Richard II, third edition

Shakespeare’s Richard II was printed in a third quarto edition in 1598, the same year as its second edition. As was the case with the first two editions, London bookseller Andrew Wise was the publisher. Besides publishing the first three editions of Richard II, Wise was an active publisher of Shakespeare’s plays, publishing the earliest quarto editions of Richard III, Henry IV Part 1 and Part 2, and Much Ado About Nothing. With three editions in two years, Richard II was one of the most popular plays in print, not only of Shakespeare but of any dramatist in the 1590s. 

Like the title page of the second edition, the title page of the third edition of Richard II identifies Shakespeare as the play’s author. Prior to 1598, Shakespeare’s printed playbooks did not bear his name. The printing of his name on subsequent title pages may suggest a shift in his reputation as an author with his name becoming an advantageous form of advertisement.

The third edition of Richard II contains a shorter version of the play; the version we are more familiar with today would not be printed until 1608. The longer version features the on-stage deposition of King Richard, a potentially controversial scene. The absence of the “deposition scene” in the first three quarto editions has led critics to debate the possible censorship and revision of Shakespeare’s plays.

The copy shown above is one of three listed in the English Short Title Catalogue, and is part of the Folger Shakespeare Library collection. It was once owned by American book collector William Augustus White, who inscribes his name and date on the front endleaf: “W.A. White, 17 Feby, 1890.” It was collated by A.S.W. Rosenbach on June 27, 1922.

To learn more about this play, see the Folger’s page on Richard II, and the British Library’s Shakespeare in Quarto, which also includes information about another copy of this edition.