Ben Jonson Benjamin Jonson ( 11 June 1572 – ) was an English playwright, poet and actor. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence on English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for the satire, satirical ...

(c. 11 June 1572 – c. 16 August 1637) collected his plays and other writings into a book he titled ''The Workes of Benjamin Jonson''. In 1616 it was printed in London in the form of a folio. Second and third editions of his works were published posthumously in 1640 and 1692. These editions of Ben Jonson's works were a crucial development in the publication of English Renaissance drama. The first folio collection, ''The Workes of Benjamin Jonson'', treated stage plays as serious works of literature and stood as a precedent for other play collections that followed—notably the

First Folio ''Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies'' is a collection of plays by William Shakespeare, commonly referred to by modern scholars as the First Folio, published in 1623, about seven years after Shakespeare's death. It is cons ...

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

's plays in 1623, the first

Beaumont and Fletcher Beaumont and Fletcher were the English dramatist A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between characters and is intended for theatrical performance rather t ...

folio in 1647, and other collections that were important in preserving the dramatic literature of the age.

The first folio, 1616

''The Workes of Benjamin Jonson'', the first Jonson folio of 1616, printed and published by William Stansby and sold through bookseller

Richard Meighen Richard Meighen (died 1641) was a London publisher of the Jacobean and Caroline eras. He is noted for his publications of plays of English Renaissance drama; he published the second Ben Jonson folio of 1640/41, and was a member of the syndicat ...

, contained nine plays all previously published, two works of non-dramatic poetry, thirteen masques, and six "entertainments". *Plays: ** '' Every Man in His Humour'' ** ''

Every Man out of His Humour ''Every Man out of His Humour'' (also spelled ''Humor'' in some early editions) is a satirical comedy play written by English playwright Ben Jonson, acted in 1599 by the Lord Chamberlain's Men. The play The play is a conceptual sequel to his 15 ...

'' ** '' Cynthia's Revels'' ** '' The Poetaster'' ** '' Sejanus His Fall'' ** ''

Volpone ''Volpone'' (, Italian for "sly fox") is a comedy play by English playwright Ben Jonson first produced in 1605–1606, drawing on elements of city comedy and beast fable. A merciless satire of greed and lust, it remains Jonson's most-perfo ...

'' ** '' Epicoene, or the Silent Woman'' ** '' The Alchemist'' ** '' Catiline His Conspiracy'' * Poetry: ** ''Epigrams'' ** ''The Forest'' * Masques: ** '' The Masque of Blackness'' ** '' The Masque of Beauty'' ** '' Hymenaei'' ** '' The Hue and Cry After Cupid'' ** '' The Masque of Queens'' ** ''

The Speeches at Prince Henry's Barriers ''The Speeches at Prince Henry's Barriers'', sometimes called ''The Lady of the Lake'', is a masque or entertainment written by Ben Jonson in honour of Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, the son and heir of King James I of England. The speeches we ...

'' ** '' Oberon, the Faery Prince'' ** '' Love Freed from Ignorance and Folly'' ** '' Love Restored'' ** ''A Challenge at Tilt, at a Marriage'' ** ''The Irish Masque at Court'' ** '' Mercury Vindicated from the Alchemists'' ** '' The Golden Age Restored'' * Entertainments: ** '' The King's Entertainment in Passing to His Coronation'' 'The Coronation Triumph''** ''A Panegyre, on the Happy Entrance of James'' ** '' A Particular Entertainment of the Queen and Prince (at Althorp)'' 'The Satyr''** ''A Private Entertainment of the King and Queen (on May-Day)'' 'The Penates''** ''The Entertainment of the Two Kings (of Great Britain and Denmark)'' 'The Hours''** ''An Entertainment of King James and Queen Anne'' The first five of the masques, from '' The Masque of Blackness'' through '' The Masque of Queens'', had been printed previously; as had ''A Panegyre, on the Happy Entrance of James'' and the ''Epigrams''.

The abortive 1631 addition

1631 Events January–March * January 23 – Thirty Years' War: Sweden and France sign the Treaty of Bärwalde, a military alliance in which France provides funds for the Swedish army invading northern Germany. * February 5 &ndas ...

Jonson planned a second volume to be added to the 1616 folio, a collection of later-written works to be published by Robert Allot. Jonson, however, became dissatisfied with the quality of the printing (by John Beale), and cancelled the project. Three plays were set into type for the projected collection, and printings of those typecasts were circulated—though whether they were sold commercially or distributed privately by Jonson is unclear. The three plays are: * ''

Bartholomew Fair The Bartholomew Fair was one of London's pre-eminent summer charter fairs. A charter for the fair was granted by King Henry I to fund the Priory of St Bartholomew in 1133. It took place each year on 24 August (St Bartholomew's Day) within the p ...

'' * '' The Devil Is an Ass'' * ''

The Staple of News ''The Staple of News'' is an early Literature in English#Caroline and Cromwellian literature, Caroline era play, a satire by Ben Jonson. The play was first performed in late 1625 by the King's Men (playing company), King's Men at the Blackfriars ...

