Texts

Oxford Electronic Edition (OEE)

This installation uses the Oxford Electronic Edition, published by Oxford University Press (1989), based on the Complete Works edited by Stanley Wells and Gary Taylor (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986). This edition maps more closely to the Folio text than other available electronic editions. Later versions of the Archive will include an electronic text of The Folger Shakespeare, edited by Barbara Mowat and Paul Werstine and other modern editions.

The inclusion of modern editions in the Archive serves a double purpose, providing electronic texts of those editions and facilitating searches of the early editions by providing a modern spelling equivalent. No modern edition correlates exactly with the early texts, but the Archive has been designed so that where differences between the Oxford Edition and early editions exist, the texts will synchronize as closely as possible. The OEE is used here by permission of the Oxford University

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Folio Transcriptions (OTA)

Transcriptions of the texts of individual Folio plays are deposited in the Oxford Text Archive maintained by the Oxford University Computing Services, 13 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 6NN. The OTA transcriptions are the work of many different depositors, and a number of errors have been noted in the texts. For use in the Archive, the SGML markup of the OEE and the OTA have been replaced by HTML tags so that they can be used with a Web interface. 

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Hamlet Quarto Transcriptions

Transcriptions of Hamlet Q1 (1603) and Q2 (1604/5) are electronic versions of The Three-Text Hamlet, edited by Bernice Kliman and Paul Bertram (New York: AMS Press, 1991), provided by Bernice Kliman. 

Images

Folio Images

The images in this collection consist of a complete set of digital reproductions of every page of the Shakespeare First Folio, Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (1623), including all known extant states of pages for which variants have been identified.

Like all books of its period, the First Folio contains many press variants. All individual copies of the edition contain both "corrected" and "uncorrected" states of variant pages, and it is unlikely that any two of the approximately 230 extant copies are identical. Therefore, rather than using a single Folger copy as a base, we have followed Charlton Hinman's practice in The Norton Facsimile (New York: W.W. Norton and Sons, 1968; Second Edition, 1996) of selecting clean and complete exemplars of each page from a variety of copies. However, while Hinman based his facsimile on the latest corrected states of each page, this collection includes not only the corrected state but all variant states of each page. This collection is therefore the fullest representation of the Folio as an edition yet attempted. Folger copies were used for all pages with the exception of R6^v (Norton p. 222), variant 1 from the Lennox copy in the New York Public Library and rr3^r (Norton p. 805), variant 2 from the Church copy in the Huntington Library.

The identification of variants for this collection and the selection of copies to photograph follows a report prepared by Peter W.M. Blayney for this project. While Charlton Hinman's The Printing and Proof-Reading of the First Folio of Shakespeare (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1963, 2 Vols.) remains the standard work on press variants in the First Folio, Blayney modified Hinman's list in several respects, on the basis of his own research and that of others published since 1963.

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Major differences between Blayney's and Hinman's list of variants

