Q1 of Hamlet (also called the "First Quarto", full title The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet Prince of Denmarke) is a short early text of the Shakespearean play. The intended publication of the play is entered in the Stationers' Register in 1602 by James Roberts, but Q1 was not published until summer or autumn 1603. It was published by the booksellers Nicholas Ling and John Trundell, and printed by Valentine Simmes. Roberts later printed the "Second Quarto" (Q2).
The other two early printed texts of Hamlet are the Second Quarto (Q2, 1604) and First Folio (F1, 1623) (subsequent quartos over the period 1604–1623 are all, at least in their substantive features, derived from Q2). Both Q2 and F1 are more than 1600 lines longer than Q1.
Q1 was unknown until 1823, when the first of only two known copies was discovered by Sir Henry Bunbury. Since then the exact relationship between Q1 and the other early texts of the play, as well as its origin as a text, has been extensively debated but no scholarly consensus has been reached.
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