'' Allot died in 1635; in the 1637–39 period, the rights to Jonson's works were involved in a complex legal dispute between Philip Chetwinde, the second husband of Allot's widow, and stationers Andrew Crooke and John Legatt. Crooke and Legatt believed they owned the rights to the works.

The second folio, 1640/1

Two folio collections of Jonsonian works were issued in 1640-41. The first, printed by Richard Bishop for Andrew Crooke, was a 1640 reprint of the 1616 folio with corrections and emendations; it has sometimes been termed "the second edition of the first folio." The second volume was edited by Jonson's literary executor Sir

Kenelm Digby Sir Kenelm Digby (11 July 1603 – 11 June 1665) was an English courtier and diplomat. He was also a highly reputed natural philosopher, astrologer and known as a leading Roman Catholic intellectual and Thomas White (scholar), Blackloist. For ...

, and published by

, in co-operation with Chetwinde. That volume contained later works, most of them unpublished or uncollected previously—seven plays (including the three printed in 1631), two of them incomplete, and fifteen masques, plus miscellaneous pieces. In the Digby/Meighen volume—identified on its title page as "the Second Volume" of Jonson's works—the varying dates (1631, 1640, 1641) in some of the texts, and what editor William Savage Johnson once called "irregularity in contents and arrangement in different copies," have caused significant confusion. * Plays: ** ''

'' ** ''

'' ** '' The Devil Is an Ass'' ** '' The Magnetic Lady'' ** ''

A Tale of a Tub ''A Tale of a Tub'' was the first major work written by Jonathan Swift, composed between 1694 and 1697 and published in 1704. The ''Tale'' is a prose parody divided into sections of "digression" and a "tale" of three brothers, each representin ...

'' ** '' The Sad Shepherd'' (unfinished) ** '' Mortimer His Fall'' (fragment) * Masques: ** '' Christmas, His Masque'' ** '' A Masque Presented in the House of Lord Hay'' ** '' The Vision of Delight'' ** '' Pleasure Reconciled to Virtue'' ** ''For the Honour of Wales'' ** '' News from the New World Discovered in the Moon'' ** '' A Masque of the Metamorphos'd Gypsies'' ** '' The Masque of Augurs'' ** '' Time Vindicated to Himself and to His Honours'' ** '' Neptune's Triumph for the Return of Albion'' ** '' Pan's Anniversary, or The Shepherd's Holiday'' ** ''The Masque of Owls'' ** '' The Fortunate Isles, and Their Union'' ** '' Love's Triumph Through Callipolis'' ** '' Chloridia: Rites to Chloris and Her Nymphs'' ** '' The King's Entertainment at Welbeck'' ** '' Love's Welcome at Bolsover'' * Miscellaneous: ** ''Underwoods'' ** ''Horace, His Art of Poetry'' ** ''The English Grammar'' ** ''Timber, or Discoveries''

The third folio, 1692

The

1692 Events January–March * January 24 – At least 75 residents of what is now York, Maine are killed in the Raid on York (1692), Candlemas Massacre, carried out by French soldiers led by missionary Louis-Pierre Thury, along with a ...

single-volume third folio was printed by Thomas Hodgkin and published by a syndicate of booksellers—the title page lists H nryHerringman, E. Brewster, T. Bassett, R. Chiswell, M. Wotton, and G. Conyers.Herringman, Brewster, and Chiswell were members of the four-man syndicate that published the Fourth Folio of Shakespeare's plays in

1685 Events January–March * January 6 – American-born British citizen Elihu Yale, for whom Yale University in the U.S. is named, completes his term as the first leader of the Madras Presidency in India, administering the colony ...

. Herringman was one of three stationers who issued the second Beaumont and Fletcher folio in 1679. The third folio added two works to the previous total: the play '' The New Inn,'' and ''Leges Convivales''. Two other works by Jonson were left out of the 17th-century folios but added to later editions: the plays '' The Case is Altered'' and '' Eastward Ho'' (the latter written with Marston and

George Chapman George Chapman ( – 12 May 1634) was an English dramatist, translator and poet. He was a classical scholar whose work shows the influence of Stoicism. Chapman is seen as an anticipator of the metaphysical poets of the 17th century. He is ...

Notes

References

* Brady, Jennifer, and W. H. Herendeen, eds. ''Ben Jonson's 1616 Folio.'' Newark, DE, University of Delaware Press, 1991. * Brock, Dewey Howard. ''A Ben Jonson Companion.'' Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1983. * Harp, Richard, and Stanley Stewart, eds. ''The Cambridge Companion to Ben Jonson.'' Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2000. * Loxley, James. ''The Complete Critical Guide to Ben Jonson.'' London, Routledge, 2002. * Williams, W. P. "Chetwin, Crooke, and the Jonson Folios." ''Studies in Bibliography'' 30 (1977).

External links

Digitized facsimile of Jonson's First Folio, 1616

Watermarks of the 1616 folio
* Digitized Facsimiles of Jonson's second folio, 1640/
Jonson's second folio, 1640/1
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jonson, Ben, folios 1616 books 1640 books 1692 books Bibliography Masques by Ben Jonson Plays by Ben Jonson