We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2010
Shakespeare's King John was printed for the first time in the Folio of 1623. The poet adopted most of the characters, the general plot, and occasional lines, or fragments of lines, from an earlier play, in two parts, published in 1591, with the following title-page:
The | Troublesome Raigne | of Iohn King of England, with the dis-|couerie of King Richard Cordelions | Base sonne (vulgarly named, The Ba-|stard Fawconbridge): also the | death of King Iohn at Swinstead | Abbey. | As it was (sundry times) publikely acted by the | Queenes Maiesties Players, in the ho-|nourable Citie of | London. | Imprinted at London for Sampson Clarke, | and are to be solde at his shop, on the backe-|side of the Royall Exchange| 1591 |.
This play was reprinted for a different bookseller in 1611, with the words ‘ W. Sh.’ added to the title; and a third edition in 1622, again issued by a different bookseller, has ‘W. Shakespeare’.
There can be little doubt that the booksellers attributed the play to Shakespeare in the hope that so popular a name might help the sale, for although the earlier play is by no means devoid of merit, the evidence of its style conclusively proves that Shakespeare had no part in the authorship. We have therefore not reprinted it, but contented ourselves with indicating the passages borrowed verbally from it.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.
