How much does a First Folio cost, and how much is that?
January 2025
|
Journal article
|
Journal of Early Modern Studies
Folio Raiders
September 2024
|
Chapter
|
Shakespeare’s First Folio 1623-2023 Text and Afterlives
Reflects on the 400th anniversary of the First Folio using Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark as an analogy.
Literary Criticism
Shakespeare's first folio in Germany
January 2024
|
Journal article
|
Shakespeare Jahrbuch
FFR
Ghost folios
November 2023
|
Chapter
|
Shakespeare’s First Folio Revisited: Quadricentennial Essays
Folios as ghosts, via Susan Hill's ghost story 'A Small Hand' and those copies formerly in particular locations and now alienated elsewhere.
What is early modern dramatic collaboration?
October 2023
|
Journal article
|
Critical Survey
FFR
Self-reading books: Marginalia, prosopopoeia, and book history
September 2023
|
Chapter
|
The Oxford Handbook of the History of the Book in Early Modern England
Shakespeare's Serial Histories?
December 2022
|
Journal article
|
Memoria di Shakespeare
The order of Shakespeare’s history plays in the 1623 Folio involves the most substantial editorial intervention of that volume. Renaming and ordering the plays in chronological order has cast a long shadow on interpretations. This article revives interest in the history plays as individual Quarto publications, suggesting that they had narrative independence during the period.
reception , first folio, FFR, publishing, serial drama, histories
Theater, revision, and The Merry Wives of Windsor
September 2022
|
Journal article
|
Shakespeare Quarterly
FFR
Shakespeare as adaptor
January 2022
|
Chapter
|
The Arden Research Handbook of Shakespeare and Adaptation
The Shakespeare Films of Orson Welles
January 2020
|
Chapter
|
CAMBRIDGE COMPANION TO SHAKESPEARE ON SCREEN
On Editing
July 2019
|
Chapter
Covering the changes in Shakespeare editorial theory and practice over the decades between the publication of the Oxford Shakespeare (1986) and the New Oxford Shakespeare (2016), this article surveys a range of modern texts with different rationales and aimed at different readerships. The article has three sections: the imagery associated with editorial activity, issues of authorship and collaboration, and the place of performance in editions. We trace the conceptual changes between the Textual Companion that accompanied the 1986 edition, and the Authorship Companion that is the equivalent for the 2016 edition, discussing the role of quantitative and qualitative approaches to questions of authorship and collaboration. We pay particular attention to the metaphors and tropes that shape editorial discourse, finding their echoes in early modern paratextual material. Pervasive anthropomorphic textual imagery tends implicitly to feminize texts (and masculinize editors), and we discuss the changing demands on editors and the continued dominance of male editors, particularly for Shakespeare’s tragedies and histories. A final section discusses Arden editorial generations of Hamlet alongside the play’s own telos of interrupted succession and its preoccupation with ghosts and the past.
On Editing
July 2019
|
Journal article
|
Shakespeare
47 Language, Communication and Culture, 4705 Literary Studies
This Is Shakespeare
May 2019
|
Journal article
The Shakespeare in this book poses awkward questions rather than offering bland answers, always implicating us in working out what it might mean. This is Shakespeare. And he needs your attention.
Drama
EDITOR’S NOTE
January 2019
|
Journal article
|
Shakespeare Survey: 72: Shakespeare and War
SHAKESPEARE SURVEY: 72: Shakespeare and War
January 2019
|
Book
The 72nd in the annual series of volumes devoted to Shakespeare study and production. The articles are drawn from the programme of the International Shakespeare Conference held in Stratford-upon-Avon in the summer of 2018. The theme is ‘Shakespeare and War’.
A new corrected proof sheet from Shakespeare's First Folio (1623)
March 2018
|
Journal article
|
Library
This note describes a sixth extant corrected proof sheet found in an Oxford copy of Shakespeare's First Folio (1623), and what it adds to the understanding of the printing process of King Lear.
17th Century, printing-shop procedures
The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare's First Folio, Edited by Emma Smith, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2016, Xiv + 203 Pp., £18.99 (paperback), ISBN 978-1-107-49168-7
January 2018
|
Book
Reading Shakespeare's Stage Directions
December 2017
|
Chapter
|
Stage Directions and Shakespearean Theatre
This collection of essays examines the creative possibilities of stage directions and and their implications for actors and audiences, readers and editors, historians and contemporary critics.
