Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- THE Preface
- THE TEMPEST
- Notes to the Tempest
- THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA
- Notes to the Two Gentlemen of Verona
- Introduction to the Merry Wives of Windsor
- THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR
- Notes to the Merry Wives of Windsor
- A Pleasant Conceited Comedy of Syr John Falstaffe, &c.
- MEASURE FOR MEASURE
- Notes to Measure for Measure
- THE COMEDY OF ERRORS
- Notes to the Comedy of Errors
THE Preface
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- THE Preface
- THE TEMPEST
- Notes to the Tempest
- THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA
- Notes to the Two Gentlemen of Verona
- Introduction to the Merry Wives of Windsor
- THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR
- Notes to the Merry Wives of Windsor
- A Pleasant Conceited Comedy of Syr John Falstaffe, &c.
- MEASURE FOR MEASURE
- Notes to Measure for Measure
- THE COMEDY OF ERRORS
- Notes to the Comedy of Errors
Summary
The main rules which we proposed to ourselves in undertaking this Edition are as follows:
To base the text on a thorough collation of the four Folios and of all the Quarto editions of the separate plays, and of subsequent editions and commentaries.
To give all the results of this collation in notes at the foot of the page, and to add to these conjectural emendations collected and suggested by ourselves, or furnished to us by our correspondents, so as to give the reader in a compact form a complete view of the existing materials out of which the text has been constructed, or may be emended.
In all plays of which there is a Quarto edition differing from the received text to such a degree that the variations cannot be shown in foot-notes, to print the text of the Quarto literatim in a smaller type after the received text.
To number the lines in each scene separately, so as to facilitate reference.
To add at the end of each play a few notes, (a) to explain such variations in the text of former editions as could not be intelligibly expressed in the limits of a footnote, (b) to justify any deviation from our ordinary rule either in the text or the foot-notes, and (c) to illustrate some passage of unusual difficulty or interest.
To print the Poems, edited on a similar plan, at the end of the Dramatic Works.
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- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Shakespeare , pp. ix - xlivPublisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009First published in: 1863