The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet: Prince of Denmarke

Overview:

• Title: The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet: Prince of Denmarke
• Author: William Shakespeare
• Year: 1603
• Publisher: Nicholas Ling and John Trundell
• Pages: 66
• Binding: quarto
• Type: Chapter Book
• Title Reference: The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet: Prince of Denmarke
• Notes:
  • First publication of "Hamlet". Substantially shorter than later versions of this play. This version is referred to as "Q1" (for "First Quarto"). The differences between this and later editions are so substantial that this play could be considered as almost a different play. Scholars continue to argue over the reasons for these differences, with three primary theories: (1) That Q1 is descended from an earlier draft by Shakespeare; (2) That Q1 is a shortened version intended for a touring production (with names changed so as not to offend similarly named people on the expected tour); (3) That Q1 was reconstructed as a pirated copy based on the memories of the play from one (or more) of the less central characters in the play. Q1 includes a scene that is not in the later versions of Hamlet (which is hard to explain for theories 2 & 3), and this makes it even more of a variation than an abridgment. See the Wikipedia link below for additional details on these three theories.
  • Data from Wikipedia, including the title page shown there, and the British Library.