Promptbooks
The Folger collection includes over 1,800 promptbooks, about half of which are for Shakespearean productions. Strictly speaking, “promptbooks” are printed play texts marked up prior to performance in order to indicate for the stage prompter the cuts, changes, additions, entrances and exits, and other stage business he is to follow in conducting the performance. Other marked-up play texts, also called promptbooks, provide evidence not of a prompter’s on-stage work, but of prior preparation.
Promptbooks at the Folger
Before searching for promptbooks housed at the Folger Shakespeare Library, please read the article Researching promptbooks at the Folger for background information on resources.
The two best ways to search for promptbooks in Hamnet are:
- Select the Call Number Left-Anchored option on the Basic Search tab (or the Call Number option on the Advanced Search tab), and search for PROMPT. This will return all items assigned a promptbook collection call number.
- Select the Subject & Form/Genre Browse option on the Basic Search tab (or the Form/Genre option on the Advanced Search tab), and search for "Promptbooks".
For best results, combine the two searches using "OR" in the Advanced Search tab.
PROMPT Ham. 16 - David Garrick's preparation of Hamlet
This "preparation promptbook" for David Garrick’s controversial revision of Hamlet for the 1772–73 season is not yet ready to be acted—or prompted—from but helps establish many of the radical changes Garrick made to Shakespeare’s play. In working on this version, Garrick did not use his own previously-published acting edition, first printed in 1763. Instead he marked up a 1747 copy of the standard text of the time (the version by Robert Wilks and John Hughs) and in some places pasted in leaves from his own 1763 text. Garrick divided the acts differently while reinstating over six hundred lines to the first three acts. But his most extensive changes were to condense the fourth and fifth acts where he deleted not only the popular gravediggers’ scene but also the fencing match between Laertes and Hamlet. Instead of this “rubbish” (as he called these scenes), Garrick considered multiple possible endings.
Cataloging promptbooks
 This article is currently a draft.
|
| This article contains text copied from legacy files and may or may not reflect current information.
|
! Current text copied from legacy wikis and undergoing revision at this time - Oct. 18 2016, Tuesday !
As of fall 2016, Folger staff catalog all promptbooks as unique items, regardless of whether we own other non-promptbook copies of the same printed edition. If an edition is extensively marked with general production notes, or for a particular character, assume it is a promptbook. The presence of only minor annotations is not enough to call something a promptbook; check with your supervisor if uncertain.
- Match the promptbook to existing copy in OCLC, or create a new record for the print edition if necessary.
- If a promptbook has a formal title, use the formal title.
- Add genre term “Promptbooks” for all items marked in manuscript for performance. This includes promptbooks proper, marked copies, preparation copies, rehearsal copies, and partbooks (see E.A. Langhans' Eighteenth century British and Irish promptbooks : a descriptive bibliography for definitions).
655 7 ǂa Promptbooks. ǂ2 rbgenr ǂ5DFo
- Include a 510 note if the promptbook is present in Shattuck, Langhans, or Burnim (for Garrick manuscripts). If the item is not listed in one of these sources, add a 500 note (e.g., "Not in Langhans."). This will ensure that any points of discrepancy or disagreement among the primary reference works are made apparent to researchers.
Trace prompters, annotators, and theaters, if known. Make a personal name added entry for known or suspected prompter or annotator in a 700 field with ǂe annotator, unless the name is already traced in a general 100 or 700 field. Make an added entry for the theater for which a specific performance is marked. If this information comes from a source other than the manuscript, make a note of the source of your information (in parentheses within a 520 is fine). Former owners: If the copy has no annotations, but was owned by Garrick or another person, make a copy-specific personal name added entry with ǂe former owner. If promptbook contains identifiable printed material, include in 520 and make a print-out for book catalogers. 100 xx [Author of play]. 240 10 [Uniform title] 245 xx Promptbook prepared by [preparer] for [actor] in the role of [character] in [play] ǂh [manuscript], ǂf [date] 510 4_ 600 x0 [Author] ǂx Characters ǂx [name of character] ǂv Manuscripts. 650 _0 [Character, Name of] (Fictitious character) {SCM H 1610 covers how to construct these; if a historical character use instead 600 with ǂx In literature}
700 xx [name of actor] 700 xx [name of preparer], ǂe annotator
Create 852 fields, with first indicator 8, pulling copy-specific notes into appropriate subfields based on their IR, Voyager records, and shelf cards (for accession and physical description information) Begin ǂz with the phrase "RESTRICTED--SPECIAL PERMISSION REQUIRED." Trace any copy-specific notes in the record relating to the Promptbook(s): 600 (Characters) if a single or selection of characters' lines are marked up, indicate the character; 655 (Interleaved; Prompt copies); 700 (former owners; annotators); if a single or selection of plays in a collected editions are marked up, indicate which plays. Check the List of Shakespeare Characters on the Wiki for the correct entry when tracing a character in 600 ǂx. 655 7 ǂa Promptbooks. ǂ2 rbgenr ǂ5DFo 655 7 ǂa Interleaved copies (Provenance) ǂ2 local ǂ5DFo 600 10 ǂa Shakespeare, William, ǂd 1564-1616 ǂx Characters ǂx Posthumus Leonatus. ǂ5DFo 700 1 ǂa Kemble, John Philip, ǂd 1757-1823, ǂe annotator. ǂ5DFo If our copy is described in Shattuck or Langhans, add 510 bibliographical citation notes, as well as a statement in the 852 note. Since the numbering in Shattuck starts over with each play, use the abbreviations established for promptbook shelfmarks. Note: the Folger shelfmark and the Shattuck number for a copy will not be the same. 5104 Shattuck, C.H. Shakespeare promptbooks, ǂc Cor. 10 5104 Langhans, E.A. Eighteenth century British and Irish promptbooks, ǂc p. 74 8528 ǂz Shattuck: Cor. 10 8528 ǂz Langhans: p. 74 If our copy is not described in Shattuck, note this in the 852, as well as a 500 note (although do not note if our copy is not in Langhans): 500 Not in Shattuck, C.H. Shakespeare promptbooks. 8528 ǂz Not in Shattuck. The completed 852 reads: 852 8_ ǂb DeckC-Rare ǂh PROMPT Cor. 1 ǂj cs1633 ǂz RESTRICTED--SPECIAL PERMISSION REQUIRED. Promptbook, checked by George W. Lewis for Tullus Aufidius. Outer margins trimmed, affecting some ms. notes; interleaved. In ink on p. [9] and facing interleaf: Marked as played at the Walnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia, July 29th 1845, Geo. W. Lewis. In ink on title-page: Theatre Bowery Prompt Book 1841 June. Ms. cast list. "Order of procession as done at the Walnut St. Theatre. 1845" on interleaves facing p. 31-33. Autograph of W.M. Foster on p. 46; autograph of George Becks on title-page. Shattuck: Cor. 10. Black cloth boards; black leather spine with gold title. Owned by Mr. and Mrs. Folger. In Voyager, overlay the ShCol bibliographic record if one exists, Relink existing promptbook MARC holdings record to ShCol bibliographic record instead of creating a new holdings record Voyager item record Item Type=Rare Book (not Promptbook)