Proofing Antony and Cleopatra

A proof-sheet for one page of Antony and Cleopatra still exits. Below you can examine parts of that proof-sheet alongside both the corrected and uncorrected versions of the same page.

Eighteen corrections are marked on the proof-sheet. Most, but not all, of those eighteen are corrected in the primary version of this page.

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In the segment of the proof page below, five items are indicated for correction.

Proof Page (Folger MF1)

Three of the items indicated above are corrected in the primary version of the text (below right):

1) 'Caesar,' > 'Caesar.'     2) 'seure' > 'serue'     3) 'farethee' > 'fare thee'

 

Of the remaining two, one ('onboth') remains uncorrected even in the primary version of the text. In The Printing and Proof-Reading of the First Folio of Shakespeare, Hinman asserts that " the compositor left out the space quad that should separate 'on' from 'both'. And this quad was never supplied" (318).

As for the fifth marked item, 'builded', Hinman asserts, "the ascender of the final 'd' of 'builded' is uninked. But it is inked in the other uncorrected copies . . . therefore, no change was made simply because none was required" (318).

 

Uncorrected Version Variant Page (Folger Copy 029)

Corrected Version Primary/Invariant (Folger Copy 068)

Hinman, Charlton. The Printing and Proof-Reading of the First Folio of Shakespeare. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1963, 2 vols).

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