Bridgewater Manuscript of Thomas Middleton's A Game at Chess (1624)

Author: 
Year:
Pages:148
ISBN:0-7734-9113-9
978-0-7734-9113-7
Price:$139.95 + shipping
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This examination of the Bridgewater manuscript, which is one of the few surviving early 17th-century dramatic manuscripts (partially) in the playwright's hand, gives fascinating evidence of authorial transcription and the attentions of an early annotater. The publication of the Bridgewater manuscript completes the availability of primary sources for Middleton's play. Prefaced by a full description, the text is a modified diplomatic transcription, with textual notes, on the model of Malone Society editions.

Reviews

". . . brings together an outstanding scholar and an outstanding problem. The outstanding scholar is T. H. Howard-Hill, who is one of the world's leading investigators of dramatic texts of the English Renaissance. . . . Howard-Hill's detailed and thorough introduction identifies the physical characteristics of the manuscript and the characteristics of its scribes and correctors; his readable text, adopting the conservative editorial principles of the Malone Society series, supplies a careful type transcription by an exceptionally experienced paleographer, a detailed descriptive apparatus, and a useful reference system of marginal line numbers. All of this is obviously invaluable for the increasing number of scholars interested in Middleton, but it is also a significant contribution to the much larger field of textual studies." - Gary Taylor

"His careful edition of B-H will be most welcome, for this text has many special features and Howard-Hill's unique knowledge of the play and its texts make him the ideal editor." - E.A.J.

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