Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Jayam Subramanian and PG Distributed
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In ten volumes
Vol. I
Born 1584
Died 1616
Born 1579
Died 1625
The first collected edition of the plays of Beaumont and Fletcher waspublished in 1647, in folio (12 1/2 ins. x 8 1/8 ins. is the measurementof the copy used for the purpose of collation). The title-page runsthus:—
Comedies | and | Tragedies |
{ Francis Beaumont }
|written by { And } Gentlemen. |
{ John Fletcher }
Never printed before, | And now published by the Authours | Originall Copies. | Si quid habent veri Vatum præsagia, vivam.|London, | Printed for Humphrey Robinson, at the three Pidgeons, and for | Humphrey Moseley at the Princes Armes in St Pauls.
This collection, which is referred to as the First Folio throughout thepresent edition, contained all the authors' previously unpublished plays(34) except The Wild-Goose Chase, which, at the date of the Folio, wassupposed to be lost. The dedicatory epistles, commendatory poem, andCatalogue of Plays, prefixed to the First Folio, are reprinted in thepreliminary pages at the end of this Note (pp. ix—lvii).
The second collected edition appeared in 1679 in folio (14-3/8 ins.x 8-1/4 ins.); a reprint of the title-page is given on p. lix of thepresent volume. This collection, referred to henceforth as the SecondFolio, contained (i) all the plays included in the First Folio, (ii) TheWild-Goose Chase, which had been published in folio in 1652, (iii)all the other then known plays of the authors which had been publishedpreviously to 1679.
William Marshall's portrait of John Fletcher faces the title-page of bothfolios with the following inscription engraved underneath:—
Felicis ævi ac Præsulis Natus; comes Beaumontis; sic, quippeParnassus, biceps; FLETCHERUS unam in Pyramida furcas agens. Struxitchorum plus simplicem Vates Duplex; Plus duplicem solus: nec ullumtranstulit; Nec transferendus: Dramatum æterni sales, Anglo Theatro,Orbe, Sibi, superstites.
FLETCHERE, facies absqz vultu pingitur; Quantus! vel umbram circuitnemo tuam.
J. Berkenhead.
Later collected editions of the works were published in 1711 (7 vols.);1750, edited by Lewis Theobald, Thomas Seward and J. Sympson (10 vols.);1778, edited by George Colman (10 vols.); 1812, edited by Henry Weber (14vols.); 1843, edited by Alexander Dyce (11 vols.). It is unnecessary torefer in detail to these later editions which, very widely as they differamong themselves, agree in presenting an eclectic te