The First Part of King Henry the Sixth was printed for the first time, so far as we know, in the Folio of 1623. The same edition contained also for the first time in their present form, ‘The second Part of King Henry the Sixt, with the death of the Good Duke Humfrey,’ and ‘The third Part of King Henry the Sixt, with the death of the Duke of Yorke.’

The play upon which the Second part of Henry the Sixth was founded was first printed in quarto (Q₁), in 1594, with the following title:

The &break; First part of the Con-&break;tention betwixt the two famous houses of Yorke &break; and Lancaster, with the death of the good &break; Duke Humphrey: &break; And the banishment and death of the Duke of &break; Suffolke, and the Tragicall end of the proud Cardinall &break; of Winchester, with the notable Rebellion &break; of Iacke Cade: &break; And the Duke of Yorkes first claime vnto the &break; Crowne. &break; LONDON &break; Printed by Thomas Creed, for Thomas Millington, &break; and are to be sold at his shop vnder Saint Peters &break; Church in Cornwall. &break; 1594. &break;

The only copy known of this edition is in the Bodleian Library (Malone, Add. 870), and is probably the same which was once in Malone's possession, and which he collated with the second Quarto printed in 1600. Mr Halliwell, in the preface to ‘The first sketches of the second and third parts of King Henry the Sixth,’ edited by him for the Shakespeare Society, is inclined to doubt this, on

the ground that Malone quotes, from the copy in his possession, a reading which does not exist in that now in the Bodleian. The passage in question is in Scene IX. line 12, p. 370 of the present volume, ‘Honouring him as if he were their king:’ on which Mr Halliwell in his note observes, ‘Malone, who has collated his copy of the edition of 1600, “printed by W. W.,” with a copy of the 1594 edition formerly in his possession, distinctly writes—

as the reading of his copy of the first edition. If so, it must have been a different copy from that now in the Bodleian, from which the present text is reprinted, and another instance of the curious variations in different copies of the same editions, which were first discovered by Steevens (Boswell's Malone, Vol. X. p. 73), and recently applied to good use by Mr Collier.’ Mr Halliwell has here inadvertently fallen into error. Malone's collation is made in a copy of the edition of 1600, in which the line stands thus:

At the foot of the page he wrote ‘their king,’ which is the reading of the edition of 1594 for the two last words, but which Mr Halliwell misread ‘thinking’ and regarded as a various reading for ‘Honouring.’ It is still possible, therefore, that Malone's copy and that at present in the Bodleian may be identical.

The second edition (Q₂) of the First Part of the Contention appeared in quarto in 1600, with the following title:

The &break; First part of the Con-&break;tention betwixt the two famous hou-&break;ses of Yorke and Lancaster, with the &break; death of the good Duke &break; Humphrey: &break; And the banishment and death of the Duke of &break; Suffolke, and the Tragical end of the prowd Cardinall &break; of Winchester, with the notable Rebellion of &break; Iacke Cade: &break; And the Duke of Yorkes first clayme to the &break; Crowne. &break; London &break; Printed by Valentine Simmes for Thomas Millington, and &break; are to be sold at his shop vnder S. Peters church &break; in Cornewall. &break; 1600. &break;

Copies with this title are in the Library of the Duke of Devonshire, and in the Bodleian (Malone, 867). An imperfect copy, wanting the last seven leaves, is in the Capell collection. Another impression bearing the same date, ‘Printed by W. W. for Thomas Millington,’ is said to exist, but we have been unable to find it. The MS. title quoted by Mr Halliwell from a copy in the Bodleian (Malone, 36) is prefixed to what appears to us unquestionably the same edition as the above. The minute correspondence of misplaced and defective letters between this copy and Capell's, with which, as well as with the other copy in the Bodleian, we have compared it, proves beyond question that all three must have been printed from the same form, and that the MS. title inserted in Malone's copy is out of place. So far therefore from Capell's imperfect copy of this edition being unique, as Mr Halliwell states, there are at least two other perfect copies in existence, besides one which only wants the title-page. In Lowndes's Bibliographer's Manual (ed. Bohn, p. 2281), another is said to be in the possession of Mr Tite. The late Mr George Daniel is stated, on the same authority, to have had the editions printed by Valentine Simmes and by W. W. in one volume, but they were not sold at his sale, and we have been unable to trace them.

