King Lear is Shakespeare's tragedy of the descent into madness of a legendary British king.
Bibliographic notesAs with Shakespeare's other plays, there is no known "original" manuscript of King Lear, though its first publication, a quarto edition published in 1608, may have been based on a working draft of Shakespeare's. The play was published again with some corrections in 1619. A version with significant changes was also included in the First Folio of 1623, published seven years after Shakespeare's death. Texts from these and other sources were used to create subsequent editions of the play.
See also- Online books about King Lear
- Wikipedia article about King Lear
- Online books by William Shakespeare
- Online books filed under these subjects:
- Full catalog description
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![[Info]](https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/info.gif)
King Lear (with annotations and scene index), by William Shakespeare, ed. by Philip Weller (HTML at Shakespeare Navigators) - King Lear: The Complete Annotated Text, by William Shakespeare, ed. by Michael J. Cummings and W. J. Craig (HTML at shakespearestudyguide.com)
- M. William Shak-speare: His True Chronicle Historie of the Life and Death of King Lear, and His Three Daughters (first quarto; London: Printed for N. Butter, 1608), by William Shakespeare (frame- and cookie-dependent page images here at Penn)
- M. William Shake-Speare: His True Chronicle History of the Life and Death of King Lear, and His Three Daughters (second quarto; title page dated 1608 but printed 1619), by William Shakespeare (page images here at Penn)
- The Tragedie of King Lear (from the first folio of 1623), by William Shakespeare (frame- and cookie-dependent page images here at Penn)
- The History of King Lear: Acted at the Duke's Theatre. Reviv'd with Alterations (1681), by William Shakespeare and Nahum Tate
- El Rey Lear (in Spanish; Barcelona: Estab. tip. de F. Costa, 1913), by William Shakespeare, trans. by Juan B. Enseñat y Morell (multiple formats at archive.org)
- El Rey Lear (in Spanish; Madrid: Ediciones de la Lectura, ca. 1911), by William Shakespeare, trans. by Jacinto Benavente (page images at HathiTrust; US access only)
- King Lear, by William Shakespeare (HTML with commentary at folger.edu)
- The Life and Death of King Lear (from The Works of William Shakespear; London: J. Tonson, 1728), by William Shakespeare, ed. by Alexander Pope (frame- and cookie-dependent page images here at Penn)
- King Lear (London: Oxford University Press, 1914), by William Shakespeare, ed. by W. J. Craig (HTML at Bartleby)
- Look for editions of this book at your library, or elsewhere.