Playbooks and Their Readers in Early Modern England

This book is the first comprehensive examination of commercial drama as a reading genre in early modern England. Focusing on the dominant format of the single-play quarto playbook, it juxtaposes analysis of print and manuscript evidence to present a detailed picture of how plays were read, why, and by whom. Cover 1 Endorsement Page 2 Half Title 4 Series Page 5 Title Page 6 Copyright Page 7 Dedication Page 8 Table of Contents 10 Figures 11 Notes on referencing and transcription 13 Acknowledgements 15 Introduction 18 Reading plays in early modern England 23 Notes 37 Chapter 1: Who read plays? 45 The materiality of playbooks revisited 47 London readers and the continuum of literacies 58 Welcoming a ‘universalitie of Readers’: Thomas Heywood and others 68 Liking with judgement: paratexts and the management of reader response 76 Conclusion 82 Notes 83 Chapter 2: Why read plays? 92 Printing plays ‘as’ performed: expectations of theatrical similitude 95 What’s in a name? The meanings of authorial attribution 101 Latin mottoes and genre designations: dramatic poetry and (deceived) expectations 107 Tragedy 111 Comedy 114 Aut prodesse : profit as an incentive for playreading 119 Aut delectare : pleasure as an incentive for playreading 124 Conclusion 131 Notes 132 Chapter 3: How were plays read?: Part one: Extractive reading 143 Edward Pudsey 147 William Drummond of Hawthornden 158 Abraham Wright 169 Conclusion 184 Notes 185 Chapter 4: How were plays read?: Part two: Using, marking, annotating 194 Responses to the play as book 197 Responses to the play as text 209 Responses to the play as play 223 Conclusion 236 Notes 237 Chapter 5: Conclusion 247 Notes 252 Appendix 254 Professional play quartos with Horatian title page mottoes, 1598–1659 254 Bibliography 256 Primary sources: plays 256 Non-dramatic primary sources 259 Modern editions 260 Secondary sources 262 Databases and reference works 275 Blogs and blog posts 276 Manuscripts 276 Playbooks with manuscript marks or marginalia 277 Abbreviations 277 Index 279 Renaissance,drama;,Renaissance;,playreading;,playgoing;,Early,Modern,Literature;,Shakespeare;,early,modern,drama;,English,drama Renaissance drama,Renaissance,playreading,playgoing,Early Modern Literature,Shakespeare,early modern drama,English drama This book is the first comprehensive examination of commercial drama as a reading genre in early modern England. Taking as its focus pre-Restoration printed drama's most common format, the single-play quarto playbook, it interrogates what the form and content of these playbooks can tell us about who their earliest readers were, why they might have wanted to read contemporary commercial drama, and how they responded to the printed versions of plays that had initially been performed in the playhouses of early modern London. Focusing on professional plays printed in quarto between 1584 and 1660, the book juxtaposes the implications of material and paratextual evidence with analysis of historical traces of playreading in extant playbooks and manuscript commonplace books. In doing so, it presents more detailed and nuanced conclusions than have previously been enabled by studies focused on works by one author or on a single type of evidence. "This book is the first comprehensive examination of commercial drama as a reading genre in early modern England. Taking as its focus pre-Restoration printed drama's most common format, the single-play quarto playbook, it interrogates what the form and content of these playbooks can tell us about who their earliest readers were, why they might have wanted to read contemporary commercial drama, and how they responded to the printed versions of plays that had initially been performed in the playhouses of early modern London"-- Provided by publisher