The First Quarto of King Richard III

by William Shakespeare, Peter Davison (Editor)

Overview

There are 2,000 verbal differences between the text of the First Quarto of Shakespeare's Richard III (1597) and the version in the First Folio (1623). In this Quarto edition the text is accompanied by a collation of variant readings and substantial textual notes. Peter Davison argues that Shakespeare's company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, used a memorially reconstructed text of Richard III during a touring performance of the play, and that text provided the manuscript for the 1597 Quarto. The result is a breakthrough in textual studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521418188
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	09/12/1996
Series:	The New Cambridge Shakespeare: The Early Quartos
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	6.26(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.79(d)

About the Author

Widely esteemed as the greatest writer in the English language, William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was an actor and theatrical producer in addition to writing plays and sonnets. Dubbed "The Bard of Avon," Shakespeare oversaw the building of the Globe Theatre in London, where a number of his plays were staged, the best-known of which include Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and Macbeth. The First Folio, a printed book of 36 of his comedies, tragedies, and history plays, was published in 1623.

Date of Death:

2018

Place of Birth:

Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom

Place of Death:

Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom

Table of Contents

List of figures; Preface; Abbreviations and conventions; Introduction; Characters in order of appearance; The play; Textual notes.

Editorial Reviews

'Peter Davison's edition of Richard III's first quarto is outstanding and important; it is brightly committed, packed with fresh data, and even amusing … I think this edition, especially for its close, exact data on acting tours, will regard anyone concerned with the Tudor stage … Altogether this is an exuberant, scholarly, usually compelling, and ground-breaking edition of one of the most intriguing of the Spakespeare quartos.' Notes and Queries

From the Publisher