The text, with few departures, is that of the First Quarto (1598) edition of the play.
Act and scene divisions are not indicated in the Quarto; those of the First Folio have been incorporated, with one exception: scene ii of Act V has been divided into two scenes, with the concluding scenes numbered accordingly. The Third Edition includes expanded annotations."Contexts and Sources" includes dueling arguments on the play’s completeness (one play or one half of a play?) and the naming of a central character (Falstaff or Oldcastle?).
"Criticism" includes twenty-four essays?from E. M. W. Tillyard’s classic argument of an ordered Shakespearean universe to Graham Holderness’s rebuttal to Gus Van Sant’s interview regarding 1 Henry IV as the inspiration for his cult film, My Own Private Idaho?nineteen of them new to the Third Edition.
The Selected Bibliography has been thoroughly updated.