52Press Variants

Despite W. Carew Hazlittʼs claim that ‘There were two issues of this drama in the same year: the other purports to have been “Printed by Valentine Syms for John Oxenbridge”ʼ,^[182] not even W. W. Greg has been able to trace more than one extant edition. The word ‘purportsʼ suggests that maybe Hazlitt had not seen the copy in person, and raises the possibility that it was being held in a private collection. The 1599 edition survives in seventeen copies, which are held at the following institutions (an asterisk indicates copies visited):

53Of these seventeen copies, Greg only refers to BL1-3, Bodl, Dyce, Eton, ‘while at least three are in Americaʼ.^[183] In his detailed article ‘Bibliographical Studies of George Chapmanʼs An Humorous Dayʼs Mirthʼ, Akihiro Yamada collates all except CtY and Kingʼs. Allan Holaday (1970), collates ten copies: BL1, Bodl, CLUC, CSmH, CtY, DFo1, Dyce, GWU, Kingʼs, and MH.^[184] For this edition, Holadayʼs collation has been thoroughly checked. The remaining seven copies have been collated and a list of press variants compiled in consultation with the lists of Holaday and Yamada. In both lists there are a number of errors and omissions which have been corrected. Holaday identifies only two corrected states of sheet B (outer forme) because of neglecting to collate NN2, which preserves the third state. A reprint of half-sheet H exists in BL1, differing from all other copies in size of measure, font and spelling. The press variants recorded by annotations in the text do not include these differences, which have been recorded by Yamada elsewhere.^[185]

54Not all seventeen copies are complete: Kingʼs and DFo2 lack half-sheet H. In both, the final half-sheet of the play is copied by hand from the first state of half-sheet H. Yamada names W. Henderson responsible in DFo2, in which the copying is more accurate than in the Kingʼs manuscript of half-sheet H, which alters spellings and, occasionally, words. Kingʼs is also lacking sheet E, as well as C1 and C1v, although no compensation has been made for this in manuscript form. DFo1 lacks A1, and the title page has been copied by hand, without an attempt at reproducing the device. The variant noted on sheet D (inner forme) D1v is the first record of its existence, as is the variant on H1v, l. 9 and the complicated sequencing of variants found on sheet F (outer forme).The existence of a copy of proof-state sheet G (outer) provides clues to stop-press correction in Simmesʼs shop. For an extended discussion, see ‘Two Textual Issues Originating in the Printing Houseʼ.