The First Quarto of King Richard III
William Shakespeare author Peter Davison editor
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Cambridge University Press
Published:24th Sep '07
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
This paperback is available in another edition too:
- Hardback£105.00(9780521418188)
In this quarto edition the text is accompanied by a collation of variant readings and substantial textual notes.
Shakespeare's Richard III presents difficult textual problems. There are 2,000 verbal differences between the text of the first quarto (1597) and the version in the First Folio (1623). Although the narrative of the two plays is virtually identical, each has lines which are not found in the other, parts of the play are arranged differently, and the quarto deploys fewer characters. The text of the quarto is accompanied by a collation of variant readings and substantial textual notes. In a lengthy introduction Peter Davison proposes 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. Using examples of touring practice of the past 400 years, Davison shows how the actors' involvement helped to produce the text we have.
'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
ISBN: 9780521042079
Dimensions: 229mm x 154mm x 14mm
Weight: 324g
208 pages