John Donne and the Conway Papers : Patronage and Manuscript Circulation in the Early Seventeenth Century

How and why did men and women send handwritten poetry, drama, and literary prose to their friends and social superiors in the seventeenth century-and what were the consequences of these communications? Within this culture of manuscript publication, why did John Donne (1572-1631), an author who attempted to limit the circulation of his works, become the most transcribed writer of his age? __John Donne and the Conway Papers__ examines these questions in great detail. Daniel Starza Smith investigates a seventeenth-century archive, the Conway Papers, in order to explain the relationship between Donne and the archive's owners, the Conway family. Drawing on an enormous amount of primary material, he situates Donne's writings within the broader workings of manuscript circulation, from the moment a scribe identified a source text, through the process of transcription and onwards to the social ramifications of this literary circulation. __John Donne and the Conway Papers__ offers the first full-length analysis of three generations of the Conway family between Elizabeth's succession and the end of the Civil War, explaining what the Conway Papers are and how they were amassed, how the archive came to contain a concentration of manuscript poetry by Donne, and what the significance of this fact is, in terms of seventeenth-century politics, patronage, and culture. Answers to these questions cast new light on the early transmission of Donne's verse and prose. Throughout, __John Donne and the Conway Papers__ emphasizes the importance of Donne's closest friends and earliest readers--such as George Garrard, Rowland Woodward, and Sir Henry Goodere--in the dissemination of his poetry. Goodere in particular emerges as a key agent in the early circulation of Donne's verse, and this book offers the first sustained account of his literary activities. 'john Donne And The Conway Papers' Examines The Archive Of The Conway Family And Considers How The Archive Came To Contain A Concentration Of Manuscript Poetry By Donne, And What This Tells Us In Terms Of Seventeenth-century Politics, Patronage, And Culture. Introduction: John Donne Andthe Conway Papers; Part I The Conway Familyand The Conway Papers; 1. 'at Length I Fell In To Imagination': Sir John Conway; 2. 'an Honest Man, Who Knows More About The Sword Than The Pen': Edward, First Viscount Conway And Killultagh; 3. The Knight's Move: Conway And A Game At Chess; 4. Fide Et Amore: The First Viscount Conway's Legacies; 5. 'what Is A Gentleman But His Pleasure?' Edward, Second Viscount Conway, And Killultagh; 6. Booklets, Books, Ballads, And Birds: The Second Viscount Conway As Collector; 7. The Curious History Of The Conway Papers; 8. Conceptualizing The Conway Papers; Part Ii John Donne, Sir Henry Goodere, And Manuscript Circulation; 9. Donne's Verse Letters; 10. Sir Henry Goodere, Poet And Scribe; 11. Problematum Miscellaneorum: The Problems And Biathanatos, 1603-1610; 12. The Intelligence That Moves: Donne, Goodere, And Conway, 1610-1615; 13. Textual Transmission And Court Patronage In The 1620s; 14. Conflicts Of Interest: Donne, Goodere, Conway, And Seventeenth-century Patronage; Conclusion: Patronage And Manuscript Circulation; Appendix I: Conway And Goodere Family Trees; Appendix Ii: Literary Manuscripts In The Conway Papers; Works Cited; Index. Daniel Starza Smith. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 335-372) And Index.