In 1619, a third edition (Q₃) without date, printed by Isaac Jaggard, and including also ‘The True Tragedy of Richard Duke of York,’ appeared with the following title:

The &break; Whole Contention &break; betweene the two Famous &break; Houses, Lancaster and &break; Yorke. &break; With the Tragicall ends of the good Duke &break; Humfrey, Richard Duke of Yorke, &break; and King Henrie the &break; sixt. &break; Diuided into two Parts: And newly corrected and &break; enlarged. Written by William Shake-&break;speare, Gent. &break; Printed at London, for T. P. &break;

On the title-page of his copy of this edition, Capell has added in MS. the date ‘1619.—at the same time with the

Pericles that follows; as appears by the continuation of the signatures.’ The signatures of ‘The whole Contention’ are from A to Q in fours, while in Pericles, ‘Printed for T. P. 1619,’ the first page has signature R, which shows that the two must have formed part of the same volume.

‘The True Tragedy of Richard Duke of York,’ which formed the ground-work of The Third part of King Henry the Sixth, was first printed in small 8vo. in 1595, with the following title:

The &break; true Tragedie of Richard &break; Duke of Yorke, and the death of &break; good King Henrie the Sixt, &break; with the whole contention betweene &break; the two Houses Lancaster &break; and Yorke, as it was sundrie times &break; acted by the Right Honoura-&break;ble the Earle of Pem-&break;brooke his seruants. &break; Printed at London by P. S. for Thomas Milling-&break;ton, and are to be sold at his shoppe vnder &break; Saint Peters Church in &break; Cornwal, 1595. &break;

A unique copy of this edition is in the Bodleian Library (Malone, 876). Although printed in 8vo. we have quoted it as Q₁, in order to avoid introducing a new notation.

The second edition (Q₂) was printed in 1600, with the following title:

The &break; True Tragedie of &break; Richarde Duke of &break; Yorke, and the death of good &break; King Henrie the sixt: &break; With the whole contention betweene the two &break; Houses, Lancaster and Yorke; as it was &break; sundry times acted by the Right &break; Honourable the Earle &break; of Pembrooke his &break; seruantes. &break; Printed at London by W. W. for Thomas Millington, &break; and are to be sold at his shoppe vnder Saint &break; Peters Church in Cornewall. &break; 1600. &break;

Copies of this edition are in the Duke of Devonshire's Library, the Bodleian (Malone, 36), and the British Museum. In Malone's Shakespeare (ed. 1790, Vol. I. Pt. I. p. 235), among the ‘Dramatick Pieces on which plays were formed by Shakespeare,’ an edition of The True Tragedy is mentioned, bearing date ‘1600, V. S. for Thomas Millington,’ but in a note to the ‘Third Part of King Henry

VI.’ (Vol. VI. p. 261) he confesses, ‘I have never seen the quarto copy of the Second part of The whole Contention, &c. printed by Valentine Simmes for Thomas Millington, 1600;’ and it is extremely doubtful whether such a one exists. A copy of The True Tragedy, and not, as stated in Bohn's Lowndes, of The First Part of the Contention, printed by W. W. 1600, was sold at Rhodes's sale in 1825 (No. 2113). The only authority therefore for the existence of an edition of The First Part of the Contention, printed by W. W. in 1600, is the MS. title-page of Malone's copy in the Bodleian Library. Capell merely quotes it on the authority of Pope, and all that Pope says in the Table at the end of his first edition, after giving the title of The Whole Contention printed in 1619, is, ‘Since Printed under the same Title by W. W. for Tho. Millington, with the true Tragedy of Richard D. of York, and the Death of good King Henry the 6th, acted by the Earl of Pembroke his servants 1600.’ This clearly refers to the second Quarto of The True Tragedy, not to that of The First Part of the Contention, and appears to us to be the origin of the error^{1 note}.

The third edition (Q₃) of The True Tragedy formed the second part of The Whole Contention described above. It has no separate title-page, but merely the heading:

The Second Part. &break; Containing the Tragedie of &break; Richard Duke of Yorke, and the &break; good King Henrie the &break; Sixt. &break;

We have reprinted the text of The First Part of the Contention and of The True Tragedy from the first edition of each, giving in notes at the foot of the page the various readings of the second and third editions. For this purpose

we collated Mr Halliwell's reprint for the Shakespeare Society with the originals in the Bodleian Library. The accuracy of Mr Halliwell's work materially facilitated our labours, and we can only hope that the errors of our own reprint may be as few and as unimportant as those we have discovered in his. For the readings of the second Quartos of The First Part of the Contention and The True Tragedy we collated the copies in the Bodleian and the Duke of Devonshire's Library, using also for the former the imperfect copy in the Capell collection. The readings of The Whole Contention (Q₃) have been given from Capell's copy verified by reference to that in the Devonshire Library.

