The Second Part of King Henry the Fourth: 1600

This is a photofacsimile edition of the quarto of The Second Part of Henry the Fourth. The quarto, which was printed by Valentine Simmes in 1600, exists in two issues, the second with cancel. It is generally accepted that this edition was set from Shakespeare's foul papers by a single compositor. The reason for the cancel (which contains an entire scene missing from the first issue) is the subject of debate among students of Shakespeare's text, as are the discrepancies between the quarto text and the 1623 First Folio. Censorship, adaptation for the theater, and revision are reasons proposed to explain the state of the text. The Introduction to this edition addresses these debates and also contains a full list of press variants between copies of the quarto as well as other bibliographical information. In addition, an appendix presents photofacsimiles of those pages in the first issue which were subsequently cancelled.