Documents of Shakespearean Performance:
Stage, Page, and Manuscript in Early Modern England

“Reassessing the Reprint in the Early English Book Trade”
Dr. Sarah Neville (West Virginia University)

7 January 2013
5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Room 234
Institute of English Studies
Senate House
London

Literary scholars have long assumed that a survey of the surviving evidence of book production provides evidence of customer demand: the more frequently a book was reprinted, the more “popular” it was with early modern readers. But though the repeated publication of plays such as Mucedorus (9 editions in 25 years) or Doctor Faustus (8 editions) corresponds with what we know of their popularity with contemporary playgoers, the repeated publication of other plays such as Merchant of Venice (3 editions) might be evidence only of their publishers’ hopeful speculation in the marketplace. “Reassessing the Reprint” reconsiders evidence for playbooks’ popularity in light of the multiple contingencies that influenced booksellers’ conceptions of economic viability.

Documents of Shakespearean Performance: Stage, Page, and Manuscript in Early Modern England (Series)
Since the publication of Tiffany Stern’s ground-breaking Shakespeare in Parts (2007) and Documents of Performance in Early Modern England (2009), the question of how Shakespeare’s plays were transmitted from manuscript to print has re-emerged as central to discussions of Shakespeare and the printed book. These seminars will feature leading and emerging scholars in Shakespeare studies and focus attention on the impact that the “new” theatre history has had on how we now understand the origins and histories of early printed play texts.

Admission is free and all are warmly invited to attend
http://events.sas.ac.uk/ies/seminars/316/