On texts
It probably isn't Shakespeare. Certainly not as he wrote it. Q1 - 1597 Q2 - 1599 Q3 - 1609 Same play, but they are all different. You can compare them here . Different quarto versions exist for 17 of the plays. The rest only exist in the folio versions and none (except Thomas More) are in Shakespeare's hand . Before any play by any writer(s) was printed, it went through the following stages: 1. It's written, by hand using a quill and corrected as it's being written (see 'Thomas More' above). There is one copy. 2. It's delivered, with all the crossings out and corrections and sometimes in installments, to the company and you'd better hope that the handwriting is legible. Jonson's is a beautiful Italianate script. Shakespeare's Secretary Hand is rather more challenging to a modern eye. Co-authored scripts would come separately and in different hands. (Several of Shakespeare's plays are co-authored.) 3. A 'fa