"The Misfortunes of Arthur": A critical, old-spelling edition
Description
This edition collates the three extant copies of the original 1587/88 edition of a play entitled The Misfortunes of Arthur, which are separately housed in the British, Huntington, and Houghton libraries. These three original copies are collated with the three modern editions, John Payne Collier's 1883 edition, Harvey Carson Grumbine's 1900 edition, and J. W. Cunliffe's 1912 edition. Collier's is a modern-spelling edition; Grumbine's, a diplomatic edition with textual and glossarial notation; Cunliffe's, an old-spelling edition, which also carries critical apparatus. The British Library's copy is the copy text The Introduction places the play in its literary and historical setting. It discusses the Arthurian legend, examining both the chronical and romance traditions informing the play. The Introduction also demonstrates the critical importance of the play as a bridge, or watershed, between the traditions of the academic and public theatre. Thematic and linguistic echoes between this play and the plays of later dramatists, especially Shakespeare, are also examined. The authors, who include Francis Bacon and Christopher Yelverton, are given brief biographical treatment, and the correspondence between Renaissance law and Renaissance drama is suggested. The political importance of the play and its relationship to the execution of Mary, Queen of Scotland, is also discussed This edition is an attempt to bring into print for the first time the text as it was presented before Elizabeth I at Greenwich Palace on 28 February 1587/88. The original volume privileged the text of the play's main author, Thomas Hughes, by printing his I.i and V.ii in their proper place in the play. William Fulbecke's I.i and V.ii, which were actually spoken in the court presentation, were relegated to an appendix. This edition privileges the Fulbecke text in the body of the play. Appendix A contains the text of Hughes' I.i and V.ii; Appendix B, a discussion of a poem found in 1983 among the papers of Anthony Bacon, which is relevant to the play; and Appendix C, a list of all known translations of Seneca, Lucan, and Vergil found in The Misfortunes of Arthur