From Playhouse to Printing House: Drama and Authorship in Early Modern England

by Douglas A. Brooks

Overview

This original study examines how Shakespeare and his contemporaries made the difficult transition from writing plays for the theater to publishing them as literary works. Douglas Brooks analyzes how and why certain plays found their way into print while many others failed to do so and looks at the role played by the Renaissance book trade in shaping literary reputations. Incorporating many finely-observed typographical illustrations, this book focuses on plays by Shakespeare, Jonson, Webster, and Beaumont and Fletcher as well as reviewing the complicated publication history of Thomas Heywood's work.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521771177
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	04/27/2000
Series:	Cambridge Studies in Renaissance Literature and Culture , #36
Pages:	316
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.06(d)

Table of Contents

List of illustrations; Preface; Acknowledgements; Prologue 'Thou grewst to govern the whole Stage alone': dramas of authorship in early modern England; 1. 'A toy brought to the Presse': marketing printed drama in early modern London; 2. 'So disfigured with scrapings & blotting out': Sir John Oldcastle and the construction of Shakespeare's authorship; 3. 'If he be at his book, disturb him not': the two Jonson folios of 1616; 4. 'What strange Production is at last displaid': dramatic authorship and the dilemma of collaboration; 5. 'So wronged in beeing publisht': Thomas Heywood and the discourse of perilous publication; Epilogue 'Why not Malevole in folio with vs': the after-birth of the author; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"Brooks...contribute[s] to our understanding both of authorship...and of the role of the printing house rather than copyright in creating the 'author.'" Renaissance Quarterly

"Incisive and insightful...has much to offer scholars and students interested in the publication and marketing history of Renaissance dramatic texts. This well-researched, thoughtful book raises worthwhile questions and opens fresh perspectives on the provenance and transmission of some of our cherished English dramatic texts." Modern Language Quarterly

"Brooks reveals printing as a strategy, a means of self-fashioning used by various playwrights and printers to different ends.... Brooks eagerly raises unsettling questions about the canon. He is earnest in describing authorship as a game, one in which the players are more or less skilled, and in which there are winners and losers.... From Playhouse to Printing House is a valuable addition to the study of early modern drama. In examining the evolution of authorship as a concept, rather than a practice, Brooks demands that we reconsider not only the traditional attributions of particular works, but also why these attributions were made in the first place." Sixteenth Century Journal

"A fine addition to Cambridge's Studies in Renaissance Literature and Culture." Studies in English Literature

From the Publisher