The Cancelled Page of the First Folio Romeo and Juliet

While Q2 Romeo and Juliet has so far established itself as the main copy-text for almost all modern editions of the play, the Folio text has served only as a partial source for editors’ collations and emendations. Consequently, most modern editors seem to have paid insufficient attention to the fact that the Folio’s final page of the play exists in ‘two states’, set up on separate occasions by two different compositors, each with his own skills and working habits. This article reviews the historical background in which Romeo’s final page had to be printed twice, and discusses the bibliographical details of the cancellandum and the cancellans. Although the latter was once deemed a ‘mere’ reprint of the former, a textual analysis reveals not only that it was not, but uncovers the ways in which they differ.