With regard to the authorship of The First Part of the Contention and The True Tragedy, while we cannot agree with Malone on the one hand that they contain nothing of Shakespeare's, nor with Mr Knight on the other that they are entirely his work, there are so many internal proofs of his having had a considerable share in their composition, that, in accordance with our principle, we have reprinted them in a smaller type.

The first edition of King Richard is a Quarto printed in 1597, with the following title-page:

The Tragedy of &break; King Richard the third. &break; Containing, &break; His treacherous Plots against his brother Clarence: &break; the pittiefull murther of his innocent nephewes: &break; his tyrannicall vsurpation: with the whole course &break; of his detested life, and most deserued death. &break; As it hath beene lately Acted by the &break; Right honourable the Lord Chamber-&break;laine his seruants. &break; AT LONDON &break; Printed by Valentine Sims, for Andrew Wise, &break; dwelling in Paules Church-yard, at the &break; Sign of the Angell. &break; 1597. &break;

This edition is referred to, in our notes, as Q₁.

We have collated a complete copy belonging to the Duke of Devonshire and also an imperfect copy formerly belonging to Malone and now in the Bodleian. Malone had supplied the missing leaves by the insertion of some

from the second Quarto^{2 note}. There is no copy in the Capell collection.

The second edition, also in Quarto, which we call Q₂, was published in the following year, with the name of the author. It is in other respects a reprint of the first. The title-page is as follows:

THE &break; TRAGEDIE &break; of King Richard &break; the third. &break; Conteining his treacherous Plots against his &break; brother Clarence: the pitiful murther of his innocent &break; Nephewes: his tyrannicall vsurpation: with &break; the whole course of his detested life, and most &break; deserued death. &break; As it hath beene lately Acted by the Right honourable &break; the Lord Chamberlaine his seruants. &break; By William Shakespeare. &break; LONDON &break; Printed by Thomas Creede, for Andrew Wise, &break; dwelling in Paules Church-yard, at the signe &break; of the Angell. 1598. &break;

The third Quarto, our Q₃, has the following title-page:

THE &break; TRAGEDIE &break; of King Richard &break; the third. &break; Conteining his treacherous Plots against his brother &break; Clarence: the pittifull murther of his innocent Ne-&break;phewes: his tyrannicall vsurpation: with the &break; whole course of his detested life, and &break; most deserued death. &break; As it hath bene lately Acted by the Right Honourable &break; the Lord Chamberlaine his seruants. &break; Newly augmented, &break; By William Shakespeare. &break; LONDON &break; Printed by Thomas Creede, for Andrew Wise, dwelling &break; in Paules Church-yard, at the signe of the &break; Angell. 1602. &break;

Notwithstanding the words ‘newly augmented,’ this edition contains nothing that is not found in the second Quarto, from which it is reprinted, except some additional errors of the press.

The fourth Quarto, our Q₄, was printed from the third, by the same printer for a different bookseller, as appears by the title-page:

THE &break; TRAGEDIE &break; of King Richard &break; the third. &break; Conteining his treacherous Plots against his brother &break; Clarence: the pittifull murther of his innocent Ne-&break;phewes: his tyrannicall vsurpation: with the &break; whole course of his detested life, and &break; most deserued death. &break; As it hath bin lately Acted by the Right Honourable &break; the Lord Chamberlaine his seruants. &break; Newly augmented, &break; By William Shake-speare. &break; LONDON, &break; Printed by Thomas Creede, and are to be sold by Mathew &break; Lawe, dwelling in Paules Church-yard, at the Signe &break; of the Foxe, neare S. Austins gate, 1605. &break;

There is no copy of Q₄ in the Capell collection. We have collated one in the Bodleian which formerly belonged to Malone. It is numbered 880.

