This page is dedicated to Dr Martin Wiggins. This information is from a handout sheet he gave us during a tutorial in his garret office at the Marie Corelli house aka the Shakespeare Institute.
The permutations of printed editions:
Manuscript A to printer’s preparation of manuscript
to compositorial setting of type for manuscript
to reading of foul proofs to compositorial corrections
to printing to stop-press proofreading and correction
to first edition to reprints.
20 Quartos of Shakespeare’s Plays were published prior to the First folio of 1623. A run of Quartos would be a maximum of 1250 copies.
Henry the Sixth part two
ent. march 1594, Millington, trf. 19 april 1602, Millington to Pavier.
Q1 1594 printed Creede for Millington.
Q2 1600 printed Simmes for Millington.
Q3 1619 printed Jaggard for Pavier.
Henry the Sixth Part three
trf. 19 April 1602, Millington to Pavier.
Q1 printed Short for Millington.
Q2 1600 printed White for Millington.
Q3 1619 printed Jaggard for Pavier.
Titus Andronicus
ent. 6 february 1594, Danter. trf. 19 april 1602, Millington to Pavier.
Q1 printed Danter.
Q2 1600 White for Millington.
Q3 1611 printed Allde for White.
Richard 3 ent. 20 october 1597, Wise. trf. 25 june 1603, Wise to Law.
Q1 1597 Simmes for Wise.
Q2 1598 Creede for Wise.
Q3 1602 Creede for Wise.
Q4 1605 Creede for Law.
Q5 1612 Creede for Law.
Q6 1622 Purfoot for Law.
Love’s Labours Lost
trf. 22 january 1607, Burby to Ling. trf. 19 november 1607, Ling to Smethwick.
Q1 1598 printed White for Burby.
Romeo and Juliet
trf. 22 january 1607, Burby to Ling. trf. 19November 1607, Ling to Smethwick.
Q1 1597, Danter.
Q2 1599, printed Creede for Burby.
Q3 1609 for Smethwick.
Q4 n.d. for Smethwick.
Richard the Second
ent. 29 august 1597, Wise.
trf. 25 june 1603, Wise to Law
Q1 1597Simmes for Wise.
Q2 1598 Simmes for Wise.
Q3 1598 Simmes for Wise
Q4 1608 White for Law.
Q5 1615 for Law.
Midsummer’s Night Dream
ent. 8 october 1600, Fisher
Q1 1600 Allde or Braddock for Fisher.
Q2 1619 Jaggard.
Merchant of Venice
ent.22 july 1598, Roberts
trf. 28 october 1600, Roberts to T. Heyes.
trf. 8 july 1619, T. Heyes to L. heyes.
Q1 1600 Roberts for T. Heyes.
Q2 1619 Jaggard
Henry the Fourth Part one.
ent. 25 feb 1598, Wise.
trf. 25 june 1603, Wise to Law.
Q1 1598 Short for Wise.
Q2 1599 Stafford for Wise
Q3 1604 Simmes for Law
Q4 1608 for Law.
Q5 1613 White for Law.
Q6 1622 Purfoot for Law.
Henry the Fourth Part two.
ent. 23 august 1600, Wise and Aspley.
Q 1600 Simmes for Wise and Aspley.
Merry Wives of Windsor
ent. 18 january 1602, Busby.
trf. 18 january 1602, Busby to Johnson.
Q1 1602 Creede for Johnson.
Q2 1619 Jaggard for Johnson.
Henry the Fifth
ent. 4 august 1600 ‘to be staied’ ? Roberts
ent. 14 august 1600, Pavier.
Q1 1600 Creede for Millington and Busby
Q2 1602 Creede for Pavier.
Q3 1619 Jaggard for Pavier.
Much Ado about Nothing
ent. 4 august ‘to be staied’ ? Roberts
ent. 23 august 1600, Wise and aspley
Q 1600 Simmes for Wise and Aspley
Hamlet
ent. 26 july 1602, Roberts
trf. 19 november 1607, Ling to Smethwick.
