Discursive Paratexts in Commercial Playbooks, 1590-1623
This table contains first-edition commercial playbooks – in single-text and collections – that feature one or more dedications, addresses to readers, and/or commendatory verses. The final column specifies the number and type of paratexts, as well as their contributors (where known). Modern attributions are given in square brackets; date = date of publication. Links to full transcriptions will be available soon.
To use, please cite: Amy Lidster, ‘Discursive Paratexts in Commercial Playbooks, 1590-1623’, online resource (2023), available https://amylidster.hcommons.org/resources/. A downloadable file is available below.
| Year | Title | Author | Company | STC | Publisher | Paratexts and Contributor |
| 1590 | 1 and 2 Tamburlaine | [Marlowe] | Admiral’s | 17425 | Richard Jones | Address to reader (by Jones) |
| 1591 | Endymion | [Lyly] | Paul’s (1) | 17050 | Joan Broome | Address to reader (from ‘Printer’, likely meaning Broome) |
| 1591 | 1 and 2 Troublesome Reign of King John | [Anon] | Queen’s | 14644 | Sampson Clarke | Address to reader (anon; repurposed stage prologue?) |
| 1600 | Every Man Out of His Humour | Jonson | [Chamberlain’s] | 14767 | William Holme | Note on original ending (unsigned; by Jonson); note from stationer |
| 1600 | The Shoemaker’s Holiday | [Dekker] | Admiral’s | 6523 | Valentine Simmes | Dedication to shoemakers, (unsigned; by Dekker) |
| 1601 | Cynthia’s Revels | Jonson | Chapel (2) | 14773 | Walter Burre | Special dedications in variant states to 1) William Camden and 2) Lucy Russell, Countess of Bedford (by Jonson) |
| 1602 | Antonio and Mellida | Marston | Paul’s (2) | 17473 | Thomas Fisher and Matthew Lownes | Dedication to ‘Nobody’ (by Marston) |
| 1602 | Poetaster | Jonson | Chapel (2) | 14781 | Matthew Lownes | Address to reader (unsigned; likely from stationer) |
| 1602 | Satiromastix | Dekker | Paul’s (2) and Chamberlain’s | 6520.7 | Edward White (1) | Address ‘To the World’ (unsigned; by Dekker) |
| 1604 | The Malcontent | Marston | [Queen’s Revels] | 17479 | William Aspley | Dedication to Jonson (by Marston, in Latin); address to the reader (by Marston) |
| 1605 | Philotas (in Certain Small Poems, 1605) | Daniel | [Queen’s Revels] | 6239 | Simon Waterson and Edward Blount | Dedication to Prince Henry (by Daniel), for the play, plus other collection paratexts |
| 1605 | Sejanus | Jonson | [King’s] | 14782 | Thomas Thorpe | Address to reader (by Jonson), 8 commendatory verses (by ‘Georgius Chapmannus’, ‘Hugh Holland’, ‘Cygnus’, ‘Th.R.’, ‘Iohannes Marstonius’, ‘William Strachey’, ‘Φιλοε’ [a friend], ‘Ev.B.’) |
| 1606 | Parasitaster | Marston | Queen’s Revels | 17483 | William Cotton | Address to reader (by Marston) |
| 1606 | The Wonder of Women, or Sophonisba | Marston | [Queen’s Revels] | 17488 | John Windet (printer); William Cotton (bookseller) | Address to reader (by Marston); unsigned note in lieu of errata |
| 1607 | The Whore of Babylon | Dekker | Prince’s | 6532 | Nathaniel Butter | Address to reader (by Dekker) |
| 1607 | Cupid’s Whirligig | Sharpham | King’s Revels | 22380 | Arthur Johnson | Dedication to Robert Hayman (by Sharpham) |
| 1607 | The Travels of the Three English Brothers | Day, W. Rowley, Wilkins | Anne’s | 6417 | John Wright (1) | Dedication to Shirley family from the dramatists (one state only) |
| 1607 | The Devil’s Charter | Barnes | King’s | 1466/a | John Wright (1) | Dedication to William Herbert (1st Baron Powis) and William Pope (Earl of Down) by Barnes (variant issue has different dedication) |
