The 1623 Folio and the Modern Standard Edition
The 1623 Folio and the Modern Standard Edition
A long genealogy separates the first published collection of William Shakespeare's plays, the 1623 First Folio, from standard twentieth-century editions of Shakespeare. The pedigree of each edition could be traced, theoretically at least, back to the most authentic texts, either those of the Folio or those of the quartos that preceded it. Through the First Folio and early quartos, and the putative manuscripts behind them, the line is imagined to extend directly back to the ultimate begetter, Shakespeare. However, the resemblance is far from exact. The difference is in part, as might be expected, superficial. The refinement of printing techniques and the standardization of English have changed the appearance of the page. Technical and philological improvements, though, cannot explain away more substantial differences pertaining to content and organization.
Keywords: William Shakespeare, plays, 1623 First Folio, standardization, English, quartos, genealogy, manuscripts
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