Hamlet

This facsimile edition of Hamlet is taken from the large and handsome book known simply as the ‘First Folio’. This is the earliest collected edition of Shakespeare’s plays and was was printed in 1623, just seven years after his death.


For students of Hamlet, going back to these First Folio plays is an essential part of a more complete understanding of Shakespeare's work.


Eighteen of Shakespeare’s plays had already been published in the small, cheap format known as quartos during his lifetime, including such favourites as A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet. The First Folio added another eighteen, including Macbeth, The Tempest and Twelfth Night all of which are indispensable to the modern repertory. Without the First Folio only half of Shakespeare’s dramatic output would have survived.


Hamlet is one of Shakespeare's most enduring and famous tragedies, and the version in the First Folio is one of three early and very different versions that exist. It was written around the turn of the 17th century and the part of Hamlet has always attracted the most illustrious actors.


This is an eBookTreasures facsimile edition.