THE TRAGEDY OF HAMLET Prince of Denmarke. BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. Newly imprinted and enlarged to almost as much againe as it was,according to the true and perfect Coppy. Printed for John Smethwicke, andare to be fold at his fhoppe in Saint Dunftons Church yeard in Fleetftreet. Vnder the Diall,1611. FACSIMILE, TITLE-PAGE, FOURTH QUARTO VS WS SHAKESPEARE THE TRAGEDY OF HAMLET INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY 22 EDITED AND REVISED BY SCHOOL GINN AND COMPANY WS WS 13454:4785 HARVARD 41*216 ENTERED AT STATIONERS' HALL COPYRIGHT, 1909 BY GINN AND COMPANY ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 915.6 The Athenæum Press GINN AND COMPANY PRO- PREFACE The text of this edition of Hamlet is based upon a collation of the Second Quarto (the Quarto of 1604), the seventeenth century Folios, the Globe edition, the Cambridge (W. A. Wright) edition of 1891, and the editions of Delius (1882) and of Furness. As compared with the text of the earlier editions of Hudson's Shakespeare, it is conservative. Exclusive of changes in spelling, punctuation, and stage directions, very few emendations by eighteenth century and nineteenth century editors have been adopted; and these, with every variation from the First Folio, are indicated in the textual notes. These notes are printed immediately below the text, so that a reader or student may see at a glance the evidence in the case of a disputed reading, and have some definite understanding of the reasons for those differences in the text of Shakespeare which frequently surprise and very often annoy. Such an arrangement should be of special help in the case of a play universally read and very often acted, as no two actors or interpreters agree in adhering to one text. A consideration of the more poetical, or the more dramatically effective, of two variant readings will often lead to rich results in awakening a spirit of discriminating interpretation and in developing true creative criticism. In no sense is this a textual variorum edition. The variants given are only those of importance and high authority. |