Book Description

The text, with few departures, is that of the First Quarto (1598) edition of the play. Act and scene divisions are not indicated in the Quarto; those of the First Folio have been incorporated, with one exception: scene ii of Act V has been divided into two scenes, with the concluding scenes numbered accordingly. The Third Edition includes expanded annotations. "Contexts and Sources"includes dueling arguments on the play's completeness (one play or one half of a play?) and the naming of a central character (Falstaff or Oldcastle?). "Criticism" includes twenty-four essays—from E. M. W. Tillyard's classic argument of an ordered Shakespearean universe to Graham Holderness's rebuttal to Gus Van Sant's interview regarding 1 Henry IV as the inspiration for his cult film, My Own Private Idaho—nineteen of them new to the Third Edition. The Selected Bibliography has been thoroughly updated.

About the series:

No other series of classic texts equals the caliber of the Norton Critical Editions. Each volume combines the most authoritative text available with the comprehensive pedagogical apparatus necessary to appreciate the work fully. Careful editing, first-rate translation, and thorough explanatory annotations allow each text to meet the highest literary standards while remaining accessible to students. Each edition is printed on acid-free paper and every text in the series remains in print. Norton Critical Editions are the choice for excellence in scholarship for students at more than 2,000 universities worldwide.

About Author

Gordon McMullan is Reader in English at King's College, London. His publications include The Politics of Unease in the Plays of John Fletcher, the Arden edition of Shakespeare and Fletcher's Henry VIII, and two edited collections of essays, The Politics of Tragicomedy: Shakespeare and Renaissance Configurations: Voices/Bodies/Spaces, 1580-1690. He is currently working on a book about Shakespeare and the invention of late writing.

Book Dimension:

length: (cm)21.3 　　　 　　　　　 　 width:(cm)13.4