Shakespeare's rise to prominence was by no means inevitable. While he was popular in his lifetime, the number of new editions and revivals of his plays declined over the following decades. Emma Depledge uses the methodologies of book and theatre history to provide a re-assessment of the reputation and dissemination of Shakespeare during the Interregnum and Restoration. She demonstrates the crucial role of the Exclusion Crisis (1678–1682), a political crisis over the royal succession, as a foundational moment in Shakespeare's canonisation. The period saw a sudden surge of theatrical alterations and a significantly increased rate of new editions and stage revivals. In the wake of the Exclusion Crisis, Shakespeare's plays were made available on a scale not witnessed since the early seventeenth century, thus reversing what might otherwise have been a permanent disappearance of his drama from canonical familiarity and firmly establishing Shakespeare's work in the national cultural imagination.

‘Emma Depledge's work displays a masterful synthesis of bibliographic expertise, dramatic close reading, theatre history, and cultural analysis. I find this a field-reshaping book, beautifully executed in all these various aspects. I plan to draw on its insights and envision assigning it in graduate and advanced undergraduate classes.'

Lauren Shohet - Villanova University, Pennsylvania

'… Depledge (Université de Fribourg, Switzerland) skillfully combines theater history, bibliographic expertise, and careful reading of early book culture to examine previously unexplored paths by which Shakespeare became canonically necessary and politically useful during the interregnum and shortly thereafter. Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.'

Source: Choice

'Depledge’s adept handling of book and theatre history in the larger context of contemporary politics is a real strength of her monograph. Her positions are wellresearched and clearly stated; her prose is accessible and refreshingly jargon free.'

Paul D. Cannan Source: The Review of English Studies

‘The value of Depledge’s splendid book is enhanced by its impressive scholarly apparatus, with twenty-two pages of works cited, plus many further references in the text and in the endnotes. Her thoroughly researched book will appeal to all Shakespeare scholars, not solely to those who specialize in the Restoration.’

Richard M. Waugaman Source: Renaissance Quarterly