Q1 1603 Simmes for Ling and Trundell.
Q2 1604 1604 Roberts for Ling.
Q3 1611 for Smethwick.
Troilus and Cressida
ent. 7 february 1603, Roberts (provisional).
ent. 28 january 1609, Bonian and Walley.
Q 1609 Eld for Bonian and Walley.
Othello
ent. 6 october 1621, Walkley.
Q 1622 Okes for Walkley.
King Lear
ent. 26 november 1607, Butter and Busby.
Q1 1608 Okes or Snowden for Butter.
Q2 1619 Jaggard for Butter.
Pericles
ent. 20 may 1608, Blount.
Q1 1609 White for Gosson.
Q2 1609 White for Gosson.
Q3 1611 Stafford.
Q4 1619 Jaggard for Pavier
Taming of the Shrew
ent. 2 may 1594, Short (a shrew)
trf. 22 january 1607, Burby to ling.
trf. 19 november 1607, Ling to Smethwick.
Q1 1594 Short for Burby.
Q2 1596 Short for Burby.
Q3 1607 Simmes for Ling.
10 ‘Good’ Quartos:
Titus 1594.
LLL 1598.
Richard II 1597.
MND 1600.
MofV 1600.
1HIV 1598.
2HIV 1600.
MaaN 1600.
Troilus 1609.
Othello 1622.
2 plays appear in good versions replacing bad:
Romeo 1599.
Hamlet 1604.
8 plays in Textually corrupt versions: possibly reported without authority ie memorial reconstruction by actors, and surreptitiously published.
Henry the Sixth part two – 1594.
Henry the Sixth part three – 1595.
Taming of the Shrew – 1594.
Romeo and Juliet – 1597.
Henry the Fifth – 1600.
Hamlet – 1603.
Merry Wives of Windsor – 1602.
Pericles – 1609.
3 of the above bad Quartos are thought to be independent plays:
2HVI aka the first part of the contention.
3HVI aka the True tragedy of Richard.
Shrew aka the taming of A shrew.
Pirate versions
5 bad quartos have peculiarities concerning publication. Does this indicate Piracy?
Romeo 1597.
3HVI 1595, not entered in the Stationer’s register.
Hamlet 1603.
Pericles 1609, published by stationers other than those making the entrance in the Stationer’s Register.
Merry Wives of Windsor 1602, entered by one stationer and transferred to another the same day.
The 16 plays entered in the Stationer’s Register prior to the publication of the First Folio.
The Tempest,
Two Gentlemen of Verona,
Measure for Measure,
A Comedy of Errors,
As You Like It,
Alls Well that Ends Well,
Twelfth Night,
Winter’s tale,
Henry the Sixth part three,
Henry the Eighth,
Coriolanus,
Timon of Athens,
Julius Caesar,
Macbeth,
Anthony and Cleopatra,
Cymbeline,
All the above were entered to Blount and Jaggard on 8 november 1608, prior to the publication of the First Folio.
AYLI had been entered on 4 august 1600, ‘to be staied’,
and Anthony on 20 may 1608, to Blount.
17 Plays were first published in the FF 1623:
The Tempest.
The Two Gentlemen of Verona.
Measure for Measure.
A Comedy of Errors.
As You like it.
All’s Well That Ends Well.
Twelfth Night.
A Winter’s Tale.
Henry the Sixth Part one.
Henry the Eighth.
Coriolanus.
Timon of Athens.
Julius Caesar.
Macbeth.
Anthony and Cleopatra.
Cymbeline.
King John.
36 plays were included in the F.F., excluding
Pericles.
2 plays appear in doubtful Quarto versions:
Richard III 1597.
King lear 1608.
NOTE by WS:
although these were first published in 1623 it does NOT mean they were never performed. Performance history will be dealt with elsewhere.
You can view all these Quartos at the British Library’s site.