SBTMR
Shakespeare's Changing Canon: Introduction
October 2017
|
Journal article
|
Shakespeare
4705 Literary Studies, 36 Creative Arts and Writing, 47 Language, Communication and Culture, 3602 Creative and Professional Writing, 3604 Performing Arts
'Signes of a stranger': The english language and the english nation in the late sixteenth century
September 2017
|
Chapter
|
Archipelagic Identities: Literature and Identity in the Atlantic Archipelago, 1550-1800
Beating the bounds
August 2016
|
Journal article
|
TLS - The Times Literary Supplement
The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare's First Folio
July 2016
|
Book
By the end of the century, book collecting flourished into a passion that extended
to First Folios. Prices Increase The late seventeenth century was probably the last
opportunity to buy a First Folio at a reasonable price. At that time, the price ...
Drama
The hero, the villain, the princess, and the book: stories about the First Folio
May 2016
|
Journal article
|
Cahiers Elisabethains: A Journal of English Renaissance Studies
This article establishes a prehistory of the excitement about the discovery of the Saint-Omer Shakespeare First Folio in a longer narrative of investments in the book’s secrets. Tracing the neglected importance of Baconianism to the establishment of the First Folio’s cultural prominence in the early twentieth century, parallels between the kinds of narratives told by authorship sceptics and by bibliographers are drawn. I argue that the sense that the book encodes mysteries about its own genesis unites popular and academic approaches to the First Folio, and is one way to account for the discrepancy between its value and its non-rarity.
Francis Bacon, authorship, Vladimir Propp, First Folio, narrative
Shakespeare's Dead
April 2016
|
Book
Pyramus: `Now die, die, die, die, die.' [Dies] A Midsummer Night's Dream 'Shakespeare's Dead' reveals the unique ways in which Shakespeare brings dying, death, and the dead to life. It establishes the cultural, religious and social contexts for thinking about early modern death, with particular reference to the plague which ravaged Britain during his lifetime, and against the divisive background of the Reformation. But it also shows how death on stage is different from death in real life. The dead come to life, ghosts haunt the living, and scenes of mourning are subverted by the fact that the supposed corpse still breathes. Shakespeare scripts his scenes of dying with extraordinary care. Famous final speeches - like Hamlet's `The rest is silence', Mercutio's `A plague o' both your houses', or Richard III's `My kingdom for a horse' - are also giving crucial choices to the actors as to exactly how and when to die. Instead of the blank finality of death, we get a unique entrance into the loneliness or confusion of dying. 'Shakespeare's Dead' tells of death-haunted heroes such as Macbeth and Hamlet, and death-teasing heroines like Juliet, Ophelia, and Cleopatra. It explores the fear of `something after death', and characters' terrifying visions of being dead. But it also uncovers the constant presence of death in Shakespeare's comedies, and how the grinning jester might be a leering skull in disguise. This book celebrates the paradox: the life in death in Shakespeare.
The weight of the pasts
April 2016
|
Journal article
|
TLS - The Times Literary Supplement
Vamped till ready: An uncatalogued First Folio
April 2016
|
Journal article
|
TLS - The Times Literary Supplement
Shakespeare's First Folio: Four Centuries of an Iconic Book
March 2016
|
Book
This is a biography of a book: the first collected edition of Shakespeare's plays printed in 1623 and known as the First Folio. It begins with the story of its first purchaser in London in December 1623, and goes on to explore the ways people have interacted with this iconic book over the four hundred years of its history. Throughout the stress is on what we can learn from individual copies now spread around the world about their eventful lives. From ink blots to pet paws, from annotations to wineglass rings, First Folios teem with evidence of their place in different contexts with different priorities. This study offers new ways to understand Shakespeare's reception and the history of the book. Unlike previous scholarly investigations of the First Folio, it is not concerned with the discussions of how the book came into being, the provenance of its texts, or the technicalities of its production. Instead, it reanimates, in narrative style, the histories of this book, paying close attention to the details of individual copies now located around the world - their bindings, marginalia, general condition, sales history, and location - to discuss five major themes: owning, reading, decoding, performing, and perfecting. This is a history of the book that consolidated Shakespeare's posthumous reputation: a reception history and a study of interactions between owners, readers, forgers, collectors, actors, scholars, booksellers, and the book through which we understand and recognize Shakespeare.