| 1607 | The Fleer | Sharpham | Queen’s Revels | 22384 | Francis Burton | Address to reader from stationer (unsigned; Burton) |
| 1607 | Volpone | Jonson | [King’s] | 14783 | Thomas Thorpe | Dedication and address to Oxford and Cambridge (by Jonson); 10 commendatory verses (‘E. B.’; ‘I. D.’; ‘T. R.’ (2); ‘F. B.’; ‘D. D.’; ‘I. C.’; ‘G. C.’; ‘E. S.’; ‘I. F.’; variant contains additional verses by ‘N.F.’) |
| 1608 | The Family of Love | Anon | King’s Revels [Admiral’s first] | 17879 | John Helme | Address to reader (unsigned; from dramatist) |
| 1608 | Law Tricks | Day | Queen’s Revels | 6416 | Richard Moore | Address to reader (from the Book; probably Day) |
| 1608 | Humour out of Breath | Day | King’s Revels | 6411 | John Helme | Dedication to Signior No-body (by Day) |
| 1608 | The Rape of Lucrece | Heywood | Anne’s | 13360 | John Busby (1) and Nathaniel Butter | Address to reader (by Heywood) |
| 1608 | The Conspiracy and Tragedy of Charles Duke of Byron | Chapman | [Queen’s Revels] | 4968 | Thomas Thorpe | Dedication to Thomas Walsingham and his son (by Chapman) |
| 1608 | The Dumb Knight | Markham and Machin | King’s Revels | 17399 | John Bache | Address to reader (by Machin) |
| 1609 | Troilus and Cressida | Shakespeare | [Chamberlain’s] | 22332 | Richard Bonian and Henry Walley | Address to reader (by Bonian and Walley) in one issue |
| 1609 | The Two Maids of More-Clacke | Armin | King’s Revels | 773 | Thomas Archer | Address to reader (by Armin) |
| [1610?] | The Faithful Shepherdess | Fletcher | [Queen’s Revels] | 11068 | Richard Bonian and Henry Walley | Dedications to Walter Aston; William Skipwith; Robert Townshend (all by Fletcher); address to reader (Fletcher); 4 commendatory verses (by Beaumont, Chapman, Field, Jonson) |
| 1611 | The Golden Age | Heywood | Anne’s | 13325 | William Barrenger | Address to the reader (by Heywood) |
| 1611 | Catiline His Conspiracy | Jonson | [King’s] | 14759 | Walter Burre | Dedication to William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke (by Jonson; two addresses to reader (by Jonson); 3 commendatory verses (by Beaumont, Fletcher, Field) |
| 1611 | The Roaring Girl | Dekker and Middleton | Prince’s | 17908 | Thomas Archer | Address to reader (by Middleton) |
| 1612 | A Woman is a Weathecock | Field | Queen’s Revels | 10854 | John Budge | Dedication to ‘any Woman that hath beene no Weather-Cocke’ (by Field); address to reader (by Field); commedatory verse (Chapman) |
| 1612 | A Christian Turned Turk | Daborn | [children’s, unknown] | 6184 | William Barrenger | Address to reader (unsigned; by Daborn) |
| 1612 | The Widow’s Tears | Chapman | [Queen’s Revels] | 4994 | John Browne (1) | Dedication to John Reed of Mitton (by Chapman) |
| 1612 | The Alchemist | Jonson | [King’s Men] | 14755 | Walter Burre | Dedication to Lady Mary Wroth (by Jonson); address to reader (unsigned; probably Jonson); 1 commendatory verse (by George Lucy) |
| 1612 | If It Be Not Good, The Devil Is In It | Dekker | Anne’s | 6507 | John Trundle | Dedication to Queen Anne’s Men (by Dekker) |
| 1612 | The White Devil | Webster | Anne’s | 25178 | Thomas Archer | Address to the reader (unsigned; by Webster) |
| 1613 | The Revenge of Bussy D’Ambois | Chapman | [Queen’s Revels] | 4989 | Thomas Snodham (printer); John Helme (bookseller) | Dedication to Thomas Howard, 1st earl of Berkshire (by Chapman) |