1. Minor inking variants
   • Hinman recorded many minor variations in inking which he considered to be the deliberate correction of minor flaws such as inking spaces and heavy inking caused by high standing type. Blayney regards most of these minor variations as the result of the action of the inkballs and the platen during printing, rather than as intentional corrections, and does not include them in his list unless they result in variant readings. Forty three "Hinman" variants are therefore not included in this collection.
2. Pages not listed as variant by Hinman and pages for which the identification of primary and variant states in this collection differs from the lists in The Printing and Proof-Reading of the First Folio of Shakespeare or from that of the Norton Facsimile.
   • Sig. B2^r (Norton p. 33). In 1978, Jeanne Addison Roberts claimed, in Studies in Bibliography 31, that several Folger copies show an intact crossbar at TLN 1786, yielding the reading "wife" rather than "wise." Blayney's examination suggests that the apparent variant was caused by a small foreign object, but the claimed variant is included in this collection.
   • Sig. D2^r (Norton p. 33). Hinman noted the variation in this page, but regarded it as "not deliberately introduced."
   • Sig, H2^v (Norton p. 106). Variant reported by Paul Werstine in Publications of the Bibliographical Society of America 72 (1978). Included in this collection.
   • Sig. R6^v (Norton p. 222). The page number is variant. Variant photographed from the Lennox copy in New York Public Library.
   • Sig. S5^r (Norton p. 231). Damage noted by Hinman but not listed as a variant by him. Included in this collection.
   • Sig. ¶¶6^v (Norton p. 614). Accidental alteration of catchword noted by Hinman but not listed as variant. The Norton Facsimile reproduces the altered state. Here, we reproduce the state prior to alteration as primary, and the state photographed for the Norton Facsimile as variant.
   • Sig. Gg2^v (Norton p. 696). Damaged state noted by Hinman, but not listed as variant. The Norton Facsimile reproduces the damaged state. Here, the intact state is reproduced as primary, the damaged state as variant.
   • Sig. kk² (Norton p. 719). Damaged state noted by Hinman. The Norton Facsimile reproduces the damaged state. Here, the intact state is reproduced as the primary, the damaged state as variant.
   • Sig. rr3^v (Norton p. 805). Marked proof of variant page reproduced from the Church copy in the Huntington Library.
   • Sig. xx5^v (Norton p. 858). Though there is no real textual variation here, corrections were made in the placement of type in the catchword.
Blayney also differs from Hinman in the collation of the edition in the case of two gatherings, and the signatures listed for those gatherings (See below, HINMAN SIGNATURE, BLAYNEY SIGNATURE). In the case of Norton pp. 13-17, this difference affects the page order. We have followed the order of Blayney's collation for these pages, but the data fields show the Hinman/Norton order as well.

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Folio Data Fields:

• TITLE: Short play title.
• EDITION: Format (Folio, quarto, etc.), number and date are given in this field.
• STC #: Number for edition (as given in A Short-Title Catalogue of Books Printed in England, Scotland and Ireland and of English Books Printed Abroad, 1475-1640, compiled by A.W. Pollard and G.R. Redgrave, 2nd edition rev. and enlarged by W.A. Jackson, F.S. Ferguson and Katherine F. Pantzer (London: Bibliographical Society, 1976)).
• COPY: Numbers refer to copies in the Folger collection. The two non-Folger copies used are listed as HN (Huntington Library) and NYP (New York Public Library).
• STATE: Primary states are the latest-corrected (or miscorrected) states, or, in the case of pages that suffered damage, the latest state before damage. Invariant states indicate pages for which there are no variants. Variant states are listed in the order in which variation occurred. While, from the point of view of the printing process, marked proof sheets are instances of the states of the pages on which corrections are marked, they are of exceptional interest and are marked as additional variants in this collection.
• NORTON PAGE: The page number in the Norton Facsimile corresponding to the image. Note that the Norton or N# of an image does not imply that the same copy was photographed for this collection as that used in the Norton. For most primary states this will be the case, but check COPY to be certain. Most variant states will not be from copies used in the Norton Facsimile, except in cases in which a state identified by Hinman as primary is listed as variant by Blayney and in cases in which Hinman included an especially interesting variant page in his appendix.
• PAGE ORDER, BLAYNEY COLLATION: This will be the same as the N# in all but six cases. See BLAYNEY SIGNATURE, below.
• HINMAN SIGNATURE
• BLAYNEY SIGNATURE: Signatures follow Peter Blayney's collation, prepared for this project. This follows Hinman in all but ten cases:

  Norton page	Hinman sig.	Blayney sig.	Blayney order
  13	pA6r	pA5+1r	17
  14	pA6v	pA5+1v	18
  15	[pB1]r	pA5+2r	13
  16	[pB1]v	pA5+2v	14
  17	[pB2]r	pA6r	15
  18	[pB2]v	pA6v	16
  587	c1r	+'gg3'r	587
  588	c1v	+'gg3'v	588
  589	c2r	'gg4'r	589
  590	c2v	'gg4'v	590