Literary Criticism
Introduction: Towards a definition of print popularity
March 2016
|
Book
The Elizabethan Top Ten, Defining Print Popularity in Early Modern England
March 2016
|
Book
43 History, Heritage and Archaeology, 47 Language, Communication and Culture, 4303 Historical Studies, 4705 Literary Studies
Introduction
March 2016
|
Other
|
Shakespeare Bulletin
3604 Performing Arts, 36 Creative Arts and Writing
Printing the First Folio
January 2016
|
Chapter
|
The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare's First Folio
Printing the First Folio
January 2016
|
Chapter
|
The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare's First Folio
The Making of Shakespeare's First Folio
December 2015
|
Book
In late November 1623, Edward Blount finally took delivery at his bookshop at the sign of the Black Bear near St Paul's of a book that had been long in the making. Master William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies was the first collected edition of Shakespeare's plays, appearing some seven years after their author's death in 1616. Its 950 folio pages included thirty-six plays, half of which had not previously been printed, divided under the three generic headings of the title. There was no fanfare at the book's arrival. There was nothing of the marketing overdrive that marks an important new publication in our own period: no advertising campaign, no reviews, interviews, endorsements or literary prizes, no queues in St Paul's Churchyard, no sales figures, price war, copycat publications or bestseller lists - in short, no sensation. Nevertheless, it is hard to overstate the importance of this literary, cultural and commercial moment. This book, generously illustrated with key pages from the publication and comparative works tells the human, artistic, economic and technical stories of the birth of the First Folio - and the emergence of Shakespeare's towering reputation.
History
What is a source? Or, how Shakespeare read his Marlowe
November 2015
|
Journal article
|
Shakespeare Survey: Shakespeare, Origins and Originality
The canonisation of Shakespeare in print, 1623
October 2015
|
Chapter
|
Shakespeare and Textual Studies
A cutting-edge and comprehensive reassessment of the theories, practices and archival evidence that shape editorial approaches to Shakespeare's texts.
Literary Criticism
Mannequins and misapprehensions
October 2015
|
Journal article
|
TLS - The Times Literary Supplement
Topical numbers
May 2014
|
Journal article
|
TLS - The Times Literary Supplement
Outsiders
April 2014
|
Journal article
|
TLS - The Times Literary Supplement
Mirth that fills the veins with blood
March 2014
|
Journal article
|
TLS - The Times Literary Supplement
Women on the Early Modern Stage A Woman Killed with Kindness, The Tamer Tamed, The Duchess of Malfi, The Witch of Edmonton
February 2014
|
Book
introduction. Early. Modern. Women. In his account of his visit to London in 1599
from his native Switzerland, Thomas Platter quoted approvingly the proverb that '
England is a woman's paradise'. He elaborated: 'the women-folk of England, ...
Drama
The form and function of character lists in plays printed before the closing of the theatres
January 2014
|
Journal article
|
Review of English Studies
This article traces some of the trends and anomalies in early modern play-book character lists, from the earliest printed plays up until the closing of the London theatres in 1642. It stresses the heterogeneity of these practices to provide a basis for further work. It draws out some of the influences in the development of this paratext, suggesting in particular where authors, theatres, genres and printers have a particular guiding role in their form and function.
Genres: cinematic and early modern
January 2014
|
Journal article
|
Shakespeare Bulletin
This essay brings together two areas of study from cinema and theatre. The first is the theory of popular genres, their evolutionary cycle, and their role in the industrial development of Hollywood in the first half of the twentieth century, as explored by theorists and historians of cinema. The second is the early modern genre of revenge tragedy and its generic selfconsciousness and metatheatricality. Insights from the film industry can build our understanding of the so-called Wars of the Theatres at the very end of the sixteenth century as a distinctly commercial phenomenon haunted by one genre in particular: revenge tragedy. Following Roslyn Knutson, I see the phenomenon of theatre rivalry in the period from around 1598 to 1601 as mutually beneficial industrial partnership rather than bitter ideological and interpersonal competition. Using the industrial organisation of the studio system in Hollywood as an analogue for the developing business of theatre, I argue that revenge tragedy, particularly the influential <em>The Spanish Tragedy</em>, is an under-recognised generic engine of this serial commercial theatre experience developed by a mature entertainment industry operating as a kind of professional cartel. Just as revenge tragedy implicates its characters in a web of action and reaction, so the genre enacts and codifies early modern theatre's commercial bonds; revenge tragedy's muchcommented metatheatricality extends beyond performance to the developing London theatre industry.
