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.
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| This article contains text copied from legacy files and may or may not reflect current information.
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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 may not be 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
- Add other genre terms as appropriate, e.g.:
- Interleaved copies (Provenance) ǂ2 rbprov ǂ5DFo
- Cast lists. ‡2 rbgenr ‡5 DFo
- Acting editions. ‡2 rbgenr ‡5 DFo
- If the Folger holds non-promptbook versions of the same printed edition, indicate this with their call numbers in a 590 note. Add a reciprocal note to the non-promptbook version record, indicating the existence of the promptbook copy.
- 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.
510 4 ‡a Shattuck: OTH, ‡c 20.510 4 ‡a Langhans, E.A. 18th cent. British and Irish promptbooks, ‡c p. 12-13.510 4 ‡a Burnim & Highfill. John Bell, ‡c p. 16-17.
- Add a 752 field for the place of publication/printing/etc.
- 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 a subfield 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, note of the source of your information in a 500 field.
- 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. (Note: Under current cataloging guidelines, it is unlikely that a newly-acquired copy without annotations would be treated as a promptbook.)
- If the copy is marked for a particular character, or contains extensive notes about their costuming, etc., add subject heading for that character. Consult the List of Shakespeare character subject headings for the appropriate forms.
600 10 ‡a Shakespeare, William, ‡d 1564-1616 ‡x Characters ‡x Tullus Aufidius.
- Add copy-specific notes in an 852 ‡z:
- Begin ǂz with the phrase "RESTRICTED--SPECIAL PERMISSION REQUIRED."
- Indicate markings and annotations, giving the annotator whenever known.
- Indicate which play(s) are marked, if in a collected edition.
- Indicate if Folger copy is described in Shattuck or Langhans. 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. If Folger copy is not described in Shattuck, note this as well (do not note if our copy is not in Langhans, though).
852 8 ǂz Shattuck: Cor. 10852 8 ǂz Langhans: p. 74
- Example 852 field:
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.