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Internet Shakespeare Editions

About this edition

  • Editor: Michael Best
  • General textual editors: James D. Mardock, Eric Rasmussen
  • Coordinating editor: Michael Best
  • Associate coordinating editor: Janelle Jenstad
  • King Lear

    By William Shakespeare

    Edited by Michael Best

    Quick start: King Lear (Modern, Extended Folio)

    Introduction

    Texts of this edition

    King Lear was published in two significantly different versions in 1608 (Quarto 1) and in the Folio (1623). This edition provides modernized texts for each version, with the addition of "extended" texts that include the passages unique to the alternative text. For more information on the relationship between the two versions, see the Textual Introduction.

    King Lear (Folio, 1623)

    King Lear (Quarto 1, 1608)

    King Lear (Quarto 2, 1619)

    Sources for the Lear story

    Sources for the Gloucester plot

    Literary, political, and social contexts

    King Lear's afterlife


    Links in this section are to pages on the websites of the Internet Shakespeare Editions, Digital Renaissance Editions, Queen's Men Editions and Shakespeare in/au Québec.

    Facsimiles

    Life And Times pages

    Performances

    Performance materials