The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Ben Jonson presents Jonson's complete writings in the light of current editorial thinking and recent scholarly interpretation and discovery. It provides a clear sense of the shape, scale and variety of the entire Jonsonian canon, including plays, court masques and entertainments, poems, prose works and letters. Each text, edited in modern spelling, is accompanied by an introduction containing essential information about its date, sources and interpretation, and is supported by detailed on-page commentary and collation. The Edition presents Jonson's texts in a form which combines thoroughness of explanation with readability. An accompanying electronic edition is in development for launch in 2013. The Edition as a whole explicates Jonson's works fully in the light of modern scholarship, making them accessible to students, scholars, theatrical practitioners and anyone wishing to explore the work of Shakespeare's great contemporary. For further information, additional resources and textual essays, please visit http://blog.cewbj.org.
• Features extensive textual commentaries and annotations, modernized spelling and informative introductions, to help make Jonson's works accessible to the modern reader • Contains Jonson's complete writings, arranged to correspond chronologically to Jonson's career, providing a clear sense of the shape, scale and variety of the playwright's work • An electronic edition is in development for launch in 2013
Contents
1. Contributors; 2. Alphabetical listing of the contents; 3. Index of titles and first lines of the poems; 4. Maps and illustrations; 5. Acknowledgements; 6. General introduction The General Editors; 7. Life of Ben Jonson Ian Donaldson; 8. Actors, companies, and playhouses David Bevington; 9. The Court Masque Martin Butler; 10. Masquers and Tilter Martin Butler; 11. The printing and publishing of Ben Jonson's works David L. Gants and Tom Lockwood; 12. Abbreviations and common forms of citation; 13. Sigla used in the collations; 14. The complete works in seven volumes; 15. Bibliography Eugene Giddens, Karen Britland, Peter Culhane and Christopher Burlinson.
Reviews
'… [a] formidable enterprise … There would have to be either a transformation of our mental world beyond present imagination, or some sensational textual discovery before anyone could think it necessary to edit Jonson again.' Blair Worden, London Review of Books
'Every jot and tittle of Jonson's grand and staggering career is detailed in this magnificent Cambridge edition of his works … The new Cambridge Jonson is a treasure-house. It should be snapped up by every library worthy of the name.' Peter Craven, The Weekend Australian
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