The First Quarto of Hamlet (The New Cambridge Shakespeare: The Early Quartos) [Paperback]

William Shakespeare (Author), Kathleen O. Irace (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 13, 1999 | ISBN-10: 0521653908 | ISBN-13: 978-0521653909

The first printed text of Shakespeare's Hamlet is about half the length of the more familiar second quarto and Folio versions. It reorders and combines key plot elements to present its own workable alternatives. This is the only modernized critical edition of the 1603 quarto in print. Kathleen Irace explains its possible origins, special features and surprisingly rich performance history, and while describing textual differences between it and other versions, offers alternatives that actors or directors might choose for specific productions.

Editorial Reviews

Book Description

The first printed text of Shakespeare's Hamlet is about half the length of the more familiar second quarto and Folio versions. It reorders and combines key plot elements to present its own workable alternatives. This is the only modernised critical edition of the 1603 quarto in print. Kathleen Irace explains its possible origins, special features and surprisingly rich performance history, and while describing textual differences between it and other versions, offers alternatives which actors or directors might choose for specific productions.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (April 13, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521653908
• ISBN-13: 978-0521653909
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,099,211 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in April 1564, and his birth is traditionally celebrated on April 23. The facts of his life, known from surviving documents, are sparse. He was one of eight children born to John Shakespeare, a merchant of some standing in his community. William probably went to the King's New School in Stratford, but he had no university education. In November 1582, at the age of eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway, eight years his senior, who was pregnant with their first child, Susanna. She was born on May 26, 1583. Twins, a boy, Hamnet ( who would die at age eleven), and a girl, Judith, were born in 1585. By 1592 Shakespeare had gone to London working as an actor and already known as a playwright. A rival dramatist, Robert Greene, referred to him as "an upstart crow, beautified with our feathers." Shakespeare became a principal shareholder and playwright of the successful acting troupe, the Lord Chamberlain's Men (later under James I, called the King's Men). In 1599 the Lord Chamberlain's Men built and occupied the Globe Theater in Southwark near the Thames River. Here many of Shakespeare's plays were performed by the most famous actors of his time, including Richard Burbage, Will Kempe, and Robert Armin. In addition to his 37 plays, Shakespeare had a hand in others, including Sir Thomas More and The Two Noble Kinsmen, and he wrote poems, including Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece. His 154 sonnets were published, probably without his authorization, in 1609. In 1611 or 1612 he gave up his lodgings in London and devoted more and more time to retirement in Stratford, though he continued writing such plays as The Tempest and Henry VII until about 1613. He died on April 23 1616, and was buried in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford. No collected edition of his plays was published during his life-time, but in 1623 two members of his acting company, John Heminges and Henry Condell, put together the great collection now called the First Folio.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "To Be Or Not To Be, Ay, There's the Point...", June 17, 2000

By 

Mark V. Moorhead - See all my reviews

This review is from: The First Quarto of Hamlet (The New Cambridge Shakespeare: The Early Quartos) (Paperback)

...Yep, that's how the line goes in this early, pirated, "bad quarto" edition of the greatest masterwork in the history of English drama, assembled and published on the sly in 1603, probably from the memories of actors who had appeared in the original production of the show. This edition is a cause for non-academic Shakespeare geeks everywhere to rejoice--it's a general-reader's version, highly affordable, copiously annotated, with an intelligent introduction. While no one will ever suggest that this text is on a level with the magnificent First Folio "Hamlet," it still has theatrical merits all its own--a quicker pace, a simpler, less dilatory structure, and, at times, a fiercer, more pungent sense of language: "Oh, what a rogue and peasant slave am I" here becomes "Why, what a dunghill idiot slave am I." Reading it gives a fascinating new perspective on the most towering achievement of English-language tragedy.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars His father murdered, and a Crown bereft him..., October 7, 2002

By 

Tim Sheridan, Theatre of NOTE (Hollywood, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The First Quarto of Hamlet (The New Cambridge Shakespeare: The Early Quartos) (Paperback)

This is - without question - the essential edit of Q1 Hamlet. Ms. Irace presents in the clearest way to date the several arguments for origin, being careful not to tip her hand in any one particular direction. The introduction is a revelation, the annotations are superb and unmatched, and the modernisation of the language is most unobtrusive. This is the kind of work that will inspire and invigorate the artistic and academic masses to accept Q1 not as "the bad quarto," but as an elemental part of the Hamlet legacy...