THE WORKES OF BENJAMIN JONSON (VOLS. I & II, IN SINGLE BINDING)

London, England: Printed by Richard Bishop [and Robert Young], and are to be sold by Andrew Crooke, in St. Paules, Churchyard; Printed by J[ohn] B[eale] for Richard Meighen and Robert Allot, 1640. Hardcover. Very Good. NO FIRST TITLE PAGE. Folio 11 3/8 in. x 7 1/4 in. (Text: 10 7/8 in. x 7 in.) Full contemporary leather, double-ruled in gilt. 5 raised bands. Boards scuffed, gilt mostly faded. Evidence of considerable cosmetic repair to boards, spine and corners (reconstituted)

Leather spine label ruled and lettered in gilt. Marbled paper to paste-down and endleaves, Part of rear endleaf aliced away along outer edge (app. 10 in. x 2 in. Contemporary ink inscription to flyleaf "Song to Celia/Drink to me only with thine Eyes Page 55." Ink ownership inscription to table of contents. (Geo.Rockford?) Occasional ink or pencil annotation. Pages lightly tanned, clean.

Previous owner's name in "senior hand" to "The Catalogue" (A3) page (Geo.Rockford?);that page with 5 1/2 in. x 1 1/2 in. headpiece depicting a lovely bare-breasted angel, surrounded by vines, flowers, ripe grapes. 12 testimonial "blurbs" to Ben Jonson [ii through viii] from I Selden, Ed. Heyward, Wil. Hodgson, Geor. Chapman, Hugh Holland, George Lucy, E. Bolton, Franc. Beaumont.

Vol I: [8], 668, 228. MISSING frontispiece portrait and first title page. Contains EVERY MAN IN HIS HUMOR, EVERY MAN OUT OF HIS HUMOR, CYNTHIAS REVELLS, POETASTER, SEJANUS, THE FOX, THE SILENT WOMAN, THE ALCHYMIST, CATILINE, EPIGRAMMES, THE FORREST, ENTERTAINMENTS, PANEGYRE, MASQUES, BARRIERS. Each subsidiary play has its own titlepage dated 1640. All except Poetaster printed by Richard Bishop. Poetaster printed by Robert Young. Vol I is a reprint with corrections of the 1616 first edition. (ESTC S112456) (Gregg 1073)

On the Dramatis Personae page preceding the Prologue of "EVERY MAN IN HIS HUMOUR", under "The Principall Comedians were" is listed (along with nine others) "Will. Shakespeare".

Vol II: [12], 88 (Misprint 12 as 6, 13 as 3, 31 as 13,); 75 [3] (Misprint 19 as 9, 22 as 16, 63 as 36); 93-170 (Misprint 99 as 97). Contains BARTHOLOMEW FAYRE, THE STAPLE OF NEWES, THE DIVELL IS AN ASSE. Printed by J[ohn] B[eale] for Richard Meighen [and Robert Allot].

This Vol. II a reissue of the 1631 edition. Typically. it was bound together with Volume III, not Volume I. Herein, is no Volume III. The (once visible, now repaired by conservator) exposed pasteboard on the back board reveals printed text likely dating to 18th c., which suggests that this volume I and II were bound together in the 18th c. WITHOUT Volume III.

Each subsidiary play has its own titlepage with imprint "I.B. for Robert Allot" dated 1631. The pagination of the second volume differs slightly from the ESTC entry for Vol. II., which is [12], 88, [2], 93-170, 75. (ESTC S111824). The pagination and misprints differ from Gregg's A Bibliography of the English Printed Drama...which is as follows: [12]; 1-170 [2] (misprint 12 as 6, 13 as 3, 31 as 13, 97 as 9, 99 as 97, 132 as 124, 137 as 129); 2-75 (misprint 19 as 9, 22 as 16, 63 as 36) (Gregg, 1076-1077).

The publication history of Ben Jonson's works involves a series of complicated legal disputes over intellectual property. Percy Simpson has called the 1640 folio editions "a record of muddle, evasion, and dishonesty." (cited in Williams, "Chetwin, Crooke, and the Jonson Folios"). The poet and playwright Ben Jonson (1572-1637) achieved a high level of literary success rivalled only by his contemporary, William Shakespeare. Although of humble origins, Jonson carved out a space for himself as one of England's foremost authors of the Jacobean period, renowned for his elaborate court masques and poignant comedic plays. His mother, a clergyman's widow, remarried a bricklayer. Jonson received a schoolboys education at Westminster School, where he studied under the antiquarian William Camden. As a young man, Jonson worked for his step-father as a bricklayer. Unsuited to the task of bricklaying, it had been reported that Jonson would recite lines of Homer while serving as his step-father's hod-carrier.

In the 1690s, Jonson joined English expeditionary forces to the Low Countries. Upon his return, he worked with limited success as an actor. In the autumn of 1698, the premier of his Every Man in his Humor at the Curtain Theatre, acted by Shakespeare's Company and with Shakespeare himself playing a leading role, solidified Jonson's reputation as an accomplished playwright. The play introduced a new kind of vernacular comedy. His other early successes included Every Man Out of his Humor, Cynthia's Revels, and Poetaster.

King James's ascension in 1603 marked a new, upward phase in Jonson's career. At the Stuart court, Jonson staged elaborate masques, a genre of courtly entertainment with singing, dancing, acting, music, outlandish costumes, scenery, and automatons. Jonson's 1605 Masque of Blackness gained him royal favor. In this extravagant masque (included in the present copy), Queen Anne and eleven of her ladies emerged from a scallop shell painted as "Blackamores" and "strangely attired." In collaboration with Inigo Jones, Jonson's masques of the Stuart court "achieved its most sophisticated form" (ODNB).

In addition to his literary achievements, Jonson's interest in the publication of his work cultivated a sense of "authorial ownership and identity that is recognizably modern." Therefore, he is a major figure in the history of intellectual property rights. Despite the fact that the theatre companies owned his plays, Jonson collaborated with publishers to have his collected works printed in 1616. The present 1640 printing of Volume I is a reprint of the 1616 edition. In the years leading up to the 1640-41 printing of Volumes I, II, and III, a series of legal disputes occurred between Jonson, the printers, the booksellers, and the publishers.

The enduring legacy of Jonson in the English canon cannot be understated. As Ian Donaldson writes, "In theatre...Jonson perfected a kind of comedy more technically perfect in design, more contemporary in subject matter than that of his greatest rival [i.e. Shakespeare]." His work influenced writers such as Abraham Cowley, John Milton, Lord Rochester, and John Dryden. He remains a central figure of English poetry, drama, and verse.