Henry VI Part 2, first edition

The first edition of Henry VI Part 2 was printed anonymously as The First Part of the Contention. It was entered in the Stationers’ Register on March 12, 1594 as “The firste parte of the Contention of the two famous houses of York and Lancaster” and printed later that year.

Though known today as the second part of the Henry VI trilogy, Henry VI was originally considered a two-part play comprised of this text and The True Tragedy of Richard Duke of York (1595)—which would become Henry VI Part 3. In fact, the two plays were collected and printed in 1619 quarto as The Whole Contention, but Henry VI Part 1 and the contemporary trilogy arrangement did not appear in print until the 1623 First Folio, where this play appeared titled as The Second Part of Henry the Sixt for the first time.

One of Shakespeare’s first plays to be written, performed, and printed, The First Part of the Contention has long been a source for scholarly debate. Differences between this 1594 quarto and the much longer version in the First Folio suggest that the quarto is either the result of memorial reconstruction or it represents an earlier corrupted, abridged, or otherwise altered version derived from the First Folio version. While some critics, including Jim Marino, have suggested that the quarto text was written prior to the text from which the First Folio is printed, it remains a possibility that the quarto text represents a play that belonged to another company that was revised by Shakespeare and his company into a text corresponding to the Folio.

Unlike many of Shakespeare’s play quartos, this edition’s title page does not include his name or the name of a playing company that performed it. However, there is general consensus that the play was first performed by the short-lived touring company, the Earl of Pembroke’s Men, who also performed The True Tragedy of Richard Duke of York. Although the company performed  Shakespeare’s first three printed plays, the playwright himself was probably not a member.

Though some recent criticism including the work of Jim Marino has suggested that the Lord Chamberlain’s Men purchased and revised the Pembroke’s Men plays to jump-start their repertory, other critics including Lawrence Manly have suggested that this edition of Henry VI Part 2 evidences that we ought to revisit theories regarding Shakespeare’s company membership during the years in which his plays appear to have been most frequently performed by this struggling company.

Despite renewed interest in performance and Shakespeare’s early quartos, this printed play text is most frequently read in comparison and contrast to the play that is printed in the First Folio.

The copy shown here is at the Folger Shakespeare Library. It is one of only two known copies of this edition recorded in the English Short Title Catalogue.

To learn more about the plot of the play, please visit Henry VI Part 2 on the Folger's Shakespeare's Works and the British Library’s Shakespeare in Quarto, which also includes information about another copy of this edition.