Jonson, Ben

Volpone and The Alchemist (Thrift Edition)

Ben Jonson's Plays and Masques (Second Edition)

This collection features three of Jonson's masterpieces: Volpone, Epicoene, and The Alchemist. Also included are three masques: Mercury Vindicated from the Alchemist at Court, Pleasure Reconciled to Virtue, and—new to the Second Edition—The Masque of Blackness, Jonson's first masque and one that deals with issues of interest to contemporary culture. Each text includes expanded annotations. Jonson on His Work collects statements by the author on plays and on poetry taken from some of the plays, from Discoveries, and from Conversations with William Drummond of Hawthornden. Contemporary Readers on Jonson includes tributes and poems about the author and his work. A new section—Backgrounds and Sources"—includes selections from texts that helped shaped the dramatist's vision. Criticism includes twelve essays—nine of them new to the Second Edition—by Jonas A. Barish, Robert C. Evans, Anne Barton, John Dryden, Robert Watson, Edward B. Partridge, Ian Donaldson, Richard Harp, D. J. Gordon, Stephen Orgel, John Mulryan, and Leah S. Marcus.

About the Series: No other series of classic texts equals the caliber of the Norton Critical Editions. Each volume combines the most authoritative text available with the comprehensive pedagogical apparatus necessary to appreciate the work fully. Careful editing, first-rate translation, and thorough explanatory annotations allow each text to meet the highest literary standards while remaining accessible to students. Each edition is printed on acid-free paper and every text in the series remains in print. Norton Critical Editions are the choice for excellence in scholarship for students at more than 2,000 universities worldwide.

Volpone and Other Plays (Penguin Classics)

Volpone (Dover Thrift Editions)

A Hold thee, Mosca, Take of my hand; thou strik'st on truth, in all: And they are enuious, terme thee Parasite. Call forth my Dwarfe, my Eunuch, and my Foole, And let them make me sport.

The Alchemist and other Plays

This edition brings together Jonson's four great comedies Volpone, Epicene, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair. The texts of these plays have all been newly edited for this volume, and are presented with modernized spelling. Stage directions have been added to help actors and directors reconstruct the play the way it would have been performed in the seventeenth century, and the introduction, notes, and glossary further bring to life these timeless comedies for the modern reader.

If thou beest more, thou art an Vnderstander, and then I trust thee. If thou art one that tak'st vp, and but a Pretender, beware at what hands thou receiu'st thy commoditie; for thou wert neuer more fair in the way to be cos'ned (then in this Age) in Poetry, especially in Playes.

Five Plays (Oxford World's Classics)

This fully annotated and modernized collection of plays--including Every Man in his Humour, Sejanus, Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair--represents the full range and complexity of Jonson's art as a playwright.

The Roaring Girl and Other City Comedies [The Shoemaker's Holiday, Every Man In His Humour, Eastward Ho!] (Oxford English Drama)

This excellent volume brings together four of the most popular, most frequently studied and performed comedies that depict city life, by Thomas Dekker, Thomas Middleton, Ben Jonson and their contemporaries. Included are The Roaring Girl, The Shoemaker's Holiday, Eastward Ho!, and Every Man in His Humour. The text is freshly edited using modern spelling. A critical introduction, a wide-ranging annotation, and an informative bibliography illuminate the plays' cultural contexts and theatrical potential for reader and performer alike.

Ben Jonson: Selected Masques

Renaissance court masques involved music, dance, pageantry, and spectacular scenic effects. The form was transformed by Jonson into a serious mode of literary expression. Includes Jonson's own notes and glosses, explanatory notes, and critical commentary. From the Yale Ben Jonson edition.

Bartholmew Fair (New Mermaids)

New Mermaids are modernized and fully-annotated editions of classic English plays. Each volume includes:

• The playtext, in modern spelling, edited to the highest bibliographical and textual standards
• Textual notes recording significant changes to the copytext and variant readings
• Glossing notes explaining obscure words and word-play
• Critical, contextual and staging notes
• Photographs of productions where applicable
• A full introduction which provides a critical account of the play, the staging conventions of the time and recent stage history; discusses authorship, date, sources and the text; and gives guidance for further reading.

Edited and updated by leading scholars and printed in a clear, easy-to-use format, New Mermaids offer invaluable guidance for actor, student, and theatre-goer alike.

Jonson and the Contexts of His Time