Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies

“O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend / The brightest heaven of invention!” Thus begins the Prologue to Henry V, one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays, published in its entirety for the first time in 1623. By contrast, the earlier version of the play, lacking the famous prologue, was first published in 1600; it was perhaps reconstructed from remembered performances of a shorter version. The text of the first quarto edition (1600) is half the length of that later published in the First Folio. A second quarto was published in 1602, and a third in 1619.



It is generally believed that the text published in the First Folio was printed from Shakespeare’s own working drafts; in addition to the prologue, it includes an opening scene, additional dialogue, four additional speeches, and an epilogue. The First Folio gave readers the opportunity, for the first time, to read Shakespeare’s plays in a form that was faithful to the popular stage productions. Now they could do as Heminge and Condell exhorted: “Read him, therefore; and again, and again.”