
Shakespeare in Shorthand: The Textual Mystery of "King Lear" (Hardback)
Adele Davidson (author)
£66.50
Hardback
328 Pages /
Published: 30/06/2009
- Not available
The year 2008 marks the four hundredth anniversary of the first publication of "King Lear", and for four centuries the play has remained a consummate bibliographical mystery. Winner of the 2007 Jay L. Halio prize for best manuscript in Shakespeare studies, "Shakespeare in Shorthand" demonstrates that many textual anomalies derive from the play's transcription in Elizabethan shorthand. The shorthand system of John Willis, Stenographie (1602), shows a high correlation with the unusual textual features found in the first quarto of Lear (1608). The patterns of variants in the quarto conform to Willis' rules regarding the reduction of diphthongs and digraphs and the omission of aspirated, doubled, or unsounded letters. In the past two decades the textual interrelation of quarto and folio (1623) Lear has proven one of the most contested issues in Shakespearean studies, and an examination of Stenographie reveals that some of these textual differences result not from authorial revision, but from transmission in abbreviated writing.
Bibliographical evidence also indicates that some textual omissions from the folio version are neither authorial nor theatrical, but derive from the printing house.
Publisher: Associated University Presses
ISBN: 9780874130478
Number of pages: 328
Weight: 590 g
Dimensions: 236 x 163 x 28 mm
You may also be interested in...
Please sign in to write a review
Sign In / Register
Not registered? CREATE AN ACCOUNTCREATE A plus ACCOUNT
Sign In
Download the Waterstones App
Would you like to proceed to the App store to download the Waterstones App?
Click & Collect
Reserve online, pay on collection.
Please note that owing to current COVID-19 restrictions, many of our shops are closed. Find out more by clicking here.
Please note that owing to current COVID-19 restrictions, many of our shops are closed. Find out more by clicking here.
Thank you for your reservation
Your order is now being processed and we have sent a confirmation email to you at
When will my order be ready to collect?
Following the initial email, you will be contacted by the shop to confirm that your item is available for collection.
Call us on or send us an email at
Unfortunately there has been a problem with your order
Please try again or alternatively you can contact your chosen shop on or send us an email at