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SHAKESPEARE REPRINTS.

I.

KING LEAR

PARALLEL TEXTS

OF THE FIRST QUARTO AND THE FIRST FOLIO

EDITED FOR THE USE OF UNIVERSITY CLASSES, &c. BY

WILHELM VIETOR, PH. D.

Professor in the University of Marburg.

REVISED EDITION.

MARBURG

N. G. ELWERT'SCHE VERLAGSBUCHHANDLUNG

1892.

172350

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PREFACE.

THE present parallel text edition of King Lear is based on the so-called Pide Bull quarto (1608), which bears the following title:

M. William Shak-speare: | HIS | True Chronicle Hiftorie of the life and death of King LEAR and his three | Daughters. With the unfortunate life of Edgar, fonne | and heire to the Earle of Glofter, and his fullen and affumed humor of Toм of Bedlam: | As it was played before the Kings Maieftie at Whitehall vpon | S. Stephans night in Christmas Hollidayes. | By his Maiefties feruants playing vfually at the Gloabe | on the Bancke-fide. [Printer's (?) device.] LONDON, | Printed for Nathaniel Butter, and are to be fold at his shop in Pauls | Church-yard at the figne of the Pide Bull neere St. Auftins Gate. 1608

and on the first folio (1623), edited by J. Heminge and H. Condell.

The Pide Bull quarto is noted as Q in the Cambridge edition (vol. viii), but has been shown, by Mr. W. G. Clark and Mr. W. A. Wright, in their preface, p. xv, to be the first quarto edition of our play, and has accordingly been marked Q1 by Mr. H. H. Furness in his Variorum edition, and by the editors of the Shakspere Quarto Facsimiles (Nos. 33 and 34), Mr. C. Praetorius and Mr. P. A. Daniel.

Six copies of this first quarto are known. In all of them the play commences on sheet B. (pp. 3-10), the title being on a separate leaf, but they differ in having 1, 2, 3, or 4 uncorrected sheets. In the present edition the six copies are marked as in the Cambridge edition:

1. 'Cap.'

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The copy in Capell's collection. Three uncorrected sheets: D. (pp. 19-26), H. (pp. 51-58), and K. (pp. 67-74).

2. 'Dev.'

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The Duke of Devonshire's copy. Four uncorrected sheets: D. (pp. 19-26), F. (pp. 35-42), H. (pp. 51-58), and K. (pp. 67-74).

3. 'Mus. per.'

.

A perfect copy in the British Museum (C. 34, k. 18). One uncorrected sheet: K. (pp. 64-74). Reproduced in Shakspere Quarto Facsimiles, No. 33.

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IV

4. 'Mus. imp.'
An imperfect copy (wanting title) in the British
Museum (C. 34, k. 17). Two uncorrected sheets: G. (pp. 43—50),
and H. (pp. 51-58). Sheet K. reproduced in Shakspere Quarto
Facsimiles, No. 34 (appendix).

5. 'Bodl. 1.'

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A copy in the Bodleian (Malone 35), wanting last leaf. Four uncorrected sheets: E. (pp. 27-34), G. (pp. 43-50), H. (pp. 51-58), and K. (pp. 67-74).

6. 'Bodl. 2.' A copy in the Bodleian (Malone 37), wanting title. One uncorrected sheet: K. (pp. 67-74).

The title of the second quarto (Q) is almost identical with that of the first, but it bears a different device, and no reference is made to the place of residence of the publisher, the last three lines of the title of Q1 being replaced by: Printed for Nathaniel Butter. | 1608.

Qa was printed from a copy of Q1 having the uncorrected sheets D. (pp. 19-26), G. (pp. 43--50), and H. (pp. 51-58). The whole work, including the title, begins with signature A. Besides, Q. differs from Q1 in pagination, and is frequently independent in spelling, punctuation, &c. Qs is a reprint of Qa, with many additional errors, issued by Jane Bell in 1655.

In our present revised edition the Q text has been printed from the Facsimile by Mr. Charles Praetorius, the F text from Mr. J. O. Halliwell's Reduced Facsimile edition of the first folio (London, 1876), also the reprint of 1864 (London: Lionel Booth) being constantly referred to. In addition to the pagination of the texts reprinted, acts, scenes, and lines have been marked as in the Globe edition.

In compiling the various readings essential for the critical reconstruction of the text, &c. (pp. 172–177), Mr. P. A. Daniel's Introduction to Mr. Praetorius's Facsimile of Q1, the Facsimile of Q by the same editor, and the well-known editions by Messrs. Clark and Wright and Mr. Furness have been used. In all doubtful cases, reference has been made to

the originals of the four folios in the British Museum. As will be seen from the notes, the readings foole, III. iv. 82, him, III. vii. 2, taken from Halliwell, and the comma after fcalding, IV. vi. 131, supplied from Booth, are not borne out by the British Museum copy (C. 39, i. 12) of F1.

*

The Shakespeare Reprints, other numbers of which will soon follow, are in the first place intended for the use of University classes, but it is hoped they will also prove acceptable to other readers of Shakespeare.

W. V.

KING LEAR

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