| 1613 | The Brazen Age | Heywood | [Anne’s] | 13310 | Samuel Rand | Address to reader (unsigned; by Heywood) |
| 1613 | The Knight of the Burning Pestle | [Beaumont] | [Queen’s Revels] | 1674 | Walter Burre | Dedication to Robert Keysar, manager of the Children of the Revels (by Burre) |
| 1613 | The Silver Age | Heywood | [Anne’s] | 13365 | Nicholas Okes | Address to reader (by Heywood) |
| 1614 | Greene’s Tu Quoque | Io [shua?] Cooke | Anne’s | 5673 | John Trundle | Address to reader (by Heywood); 1 commendatory verse from ‘W.R.’; couplet on Greene’s death (by ‘W.R.’) |
| 1615 | The Valiant Welshman | R.A.’ [Anton? Armin?] | Prince’s [Prince Charles’s Men first] | 16 | Robert Lownes | Address to reader (unsigned; by the dramatist) |
| 1615 | Cupid’s Revenge | Fletcher [and Beaumont] | Queen’s Revels | 1667 | Josias Harrison | Address to reader (by Printer, likely meaning Harrison) |
| 1615 | The Four Prentices of London | Heywood | Anne’s [Admiral’s first] | 13321 | John Wright (1) | Address to the ‘honest and hie-spirited Prentises the Readers’ (by Heywood) |
| 1616 | The Works | Jonson | [multiple] | 14751/2 | William Stansby | 9 commendatory verses for volume (by Selden, Ed. Heyward, Chapman, Holland, Day, Bolton, Beaumont), plus individual paratexts for each play |
| 1617 | A Fair Quarrel | Middleton and W. Rowley | Prince Charles’s | 17911 | John Trundle | Dedication to Robert Grey, Groom of the Bedchamber (by Rowley) |
| 1619 | A King and No King | Beaumont and Fletcher | King’s | 1670 | Thomas Walkley | Dedication to Henry Neville (d. 1629) by Walkley |
| 1620 | The Two Merry Milkmaids | I.C.’ [John Cumber?] | Red Bull (1) | 4281 | Laurence Chapman | Address to reader (by Printer, prob. meaning Chapman) |
| 1620 | Swetnam the Woman-Hater Arraigned by Women | Anon | Anne’s | 23544 | Richard Meighen | Address to reader (couplet, unsigned) |
| 1620 | The World Tossed at Tennis | Middleton and W. Rowley | Prince Charles’s | 17909 | George Purslowe | Dedication to Charles Howard, 3rd Baron Howard of Effingham and Mary Howard, Lady Effingham (by Middleton); address to reader (by ‘Simplicitie’; prob. dramatists) |
| 1622 | Othello | Shakespeare | King’s | 22305 | Thomas Walkley | Address to reader (by Walkley) |
| 1622 | Herod and Antipater | Markham and Sampson | Red Bull (1) | 17401/2 | Matthew Rhodes | Address to reader (by Rhodes); one issue replaces this address with a dedication to Thomas Finch (by Sampson) |
| 1622 | The Heir | May | Red Bull (1) | 17713 | Thomas Jones (2) | Commendatory verse (by Thomas Carew) |
| 1623 | Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies | Shakespeare | [multiple] | 22273 | Isaac and William Jaggard, Edward Blount, John Smethwick, William Aspley | Dedication to William and Philip Herbert (by Heminge and Condell); 2 addresses to reader (by Heminge and Condell; Jonson); 4 commendatory verses (Jonson, Holland, Digges, Mabbe) |
| 1623 | The Duke of Milan | Massinger | King’s | 17634 | Edward Blackmore | Dedication to Lady Catherine Stanhope (by Massinger); commendatory verse (by W.B.) |
| 1623 | The Devil’s Law Case | Webster | Anne’s | 25173 | John Grismand (1) | Dedication to Thomas Finch, 2nd Earl of Winchilsea (by Webster); address to reader (unsigned; by Webster) |
| 1623 | The Duchess of Malfi | Webster | King’s | 25176 | John Waterson | Dedication to George Berkeley, 8th Baron Berkeley (by Webster); three commendatory verses (by Middleton, W. Rowley, Ford) |