Second Folio Period Drama and Printers 1630 - 1650

John Ford ‘Tis Pitty Shee’s a Whore Acted by the Queenes Maiesties Seruants, at the Phoenix in Drury-Lane London: Printed by Nicholas Okes for Richard Collins, 1633 ‘Tis Pity is Ford’s best-known play, shown here in its first printing in 1633. Long criticized for his exploration of the theme of incest, critics attributed moral decadence as his motive. More recently, scholars have argued that Ford was trying to revitalize old themes and plots. Here, by making his Romeo and Juliet characters brother and sister, all of the old cliches of forbidden love, danger and death regain their power. Ford went on to rewrite the story of Othello as Love’s Sacrifice, also published in 1633. Bequest of Mollie Harris Samuels

John Lyly Sixe Covrt Comedies. Often Presented and Acted before Queene Elizabeth, by the children of her Maiesties Chappell, and the Children of Paules London: Printed by William Stansby for Edward Blount, 1632 This volume was edited and published by Edward Bount, one of the printers of the first folio of Shakespeare. Its appearance in 1632, the same year as the second Shakespeare folio, seems more than mere coincidence, as Lyly’s works did not come back into print until 1902. In publishing this edition of Sixe Court Comedies Blount wrote in his preface: “Thou canst not repent the Reading ouer them: when Old Iohn Lilly is merry with thee in thy Chamber, Thou shalt say Few (or None) of our Poets now are such witty Companions.” Bequest of Mollie Harris Samuels

Christopher Marlowe The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Iew of Malta. As it was playd before the King and Qveene, in his Majesties Theatre at White-Hall, by her Majesties Servants at the Cock-pit London: Printed by I. B. for Nicholas Vavasour, 1633 The Jew of Malta is a revenge tragedy, a style that was very popular in London in the 1580s and also included Thomas Kyd’s Spanish Tragedy and Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus. The play was performed often by the Admiral’s Men following Marlowe’s death in 1593, but was not printed until this edition of 1633. The text as printed may have been completely revised by Thomas Haywood, who provided new prologues and epilogues. Referring to the play’s antiquity, Haywood wrote that it was “writ many years agone … in that Age, thought second unto none.” Bequest of Mollie Harris Samuels

William Shakespeare Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies London: Printed by Tho. Cotes for [John Smithwick, William Aspley, Richard Hawkins, Richard Meighen, and] Robert Allot,1632 The Shakespeare first folio could be considered a commercial success. By the time that it sold out there was still enough demand to justify the printing of a second edition in 1632. It was printed by Thomas Cotes for a consortium of booksellers, of whom only William Aspley and John Smethwick remained alive from the first folio group. Most of the textual changes, aside from correcting obvious typographical errors, involved regularization of spelling and grammar to suit 17th century orthography. Bequest of Mollie Harris Samuels

Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher The Knight Of the Bvrning Pestle London: Printed by N[icholas] O[kes] for I. S., 1635 The Knight of the Burning Pestle is the only play written solely by Beaumont that is known to exist. In the first edition of 1613 a prefatory note by the printer, Nicholas Okes, suggests that a reason why the play was “utterly rejected” when it was first acted (ca. 1607) was the failure of the audience to understand “the privy marke of Ironie about it.” Audiences began to realize that rather than being yet another mock-heroic play, popular at the time, Beaumont had brilliantly satirized the plots and rhetoric of those plays. These included tales of chivalric deeds in exotic settings, charitable acts of London citizens, and plots involving the triumph of true love over the objections of London’s merchant-class parents.