Introduction: Towards a definition of print popularity
December 2013
|
Book
Which grave?
July 2013
|
Journal article
|
TLS - The Times Literary Supplement
Christopher Marlowe in Context
July 2013
|
Book
A contemporary of William Shakespeare and Ben Jonson, Christopher Marlowe was one of the most influential early modern dramatists, whose life and mysterious death have long been the subject of critical and popular speculation. This collection sets Marlowe&apos;s plays and poems in their historical context, exploring his world and his wider cultural influence. Chapters by leading international scholars discuss both his major and lesser-known works. Divided into three sections, &apos;Marlowe&apos;s works&apos;, &apos;Marlowe&apos;s world&apos;, and &apos;Marlowe&apos;s reception&apos;, the book ranges from Marlowe&apos;s relationship with his own audience through to adaptations of his plays for modern cinema. Other contexts for Marlowe include history and politics, religion and science. Discussions of Marlowe&apos;s critics and Marlowe&apos;s appeal today, in performance, literature and biography, show how and why his works continue to resonate; and a comprehensive further reading list provides helpful suggestions for those who want to find out more.
Introduction
July 2013
|
Book
Ruff trade in Ham Alley
July 2013
|
Journal article
|
TLS - The Times Literary Supplement
Macbeth: Language and Writing
July 2013
|
Book
Emma Smith offers both a lively critical account of Macbeth and practical ideas on how best to engage with and write about this ever popular play.
Language Arts & Disciplines
Was Shylock Jewish?
January 2013
|
Journal article
|
Shakespeare Quarterly
Was Shylock Jewish?
January 2013
|
Conference paper
30 Great Myths about Shakespeare
December 2012
|
Book
30 Great Myths about Shakespeare
December 2012
|
Book
All's well that ends well
June 2012
|
Journal article
|
TLS - The Times Literary Supplement
(TLS - The Times Literary Supplement)
May 2012
|
Journal article
|
TLS - The Times Literary Supplement
Review of Marlowe's Dr Faustus (directed by Charlotte Conquest for Creation Theatre), Blackwell's Bookshop, Oxford, 12 March 2011
April 2012
|
Journal article
|
Shakespeare
3604 Performing Arts, 36 Creative Arts and Writing
The Cambridge Shakespeare Guide
March 2012
|
Book
The. Cambridge. Shakespeare. Guide. Are you studying Shakespeare and
looking for a handy summary of plots, characters and interpretations? Or are you
a keen theatregoer wanting essential background on the Shakespeare plays you
see ...
Drama
William Shakespeare
January 2012
|
Chapter
|
the Blackwell Encyclopedia of English Renaissance Literature
'Time's comic sparks': The dramaturgy of A Mad World My Masters and Timon of Athens
January 2012
|
Chapter
|
The Oxford Handbook of Middleton
Five Revenge Tragedies
January 2011
|
Book
Prenzie Angelo: Making meanings from Measure for Measure
January 2011
|
Journal article
|
Journal of Law, Philosophy and Culture
"To Buy or Not to Buy": Hamlet and Consumer Culture
January 2011
|
Journal article
|
Shakespeare Studies
Shakespeare and early modern tragedy
August 2010
|
Chapter
|
The Cambridge Companion to English Renaissance Tragedy
47 Language, Communication and Culture, 4705 Literary Studies
The Cambridge Companion to English Renaissance Tragedy
August 2010
|
Book
Featuring essays by major international scholars, this Companion combines analysis of themes crucial to Renaissance tragedy with the interpretation of canonical and frequently taught texts. Part I introduces key topics, such as religion, revenge, and the family, and discusses modern performance traditions on stage and screen. Bridging this section with Part II is a chapter which engages with Shakespeare. It tackles Shakespeare's generic distinctiveness and how our familiarity with Shakespearean tragedy affects our appreciation of the tragedies of his contemporaries. Individual essays in Part II introduce and contribute to important critical conversations about specific tragedies. Topics include The Revenger's Tragedy and the theatrics of original sin, Arden of Faversham and the preternatural, and The Duchess of Malfi and the erotics of literary form. Providing fresh readings of key texts, the Companion is an essential guide for all students of Renaissance tragedy.