The fifth Quarto, Q₅, was printed in 1612, not from its immediate predecessor, but from the Quarto of 1602, although it was printed by the same printer and for the same bookseller as that of 1605. The title-page of Q₅ is as follows:

THE &break; TRAGEDIE &break; of King Richard &break; the third. &break; Containing his treacherous Plots against his brother &break; Clarence: the pittifull murther of his innocent Ne-&break;phewes: his tyrannicall vsurpation: with the &break; whole course of his detested life, and &break; most deserued death. &break; As it hath beene lately Acted by the Kings Maiesties &break; seruants. &break; Newly augmented, &break; By William Shake-speare. &break; London, &break; Printed by Thomas Creede, and are to be sold by Mathew &break; Lawe, dwelling in Pauls Church-yard, at the Signe &break; of the Foxe, neare S. Austins gate, 1612. &break;

The edition of 1622 is so rare that its very existence

has been called in question^{3 note}. There is however a copy in the Capell collection, of which the title-page is as follows:

THE &break; TRAGEDIE &break; of &break; king &break; richard &break; the third. &break; Contayning his treacherous Plots against &break; his brother Clarence: The pittifull murder of his innocent &break; Nephewes: his tyrannicall Vsurpation: with the whole &break; course of his detested life, and most &break; deserued death. &break; As it hath been lately Acted by the Kings Maiesties &break; Seruants. &break; Newly augmented. &break; By William Shake-speare. &break; london, &break; Printed by Thomas Purfoot, and are to be sold by Mathew Law, dwelling &break; in Pauls Church-yard, at the Signe of the Foxe, neere &break; S. Austines gate, 1622.

This edition we call Q₆. It is printed from Q₅.

Another edition in Quarto was printed in 1629, not from the first Folio, but from the sixth Quarto. It was printed by Iohn Norton for Matthew Law. Except in the name of the printer and the substitution of the word ‘tiranous’ for ‘tyrannicall’ the title-page does not differ from that of Q₆. We call it Q₇.

The eighth and last Quarto, our Q₈, copied from the seventh, was printed by Iohn Norton in 1634. There is no bookseller's name on the title-page, if we may trust that which Capell has supplied in MS. ‘from a copy in the possession of Messrs Tonsons and Draper.’

In quoting the readings of the Quartos and Folios, we have, in all cases where the spelling is unimportant, given that of the earliest copy.

In 1766 Steevens published a reprint of the Quarto of 1612, ‘collated’—to use his own words—‘with the following editions.’

1598. Thomas Creede, for Andrew Wise.

1602. Ditto.

1624. Thomas Purfoot, Thomas Purfoot, &c.

1629. John Norton, &c.

1634. John Norton, &c. and another imperfect Copy, differing from the rest, but without a Title Page.

The date 1624 is probably a mistake for 1622. At the foot of each page he gives various readings, but without specifying the editions to which they respectively belong. Several of these are not found in any of the Quartos with which we are acquainted. We have therefore recorded them as ‘quoted in Steevens's reprint.’ So many of the other readings which he gives are found only in the first Quarto that we have no doubt that the imperfect copy which he mentions was of that edition.

We have made, and, as we believe, for the first time, a complete collation of all the extant Quartos. Those of 1597 and 1605 were unknown to Capell when he collated the other six.

The respective origin and authority of the first Quarto and first Folio texts of Richard III. is perhaps the most difficult question which presents itself to an editor of Shakespeare. In the case of most of the plays a brief survey leads him to form a definite judgement; in this, the most attentive examination scarcely enables him to propose with confidence a hypothetical conclusion.

The Quarto, Q₁, contains passages not found in the Folio, F₁, which are essential to the understanding of the context: the Folio, on the other hand, contains passages equally essential, which are not found in the Quarto.

Again, passages which in the Quarto are complete and consecutive, are amplified in the Folio, the expanded text being quite in the manner of Shakespeare. The Folio, too, contains passages not in the Quartos, which though not necessary to the sense yet harmonize so well, in sense and tone, with the context that we can have no hesitation in attributing them to the author himself.

On the other hand, we find in the Folio some insertions and many alterations which we may with equal certainty affirm not to be due to Shakespeare. Sometimes the alterations seem merely arbitrary, but more frequently they appear to have been made in order to avoid the recurrence of the same word, even where the recurrence adds to the force of the passage, or to correct a supposed defect of metre, although the metre cannot be amended except by spoiling the sense.

Occasionally we seem to find indications that certain turns of phrase, uses of words or metrical licences, familiar enough to Shakespeare and his earlier contemporaries, had become obsolete in the time of the corrector, and the passages modified accordingly. In short, Richard III. seems even before the publication of the Folio to have been tampered with by a nameless transcriber who worked in the spirit, though not with the audacity, of Colley Cibber.

The following scheme will best explain the theory which we submit as a not impossible way of accounting for the phenomena of the text: