Beaumont and Fletcher folios

The Beaumont and Fletcher folios are two large folio collections of the stage plays of John Fletcher and his collaborators. The first was issued in 1647, and the second in 1679. The two collections were important in preserving many works of English Renaissance drama.

The first folio, 1647

The 1647 folio was published by the booksellers Humphrey Moseley and Humphrey Robinson.English Short Title Catalogue R22900. It was modelled on the precedents of the first two folio collections of Shakespeare's plays, published in 1623 and 1632, and the first two folios of the works of Ben Jonson of 1616 and 1640–1. The title of the book was given as Comedies and Tragedies Written by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher Gentlemen, though the prefatory matter in the folio recognised that Philip Massinger, rather than Francis Beaumont, collaborated with Fletcher on some of the plays included in the volume. (In fact, the 1647 volume "contained almost nothing of Beaumont's" work.)Lee Bliss, in Kinney, p. 524. Seventeen works in Fletcher's canon that had already been published prior to 1647, and the rights to these plays belonged to the stationers who had issued those volumes; Robinson and Moseley therefore concentrated on the previously unpublished plays in the Fletcher canon.

Most of these plays had been acted onstage by the King's Men, the troupe of actors for whom Fletcher had functioned as house dramatist for most of his career. The folio featured a dedication to Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke, signed by ten of the King's Men – John Lowin, Joseph Taylor, Richard Robinson, Robert Benfield, Eliard Swanston, Thomas Pollard, Hugh Clark, William Allen, Stephen Hammerton, and Theophilus Bird – all idled by the closing of the theatres in 1642. It also contained two addresses to the reader, by James Shirley and by Moseley, and 37 commendatory poems, long and short, by figures famous and obscure, including Shirley, Ben Jonson,Jonson, a decade dead by 1647, was posthumously represented with an excerpt from his poem to Beaumont. Richard Lovelace, Robert Herrick, Richard Brome, Jasper Mayne, Thomas Stanley, and Sir Aston Cockayne.

The 1647 folio contains 35 works – 34 plays and 1 masque.

The 1647 folio has attracted significant attention from scholars and bibliographers, and various specialised studies of the folio (books on the book) have been written.Logan and Smith, pp. 83–5. As with Shakespeare's First Folio, the typesetting of individual compositors and the work of individual printers has been traced and analysed – including that of Susan Islip, one of the rare instances of a female printer in the 17th century.

The second folio, 1679 The second folio, titled Fifty Comedies and Tragedies, was published by the booksellers Henry Herringman,Herringman was a member of the syndicates of stationers who issued the Fourth Folio of Shakespeare's plays in 1685, and the third Ben Jonson folio in 1692. John Martyn, and Richard Marriot; the printing was done by J. Macock.English Short Title Catalogue R13766. The three stationers had obtained the rights to previously published works,The 17 printed before 1647, and The Wild Goose Chase, which had been published in 1652. and added 18 dramas to the 35 of the first folio, for a total of 53. The second folio added features that the first lacked. Many songs in the plays were given in full. Cast lists were prefixed to 25 of the dramas, lists that provide the names of the leading actors in the original productions of the plays. These lists can be informative on the companies involved and the dates of first productions; the cast list prefixed to The Honest Man's Fortune, for example, reveals that the play was originally staged by the Lady Elizabeth's Men in the 1612–13 period.

On the negative side, the texts in the second folio were set into type from the previously printed quarto texts, and never from manuscript; the texts of the plays in the first collection were printed from manuscript sources.Maxwell, pp. 3–4.

Content, authorship, and canon

The implicit canon, nearly realized by the contents of the second folio, comprises dramatic works written by Beaumont or Fletcher; either alone, together, or in collaboration with other playwrights. By this rule, likely, four plays should be excluded (The Laws of Candy by John Ford, Wit at Several Weapons by Middleton and Rowley, The Nice Valour by Middleton, and The Coronation by James Shirley), and three more extant plays should be included (John van Olden Barnavelt, A Very Woman, and Henry VIII). A Very Woman was printed in a volume of Massinger's plays in 1655, while John van Olden Barnavelt remained in manuscript until the 19th century. Henry VIII was first published in the Shakespeare First Folio of 1623.

At least five plays, no longer extant, may also belong in the canon. Four of these were entered to Moseley in the Stationers' Register between 1653 and 1660, possibly with the intent of printing them in the second folio: Cardenio (Shakespeare and Fletcher?), A Right Woman (Beaumont and Fletcher?), The Wandering Lovers (Fletcher?), and The Jeweler of Amsterdam (Fletcher, Field, and Massinger?). A fifth non-extant play, The Queen was questionably attributed to Fletcher by a contemporary.Bowers 1966, p xxxi.

The folios contain two works that are generally thought to be the work of Beaumont alone – The Knight of the Burning Pestle and The Masque of the Inner Temple and Gray's Inn – and fifteen that are solo efforts by Fletcher, and perhaps a dozen that are actual Beaumont/Fletcher collaborations. The rest are Fletcher's collaborations with Massinger and other writers.

