William Shakespeare, 1703

SHAKESPEARE, William (1564-1616). The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. London: Richard Wellington and E. Rumball, 1703.

The final quarto edition of Hamlet, Jaggard's first issue with "Barnardo" at foot of page 1. One of the so-called "players editions," it contains a text representative of theatrical practice at the time. The preliminary note "To the Reader" is as follows: "This Play being too long to be conveniently Acted, such places as might be least prejudicial to the Plot or Sense, are left out upon the Stage: but that we may no way wrong the incomparable Author," those excisions necessary for the production are nonetheless included in the text and denoted with quotation marks. Bartlett & Pollard call the present copy the "Tenth or eleventh edition." Bartlett & Pollard A Census of Shakespeare's Plays in Quarto, 1594-1709, p. 12; Jaggard, p.308.

Quarto (212x 156mm). Without ad leaf at end. (Margins of title and "To the Reader" leaf extended, leaves browned, a few headlines just trimmed, occasional minor repairs at margin.) Modern dark blue morocco gilt, all edges gilt.