page_title: Hamlet Q1
section_title: Relation to Q2
hierarchical_section_title: Hamlet Q1 / Bad quarto theory / Relation to Q2
caption_attribution_description: Català: Portada de l'edició en quart de 1605. Gaeilge: Traigéide: Hamlet. Magyar: A Hamlet, dán királyfi 1605-ös kiadása. Italiano: Il 'secondo quarto' (Q2). Il frontespizio del secondo quarto dell'Amleto. ქართული: პიესის თავფურცელი.
context_page_description: Q1 of Hamlet is a short early text of the Shakespearean play. The intended publication of the play is entered in the Stationers' Register in 1602 by James Roberts, but Q1 was not published until summer or autumn 1603. It was published by the booksellers Nicholas Ling and John Trundell, and printed by Valentine Simmes. Roberts later printed the "Second Quarto".
  The other two early printed texts of Hamlet are the Second Quarto and First Folio. Both Q2 and F1 are more than 1600 lines longer than Q1.
  Q1 was unknown until 1823, when the first of only two known copies was discovered by Sir Henry Bunbury. Since then the exact relationship between Q1 and the other early texts of the play, as well as its origin as a text, has been extensively debated but no scholarly consensus has been reached.
context_section_description: The publication of the so-called "good quarto" (Q2) of Hamlet so soon after Q1 has been explained as the result of the fact that Q1 was so corrupt. Possibly Shakespeare or his company thought it necessary to publish the true text to preserve the author's reputation. The title page states that it is "Newly imprinted and enlarged to almost as much againe as it was, according to the true and perfect coppie". Jonathan Bate states that Q2 is "apparently the one closest to Shakespere's original manuscript, but it may represent a 'reading' text as opposed to a 'performance' one"
  The situation is complicated by the fact that the original 1602 entry in The Stationers' Register was made by James Roberts, the printer of Q2, not Valentine Simmes, the printer of Q1. A. W. Pollard argued that Roberts was acting on behalf of Shakespeare's company, and that the entry was intended, albeit unsuccessfully, to block the publication of the play by another publisher. Gerald D. Johnson suggests, in contrast, that Roberts made a deal with the bookseller Nicholas Ling, allowing Ling to use another printer to publish Q1 first, but giving Roberts the right to print the much more substantial "good" version later, from which both would profit, with Ling getting to sell the same play twice.
caption: Title page of the 1605 printing (Q2) of Hamlet
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