Adrian Kiernander "Editng Richard III"

One of the problems confronting an editor of Richard the Third is the need to choose between the Folio and the First Quarto as a source text . Almost all editors in recent times have preferred the Folio, but often for very different reasons. John Jowett's Oxford edition unusually uses Q1. This paper will compare and assess the range of arguments and evidence used in selected editions of the play, and examine the criteria articulated by editors in making a choice of which text to follow.