on the size of the full sheet of paper on which it was printed At right, the title page from the first quarto edition of AMND (1600)

In the hand press period (up to about 1820) books were manufactured by printing text on both sides of a full sheet of paper and then folding the paper one or more times into a group of leaves or "gathering". The binder would sew the gatherings (sometimes also called "signatures") through their inner hinges and attached to cords in the spine to form the book block. Before the covers were bound to the book, the block of text pages was sometimes trimmed along the three unbound edges to open the folds of the paper and to produce smooth edges for the book. When the leaves were not trimmed, the reader would have to cut open the leaf edges using a knife. Books made by printing two pages of text on each side of a sheet of paper, which is then folded once to form two leaves or four pages, are referred to as folios

Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies is the 1623 published collection of William Shakespeare's plays. Modern scholars commonly refer to it as the First Folio.

The preferred format for works of importance. The fact that Shakespeare’s works were published in a folio edition indicates how far up the social scale the theatrical profession had risen during his lifetime. THE FIRST FOLIO was an expensive book, selling for between 15 and 18 shillings ($150-$180 in modern terms)

20 were first published as quartos during his lifetime The remaining plays were found only in the folio

Authorized by the King’s Men Many texts in the folio differ from earlier quartos Most significant differences are found in two texts of King Lear, but also Hamlet, Othello and Troilus and Cressida Many reasons account for this original texts were not for reading, but for the actors the playwright was an employee of the company actors made changes during the course of a run oftentimes, scripts were collaborations plays were revised when reintroduced into the repertory

Shakespeare had no interest in publishing his works Because the original texts were fluid, they have always had to be edited From the BAD QUARTO of Hamlet

No early text survives that read as modern texts Modern editions are the results of editorial invention Is it what Shakespeare really wrote? No one knows for certain…we do know that Shakespeare intended his scripts to be performed and not read

Folio divides the works into three genres Comedy History Tragedy Still there is confusion, TRIOLUS AND CRESSIDA was printed with the tragedies, though in its quarto edition it was declared to be a witty comedy The title of KING LEAR differs from quarto to folio

Shakespeare’s last play on the stage was called ALL IS TRUE but was published as HENRY VIII The plays about Roman history—JULIUS CAESAR, CORIOLANUS and ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA are grouped as tragedies CYMBELINE and TROILUS AND CRESSIDA were listed as tragedies rather than comedies Shakespeare seems to hate these divisions into genre as he mocks its use in AMND and HAMLET

Only the arrangement of the histories is systematic in the folio Order of the comedies and tragedies seems arbitrary THE TEMPEST is the first play in the volume Modern readers have come to expect a chronological ordering of the texts Genres have also been revised…modern editions now include a fourth category, Romance, which includes PERICLES, CYMBELINE, THE WINTER’S TALE and THE TEMPEST

Some plays might best be described in this manner for example… THE WINTER’S TALE PERICLES MEASURE FOR MEASURE THE MERCHANT OF VENICE TROILUS AND CRESSIDA perhaps MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

His popular poem VENUS AND ADONIS was reprinted eleven times between 1593 and 1602

It was primarily because of his poetry that Shakespeare was considered a serious literary figure in Elizabethan England

The Comedies Two Gentlemen of Verona (1591-2) Taming of the Shrew ( ) The Comedy of Errors (1594) Love’s Labours Lost (1595) A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1595-6) The Merchant of Venice ( ) Merry Wives of Windsor ( ) Much Ado About Nothing (1598) As You Like It (1599)

The Comedies (continued) Twelfth Night, or What You Will (1601) Troilus and Cressida ( ) Measure for Measure (1604) All’s Well That Ends Well (1605) Pericles (1608) Cymbeline (1610) The Winter’s Tale (1611) The Tempest (1611)

HISTORIES First Part of Henry VI (1592) Henry VI, Part 2 (1591) Henry VI, Part 3 (1591) Richard III (1592) Richard II ( ) King John ( ) First Part of Henry IV ( ) Henry IV, Part 2 ( ) Henry V (1599) Henry VIII (All is True) (1613)

TRAGEDIES Titus Andronicus ( ) Romeo and Juliet ( ) Julius Caesar (1599) Hamlet ( ) Othello (1604) Timon of Athens (1605) King Lear ( ) Macbeth (1606) Antony and Cleopatra ( ) Coriolanus (1608)

W.W. Greg, The Shakespeare First Folio (1955) Charlton Hinman, The Printing and Proof-Reading of the First Folio of Shakespeare (1963) J.K. Walton, The Quarto Copy for the First Folio of Shakespeare (1971) Charlton Hinman, The 2 nd Edition of the Norton Facsimile of the First Folio (1996) Stanley Wells, etal. William Shakespeare: A Textual Companion, the Oxford editions of Shakespeare.