USING THE EARLY EDITIONS SECTION

Our EARLY EDITIONS section enables you to browse early printed versions of Shakespeare's Hamlet.

Each of these early texts -- First Quarto (1603), Second Quarto (1604/5), First Folio (1623) -- differ significantly from one another. For example, below you can see that the Second Quarto contains 22 lines not present in the First Folio: "This heauy headed reveale east and west. . . . To his owne scandle."

Sometimes the differences are not so easy to spot. In the comparison below, for example, not only does the Second Quarto contain four lines not present in the First Folio but it also differs in a single word choice -- "Sonnet" vs. "somnet."

For the quickest and easiest way to compare the differences in these EARLY EDITIONS, see our READING ROOM.

For more information about these early texts, see TUTORIALS AND GUIDES.