The best edition of the play in print. Gives a radical re-examination of the manuscript, and relates step by step to the process by which the play acquired its final form. Accounts for every single word and mark found in the manuscript – reproduces rejected or alternative passages at the end of the text. Includes a detailed discussion of the authorship and date of the original text and so-called additions. Particularly important now as the play feeds into the present speculation concerning Shakespeare’s Catholic roots.