Textual sources William Shakespeare

title page of first folio, 1623. copper engraving of shakespeare martin droeshout.

in 1623, john heminges , henry condell, 2 of shakespeare s friends king s men, published first folio, collected edition of shakespeare s plays. contained 36 texts, including 18 printed first time. many of plays had appeared in quarto versions—flimsy books made sheets of paper folded twice make 4 leaves. no evidence suggests shakespeare approved these editions, first folio describes stol n , surreptitious copies . nor did shakespeare plan or expect works survive in form @ all; works have faded oblivion friends spontaneous idea, after death, create , publish first folio.

alfred pollard termed of pre-1623 versions bad quartos because of adapted, paraphrased or garbled texts, may in places have been reconstructed memory. several versions of play survive, each differs other. differences may stem copying or printing errors, notes actors or audience members, or shakespeare s own papers. in cases, example, hamlet, troilus , cressida, , othello, shakespeare have revised texts between quarto , folio editions. in case of king lear, however, while modern editions conflate them, 1623 folio version different 1608 quarto oxford shakespeare prints them both, arguing cannot conflated without confusion.