Obrázky stránek
PDF
ePub

PRINTED FOR THE MALONE SOCIETY BY JOHN JOHNSON AT THE

OXFORD UNIVERSITY

PRESS

BY CHRISTOPHER

MARLOWE

1594

THE MALONE SOCIETY
REPRINTS

We

This reprint of Edward II has been prepared under the direction of the General Editor.

February 1926.

337530

W. W. Greg.

The Registers of the Stationers' Company afford the following entries respecting Edward II :

vjto Iulij [1593]

Entred for his copie vnder thandes of Master Richard Iudson and the William
Wardens./ A booke. Intituled The troublesom Reign and Lamentable Iones/
Death of Edward the Second, king of England, with the tragicall fall of
proud Mortymer .

vjd w

[ocr errors]

[Arber's Transcript, II. 634.]

16to Decembris [1611]

Entred for his Copy by assignement from William Iones and vnder master Roger warden [Humphrey] Lownes his hand, A booke called the troublesome Barnes. raygne and lamentable deathe of Edward the 2d. by Chr. Marlowe gent vjd.

17° Aprilis 1617

[ibid., III. 473.]

Assigned ouer vnto him by Roger Barnes and Consent of master warden Henry [Matthew] Lownes a booke Called The tragedie of Edward the seconde Bell written by Christofer Marloe

4o Septembris 1638 predicto

[ibid., III. 607.]

vjd.

Entred for their Copies by vertue of a Note vnder the hands and Seales of Master henry and Moses Bell and subscribed by Master Mead warden all the Estate Haviland Right Title and Interest which the said Henry and Moses haue in these Wright Copies and partes of Copies following. Saluo Iure Cuiuscunque

...

[ocr errors]

and Iohn

viijs. [sen.]

Edward the Second by Master Marloe. a Play. [ibid., IV. 434.] The earliest edition now known (technically an octavo but the shape and size of an ordinary quarto and in fours) is that here reprinted. It bears the date 1594 and was published by William Jones, who had duly registered the play the previous year: no printer's name appears, but it would seem to have come from the press of Richard Bradock, who printed the edition of 1598. Only two copies are known: one in Germany at the Landesbibliothek of Cassel, the other in Switzerland at the Zentralbibliothek, Zurich. Both want the last leaf (M 4) which was presumably blank:

V

YHA

the former is rather badly stained at the beginning, while the latter is slightly cropped and has had the date tampered with both. in the imprint and the colophon (1594 being altered to 1694). The two agree throughout except in the outer forme of H, of which the Zurich copy presents a corrected and the Cassel an uncorrected state. Of the seven variants six affect the punctuation only, and show that, at any rate in this instance, the text was subjected to a very careful revision while going through the press.

Another edition, a quarto, was printed by Richard Bradock for William Jones in 1598. The text was compressed from twelve to ten and a half sheets. There are two copies in the British Museum (C. 34. d. 28, 82. c. 22', the latter with the title cropped), one slightly defective in the Bodleian Library, and another wanting the first two leaves in the Dyce Collection at South Kensington.

The next quarto appeared in 1612, duly published by Roger Barnes in accordance with the transfer of the previous December. It bears the well-known Heb Ddieu' device, but it is uncertain in whose hands this was at the time. There are two different issues, in one of which a page is duplicated, an error corrected in the other. The Dyce Collection has a copy in the former state, the British Museum (644. b. 68) one slightly defective in the latter.

The last of the early quartos appeared in 1622, produced by an unidentified printer for Henry Bell, the owner of the copyright since 1617. Again there are two issues, for as originally printed the title repeated the statement, found in all previous editions, that the play was acted by Pembroke's men, while this was subsequently altered to As it was publikely Acted by the late Queenes [Anne's] Maiesties

vi

« PředchozíPokračovat »