INTRODUCTION

LITERARY HISTORY

It was not till six years after Shakespeare's death, and only a year before the publication of the first Folio, that Othello was first published in quarto with the following title-page: “ THE | Tragœdy of Othello,| The Moore of Venice.| As it hath beene diuerse times acted at the | Globe, and at the Black Friers, by | his Maiesties Seruants. | Written by William Shakespeare. | LONDON, | Printed by N. O. for Thomas Walkley, and are to be sold at his | shop at the Eagle and Child, in Brittans Bursse. | 1622.”

This Quarto was evidently printed from a totally different MS. to that from which the Folio of 1623 was printed. Not only does it contain some one hundred and sixty lines less than the Folio; but it retains all those oaths and introductions of the name of God which are not found in the first Folio, and which would not have been suffered to remain in the copy used at the theatre after the act of 1606 had been passed, to which reference has so frequently been made in the notes to this edition. The next text, in chronological order, is that of the first Folio, which is by far the most correct one that has come down to us. The second Quarto was published in 1630; the title to it is the same as that of Q. 1, with the exception of the imprint, which is as follows: “LONDON, | Printed by A. M. for Richard Hawkins, and are to be sold at | his shoppe in Chancery-Lane, neere Sergeants – Inne. |1630|.”