Texts: Parallel Texts - Work in Progress
Prior to the 1623 publication of the thirty-six plays in one single volume known as the First Folio (though Pericles has been acknowledged to be in the main by Shakespeare – and some scholars also attribute much of Sir Thomas Moore to him too - neither play appeared in the First Folio), eighteen of those plays had been already published as single volumes (each termed a Quarto) by various printing houses. And in some cases there are significant differences between the two sets of texts, word differences within lines, and in some plays whole passages have been added or omitted by modern editions dependent upon which text is taken as the most valuable).
To date with the notable exception of Michael Warren’s exemplary work on King Lear and Klinsman & Bertram on Hamlet, readers, theatre-folk and scholars have had to endure time consuming comparisons between two different volumes of texts or extensive footnote trolling in the more scholarly of the individual texts or complete works. The aim of the ‘The Parallel Texts’ is to make such comparison much easier. Thus it features
- Side by side renditions of both the earlier significant quarto text and the First Folio, with the line in one text being set alongside its equivalent line in the other thus allowing for quick and easy comparison between them.
- Shading will show verbal differences between the two texts (including capitalisation, spelling) as well as differences in punctuation and line structure.
- Small symbols will be used to show where words or punctuation has been set in one text and not the other.
- Gaps in a text will show where longer passages have been set in one text but not in the other.
TO ORDER PRINT COPIES or CD-ROM COPIES FOR EDITING PURPOSES - each text will have to be individually prepared once ordered. Please order via the Publications Order Form.
(Please note: as this series is in the early stages of preparation if an individual text is not yet ready, it will take at least two months between order and delivery date, longer if more than one text is required or other orders are in preparation before yours).
The following will be available as of August 1st, 2007:
- King Lear
- Merchant of Venice
- Much Ado About Nothing
- Richard II
Sample Pages
Click on the following links to view a sample page of the Parallel Texts:
