Until recent decades, it was widely held that the 1603 1st Quarto (Q1) of Hamlet, the first of the three texts to appear in print, was actually an unauthorized printing of an unauthorized abridgment of the 2nd Quarto (Q2) or Folio texts, both printed subsequently. The theory holds that the text was largely the product of the memory of actors who performed the play, or by reporters in the audience.
A new generation of relational graphic tools (developed by Howland Research) revealed previously unrecognized patterns in the individual texts and in the relationships between the variant texts. Subsequent probability analysis established the statistical certainty that the Q1 text did not derive from either Q2 or the Folio text. The alternative theory is emerging that the text of Q1 is not a derivative of either the Q2 or the Folio text, but rather is related to a pre-Q2 text of Hamlet.
The 2nd Edition includes an analytical chart of plot elements, including the plot elements of the enigmatic Brudermord (BB) text, a text available only from a German manuscript, and impossible to date with certainty. The plot element analysis places BB as most probably related to a very early version of Hamlet, perhaps as early as 1590. Most significantly, the analysis traces several plot element “trajectories” that pass from BB through Q1 to Q2, consistent with the evidence for Q1 as related to a pre-Q2 text.
Developed to add to the existing scholarly conversation around Q1 Hamlet, the Evidence Matrix will be most valuable to those already familiar with the issues surrounding Q1 Hamlet, but to others, it will still read like a scholarly detective story.
Please inquire about availability of copies of the 2nd Edition or timing of the 3rd Edition.