Notes 1st Act – Year the play was first acted. Dates are approximate and, unless otherwise noted, follow Gurr.Gurr 1992, pp. 233–43. 1st Pub – Year of first publication as given by Glover & Waller, unless otherwise noted.Glover & Waller 1905-12. Authorial attributions – Though there is general consensus, scholars still debate the exact contributions of authors. Unless otherwise noted, attributions are those of Cyrus Hoy.Hoy 1962, pp. 85–86.

Title1st Act1st Pub16471679FletcherMassingerBeaumontOtherThe Mad Lover1615-16Gurr 2004, pp. 284–86.1647112xThe Spanish Curate1622164727xxThe Little French Lawyer1619-231647317xxThe Custom of the Country1620164745xxThe Noble Gentleman1624-261647540xxBowers (1996, pp. 751–52) marks this attribution as being less secure than others.The Captain1609-121647626xxBeggars' Bush1615-22164779xxxThe Coxcomb1608-091647842xxThe False One1619-231647916xxThe Chances161716471020xThe Loyal Subject161816471113xThe Laws of Candy1619-2316471215FordThe Lovers' Progress1621-2316471324xxThe Island Princess1619-2116471439xThe Humorous Lieutenant1619?16471510xThe Nice Valour1621-2416471650MiddletonScholars' estimations of Fletcher's contributions to The Nice Valour have steadily decreased over time. While in 1962, Hoy attributed the play to Fletcher and Middleton (p 86), Bowers later marked Fletcher's contribution as less secure (1996, pp. 751–52). In 1979, Jackson found "no evidence" for Fletcherian authorship, while more recent opinion has tended toward sole authorship for Middleton (Taylor & Lavagnino 2007 Companion, pp. 423–24).The Maid in the Mill162316471733xRowleyThe Prophetess162216471827xxBonduca1611-1416471929xThe Sea Voyage162216472043xxThe Double Marriage1619-2316472132xxThe Pilgrim1621?16472225xThe Knight of Malta1616-1916472334xxFieldThe Woman's Prize1609-1216472438xLove's Cure1625In James Shirley's revision of Fletcher's 1605 original. Gurr 2004, p. 286.16472535xxxThe Honest Man's Fortune1612-1516472651xxFieldThe Queen of Corinth1616-1816472728xxFieldWomen Pleased1618-2116472836xA Wife for a Month162416472923xWit at Several Weapons1613Taylor & Lavagnino 2007 Works, p. 981.16473044Middleton, RowleyBowers (1996, pp. 751–52) attributes the play to Fletcher, Middleton, and Rowley. However, Fletcher's authorship is rejected in the Oxford Middleton, which asserts that the play has been "definitively re-established as the work of Middleton and Rowley." (Taylor & Lavagnino 2007 Works, 980)Valentinian1610-1416473118xThe Fair Maid of the Inn162516473245xxFord, WebsterLove's Pilgrimage1612-1516473331xxJonsonThe Masque of the Inner Temple and Gray's Inn1612Glover & Waller 1905-12; vol 10, p. 378.1612?3452xFour Plays, or Moral Representations, in One1608Schelling 1908, vol 2, p. 614-15.16473553xFieldThe Maid's Tragedy161016191xxPhilaster160916202xxA King and No King161116193xxThe Scornful Lady1612-1516164xxThe Elder Brother1625?16376xxWit Without Money1614Schelling 1908, vol 2, p. 621.16398xShirley,Bowers (1996, pp. 751–52) adds this attribution, but marks it as being less secure than others. UnknownThe Faithful Shepherdess16081609-1011xRule a Wife and Have a Wife1624164014xMonsieur Thomas1612-15163919xRollo, Duke of Normandy1624-28163921xxField, Chapman, JonsonThe Wild Goose Chase1621?165222xThe Knight of the Burning Pestle1607161330xThe Night Walker1614Schelling 1908, vol 2, p. 592.164037xShirleyThe Coronation1635164041ShirleyCupid's Revenge1608161546xxThe Two Noble Kinsmen1613?163447xShakespeareThierry and Theodoret1613-21162148xxxThe Woman Hater1606160749xxHenry VIII16131623Gurr 2004, p. 295.xShakespeareJohn van Olden Barnavelt16191883Schelling 1908, vol 2, p. 544.xxA Very Woman1634Schelling 1908, vol 2, p. 618.1655Gurr 2004, p. 301.xx

Later editions The folios limited but did not extinguish the market for individual editions of the plays; such editions were printed when the chances for profit seemed favourable. Humphrey Robinson and Alice Moseley (Humphrey Moseley's widow) issued a quarto of Beggar's Bush in 1661, for example. During the Restoration era and into the 18th century, the plays in the Beaumont/Fletcher canon were very popular – though they were often performed in adapted versions rather than in the originals; and the adaptations then appeared in print. An adaptation of The Island Princess was published in 1669; and adapted version of Monsieur Thomas was printed in 1678. Beggar's Bush became The Royal Merchant, published in 1706 – and later, The Merchant of Bruges.Potter, p. 5. This trend in favour of new adaptations over original versions made it easier for Herringman, Martyn, and Mariot to obtain permissions to reprint those originals in their 1679 collection.

Beaumont and Fletcher folios

Bron en licentie