A Yorkshire Tragedy, second edition

Thomas Pavier’s 1619 reissue of A Yorkshire Tragedie, now printed by William Jaggard, repeats the attribution to “W. Shakespeare” and places his name more prominently in capitals, but removes the information about playing company and theater. This quarto was part of Pavier’s aborted project to compile a compilation of Shakespearean plays. Unlike many of the other quartos in this series, there is no false information on the title page beyond the dubious authorship, and Pavier is reissuing a text to which he already owned the rights.

The play was one of the seven included in the 1664 Third Folio, and remained part of the Shakespeare canon in the 1685 Folio, Nicholas Rowe’s editions of 1709 and 1714, and Alexander Pope’s edition of 1728. Along with most of the other 1664 additions, the play reappeared in Edmund Malone’s Supplement (1780) and several editions of Shakespearean dubitanda throughout the nineteenth century. The play’s unusual ferocity and pace often attracted praise from critics but, despite its theatrical qualities, the play’s brevity means that the play is rarely staged today.

The pioneering work of David Lake and MacDonald P. Jackson on the canon of Thomas Middleton has solidified the attribution of A Yorkshire Tragedy to the author, around the time he was also working with the King’s Men on plays such as The Revenger’s Tragedy. The play has since been published in the Oxford Thomas Middleton: Collected Works.