How were William Shakespeare's plays handed down?

Br />All 38 plays which we recognize as Shakespeare's were published before 1634 in some form. We are very fortunate in that two friends of Shakespeare's, Heminges and Condell, decided after his death to publish a compendium of his plays. William Shakespeare's plays were published in 1623, about seven years after Shakespeare's death, in a volume entitled "Mr William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories & Tragedies," known as "The First Folio," containing the text of 36 plays.

These were produced by his colleagues in the acting company known as "The King's Men" and are considered to be authentic. Had it not been published, we would never have heard of about half of the plays we know to be Shakespeare's, including such famous ones as Macbeth and Julius Caesar. The Collection of Shakespeare's plays has been re-edited and reprinted constantly since 1623.

Sometimes new plays were added to the original 36 in the First Folio, and sometimes these were afterwards removed. In addition to the First Folio, some plays were published seperately in what are called Quarto size (half as big as the Folio) in which the text differed from the First Folio versions. The words "folio" and "quarto" describe the sizes of paper on which they were printed.

If they hadn't been, we would have had no source for the two plays now agreed to be by Shakespeare which were not in the First Folio, Pericles and The Two Noble Kinsmen. Also, the Folio and Quarto versions of Hamlet and King Lear particularly are very different from each other. Without the Quarto versions, a lot of very familiar lines would have been lost.

Thankfully, people kept these old books and didn't throw them out because they were old. Once published, the plays have been continuously republished since, and there is an unbroken chain of productions since 1660. The truth is that some of Shakespeare's plays may have never even been written down, and some that were written down may have been destroyed by the passage of time and the elements.

At least two plays whose titles we know have disappeared completely. There may be others of which we do not even know the title.

All 38 plays which we recognize as Shakespeare's were published before 1634 in some form. We are very fortunate in that two friends of Shakespeare's, Heminges and Condell, decided after his death to publish a compendium of his plays. William Shakespeare's plays were published in 1623, about seven years after Shakespeare's death, in a volume entitled "Mr William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories & Tragedies," known as "The First Folio," containing the text of 36 plays.

These were produced by his colleagues in the acting company known as "The King's Men" and are considered to be authentic. Had it not been published, we would never have heard of about half of the plays we know to be Shakespeare's, including such famous ones as Macbeth and Julius Caesar. The Collection of Shakespeare's plays has been re-edited and reprinted constantly since 1623.

Sometimes new plays were added to the original 36 in the First Folio, and sometimes these were afterwards removed. In addition to the First Folio, some plays were published seperately in what are called Quarto size (half as big as the Folio) in which the text differed from the First Folio versions. The words "folio" and "quarto" describe the sizes of paper on which they were printed.

If they hadn't been, we would have had no source for the two plays now agreed to be by Shakespeare which were not in the First Folio, Pericles and The Two Noble Kinsmen. Also, the Folio and Quarto versions of Hamlet and King Lear particularly are very different from each other. Without the Quarto versions, a lot of very familiar lines would have been lost.

Thankfully, people kept these old books and didn't throw them out because they were old. Once published, the plays have been continuously republished since, and there is an unbroken chain of productions since 1660. The truth is that some of Shakespeare's plays may have never even been written down, and some that were written down may have been destroyed by the passage of time and the elements.

At least two plays whose titles we know have disappeared completely. There may be others of which we do not even know the title.

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