- description
- # The Two Editions of 1734
## Overview
This section, titled "The two editions of 1734," is a textual segment extracted from a larger document. It details the publication history of the play *Pericles* in London during the year 1734, specifically focusing on two competing reprints.
## Context
This section is part of the chapter "[PERICLES](arke:01KG6S4D9MD59KJ70ZSS7J97J8)" within a collection related to Shakespeare's works. It was extracted from the file "[pdf-01KG6Q7Q25RHMFT3SJXPV18VFF.txt](arke:01KG6S2X2EBB305ENM00G16GWA)" and belongs to the collection "[PDF Workflow Main Test 2026-01-30T00:26:53](arke:01KG6NWQ2H2K4PGG7H4ZHYCZ3Y)". This section follows the discussion of "[Rowe’s text.](arke:01KG6S5J9KHRK7KK7YDMB43S11)" and precedes the section on "[Malone’s revised text.](arke:01KG6S5J9TDBEMQHSFXA2XWGA4)".
## Contents
The text describes two distinct 12mo reprints of *Pericles* published in London in 1734. One was printed by R. Walker, and the other by J. Tonson and his associates. The description notes that William Chetwood, prompter at the Drury Lane Theatre, publicly criticized Walker's edition as pirated and inferior, asserting Tonson's version was derived from theatre copies. However, the text suggests Tonson's edition was also of poor quality. It further states that *Pericles* was not republished until Malone included it in his 1780 "Supplement to Johnson and Steevens’ edition," where Malone is credited with restoring the verse and improving the text's readability through emendations.
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- The Two Editions of 1734
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- 14139
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- text
- The two editions of 1734.
Two rival reprints in 12mo of the Fourth Folio version of *Pericles* appeared in London in 1734, independently of any collective edition. One of these (‘Pericles Prince of Tyre by Shakespear,’ sixty pages) was printed and published by R. Walker at the Shakespear’s Head. The other (‘Pericles Prince of Tyre By Mr. William Shakespear,’ sixty-seven pages) was ‘printed for J. Tonson and the rest of the Proprietors’. To Tonson’s edition was prefixed an advertisement by William Chetwood, prompter at the Drury Lane Theatre, challenging Walker’s pretensions to print this and other of Shakespeare’s plays ‘from copies made use of at the Theatre’; Chetwood denounced Walker’s text as ‘useless, pirated, and maimed’. But Tonson’s version is little better than his rival’s. *Pericles* was not republished again until Malone printed it (in 1780) with all the doubtful pieces in his ‘Supplement to Johnson and Steevens’ edition of 1778’. Malone for the first time recovered the verse from the prose of the early version, and by somewhat liberal emendations rendered most of the text readable and intelligible.
- title
- The two editions of 1734.