Jay’s Life

I found this article on Boing Boing. It points to the British Library where they have scanned a number of Quartos and provided them online. So what are quartos?

What are the quartos?
Shakespeare’s plays began to be printed in 1594, probably with his tragedy Titus Andronicus. This appeared as a small, cheap pamphlet called a quarto because of the way it was printed. Eighteen of Shakespeare’s plays had appeared in quarto editions by the time of his death in 1616. Another three plays were printed in quarto before 1642. In 1623 an expensive folio volume of 36 plays by Shakespeare was printed, which included most of those printed in quarto.

It is very interesting to browse through. See how things have changed. And since none of Shakespeare’s original manuscripts survived, these are the only printed copies from that period. I don’t know why I never learned this in school.