A Concise Companion to Shakespeare and the Text: (Concise Companions to Literature and Culture)

A Concise Companion to Shakespeare and the Text introduces the early editions, editing practices, and publishing history of Shakespeare’s plays and poems, and examines their influence on bibliographic studies as a whole. The first single-volume book to provide an accessible and authoritative introduction to Shakespearean bibliographic studies Includes a helpful introduction, notes on Shakespeare’s texts, and a useful bibliography Contributors represent both leading and emerging scholars in the field Represents an unparalleled resource for both students and faculty

Table of Contents:
Notes on Contributors vii Acknowledgments x Note on Texts xi Introduction: What Happens in Hamlet? 1 Andrew Murphy Part I Histories of the Books 15 1 The Publishing Trade in Shakespeare’s Time 17 Helen Smith 2 Reading and Authorship: The Circulation of Shakespeare 1590–1619 35 Peter Stallybrass and Roger Chartier 3 Shakespeare Writ Small: Early Single Editions of Shakespeare’s Plays 57 Thomas L. Berger 4 The Life of the First Folio in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries 71 Anthony James West Part II Theories of Editing 91 5 The Birth of the Editor 93 Andrew Murphy 6 The Science of Editing 109 Paul Werstine 7 Editing Shakespeare in a Postmodern Age 128 Leah S. Marcus 8 Shakespeare and the Electronic Text 145 Michael Best Part III Practicalities 163 9 Working with the Text: Editing in Practice 165 David Bevington 10 Working with the Texts: Differential Readings 185 Sonia Massai 11 Mapping Shakespeare’s Contexts: Doing Things with Databases 204 Neil Rhodes Afterword 221 John Drakakis Bibliography 239 Index 258

About the Author :
Andrew Murphy is Professor of English at the University of St. Andrews. He is the author of Shakespeare in Print: A History and Chronology of Shakespeare Publishing (2003), the editor of The Renaissance Text: Theory, Editing, Textuality (2000), and co-editor of Shakespeare and Scotland (2004).

Review :
"As the concept of authorship continues to deconstruct itself in the wake of postmodernism, the volume is an indispensable addition to the bookshelves of both students and academics." (Notes and Queries, December 2009) "The essays offer a good balance of general history, theoretical issues, and individual case studies, such that, as a whole, the collection will be a valuable resource for those new to book-history studies, while also advancing ongoing debates through a series of thoughtful reflections on the state of the field." (Archiv, 2009) "This collection is more than a companion. It is a superlative guide to the current crisis surrounding the editing of the complex Shakespearean text ... .Essential” (CHOICE) "Andrew Murphy's ably edited Concise Companion to Shakespeare and Text ... constitutes an appropriate consecration for an area in Shakespeare studies whose vast importance has become increasingly obvious. [This book] provides an authoritative introduction to the field and full coverage of it, with a useful division into three main parts: 'Histories of the Book' (I), 'Theories of Editing' (II), and 'Practicalities' (III) … a fine achievement." (Around the Globe)