• NORTON PAGE:
  The page number in the Norton Facsimile corresponding to the image. When the Norton page number identifying an image appears alone, the photograph was taken from the same copy as that used for the Norton Facsimile. In the case of variant pages, equivalent page number in the Norton Facsimile will be listed, but the specific copy will not be the same, and the fact that the page is variant will be noted.
• TLN (Through Line Numbers): Consecutive numbers for each line of text in a play, as used by Hinman in the Norton Facsimile. The numbers given are for the first and last line numbers for the page.
• Riverside ASL: The act, scene, and line number equivalent, in The Riverside Shakespeare (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1974, second ed. 1996), of the first line of text in the Folio image.

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Hamlet Quarto Images

• TITLE: Short play title.
• EDITION: Format (Folio=F, quarto=Q), number of edition and date of edition are given in this field. The information in this field is the same for all First Folio pages (F1, 1623).
• STC #: Number for edition (as given in A Short-Title Catalogue of Books Printed in England, Scotland and Ireland and of English Books Printed Abroad, 1475-1640, compiled by A.W. Pollard and G.R. Redgrave, 2nd edition rev. and enlarged by W.A. Jackson, F.S. Ferguson and Katherine F. Pantzer (London: Bibliographical Society, 1976)). The information in this field is the same for all First Folio pages.
• COPY: Folger and Huntington copies are included here. The British Library copies of Q1 and Q2 have also been digitized, as well as the Trinity College Cambridge, Bodelian, Yale, and Wroclaw University copies of Q2. These will be included in later phases of the Archive, pending permissions.
• SIGNATURE: Signatures for Hamlet Q1 and Q2 are those given in The Three Text Hamlet and correspond to those that can be derived from examining the editions themselves. Unlike the signatures in the First Folio, they are not controversial.
• CLN: Consecutive line number. Line numbering for editions other than the First Folio but conforming to the principles used to generate TLN numbers. All lines of text are counted, but not white spaces. The CLN for Hamlet Q1 is the same as and has been derived from the Q1CLN used in The Three Text Hamlet. The CLN for Hamlet Q2 is unique to this collection.
• TLN: This field designates the equivalent line number in the First Folio for the first line of the page.
• Riverside ASL: The act, scene, and line number equivalent, in The Riverside Shakespeare (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1974, second ed. 1996), of the first line of text in the Folio image.

Hamlet Art and Illustration

The Hamlet art and illustration collection is based on the work of Alan Young, Acadia University, Nova Scotia. Professor Young identified the materials and prepared the database/catalogue.
• DESCRIPTION: Alan Young's description of the item. The beginning of each description in the database is given, and the full text may be accessed by clicking on "more."
• A.S.L.: The act, scene, and line number equivalent, in The Riverside Shakespeare (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1974, second ed. 1996). Note: The line equivalent is sometimes derived from text associated with the image in the original artifact, sometimes through more informal means -- such as noting details of an image. In many cases, the association of an image with a particular line will represent a best guess, and in all cases these equivalences should be treated as guides only -- most images, even those associated closely with a particular line which they illustrate, will be relevant to more than one line or passage.
• TLN (Through Line Numbers): Consecutive numbers for each line of text in a play, as used by Hinman in the Norton Facsimile.
• LOCATION: Includes Library shelf number.
• ARTIST
• DATE: Many Shakespeare images are reproduced in several media or in various editions of printed books. The date given here is that of the specific artifact photographed.
• MEDIUM
• IMAGE #: Unique number in the Alan Young Database.

Hamlet Films

Principal source for film data is Kenneth S. Rothwell and Annabelle Henkin Melzer, eds. Shakespeare on Screen: An International Filmography and Videography (New York: Neal-Schuman, 1990).
• Title: Short Play Title
• TLN
• Year: Year of release or first broadcast
• Producer
• Director
• Lead Actor
• Time: Elapsed time for beginning of segment