Typographies of Performance in Early Modern England
Published on 6. March 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
352 pages
978-0-19-790367-4 (ISBN)
Description
Typographies of Performance in Early Modern England is the first book-length study of early modern English playbook typography. It tells a new history of drama from the period by considering the page designs of plays by Shakespeare and others printed between the end of the fifteenth century and the beginning of the eighteenth century. It argues that typography, broadly conceived, was used creatively by printers, publishers, playwrights, and other agents of the book trade to make the effects of theatricality--from the most basic (textually articulating a change in speaker) to the more complex (registering the kinesis of bodies on stage)--intelligible on the page.
The coalescence of these experiments into a uniquely dramatic typography that was constantly responsive to performance effects made it possible for 'plays' to be marketed, collected, and read in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as a print genre distinct from all other genres of imaginative writing. It has been said, 'If a play is a book, it is not a play.' Typographies of Performance in Early Modern England shows that 'play' and 'book' were, in fact, mutually constitutive: it was the very bookishness of plays printed in early modern England that allowed them to be recognized by their earliest readers as plays in the first place.
The coalescence of these experiments into a uniquely dramatic typography that was constantly responsive to performance effects made it possible for 'plays' to be marketed, collected, and read in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as a print genre distinct from all other genres of imaginative writing. It has been said, 'If a play is a book, it is not a play.' Typographies of Performance in Early Modern England shows that 'play' and 'book' were, in fact, mutually constitutive: it was the very bookishness of plays printed in early modern England that allowed them to be recognized by their earliest readers as plays in the first place.
Reviews / Votes
This is an authoritative intervention in bibliography and literary history, as well as being a hymn to the craft of early modern printing. * Alice Leonard, Times Literary Supplement * This is an unequivocally important book that is underpinned by exemplary research. * Ben Higgins, The Library 23.2 * Just as learning a new word causes one to see it everywhere, Claire M. L. Bourne's Typographies of Performance in Early Modern England spotlights the printed symbols and complex textual arrangements that pervade early modern printed plays, but which modern scholars and editors usually overlook or misunderstand, demonstrating their importance for making theatrical forms legible as dramatic texts for reading. After reading this meticulously researched, highly informative, and wide reaching monograph, scholars and editors will appreciate early modern playbooks in a new light: you cannot unsee Typographies of Performance's indelible insights, nor would you ever want to. * Heidi Craig, Philological Quarterly 100.2 * Bourne's book succeeds in defamiliarising typography to the point that we can appreciate its workings anew, not as a barrier to the study of early modern drama but a bridge. * Derek Dunne, Renaissance Studies 36.3 * Typographies of Performance in Early Modern England is a model of excellent scholarship: predicated on impressive research, it outlines important arguments in clear and graceful writing. * Laura Estill, Seventeenth-Century News * This capacious, thoughtful work allows readers to conceive of the possibilities of new scholarship in the history of early modern English playbooks. Because Bourne regards the members of the early English book trade with grace, she releases them from the burden of habitual faultiness. She initiates a truly fantastic way of approaching playbooks that prioritizes 'readerly access to these forms of theatricality rather than foreclosing the chance to experience their effects'. * Brandi K. Adams, Early Theatre *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Illustrations
70 Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
594 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-790367-4 (9780197903674)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Claire M. L. Bourne is Associate Professor of English at The Pennsylvania State University, where she teaches early modern literature, the history of the book, and textual editing.
Content
Introduction: A Play and No Play 1: Dramatic Pilcrows 2: Jonson's Breaches and the Typography of Action 3: Making a Scene 4: Plot Illustrated 5: Scene Changes Coda: A Prolusion on Dramatic Typography Bibliography