
The Collected Works of Thomas Kyd
Volume One
Brian Vickers(Editor)
D.S. Brewer (Publisher)
Published on 5. March 2024
Book
Hardback
646 pages
978-1-84384-694-9 (ISBN)
Description
First, complete, integrated corpus of this major Elizabethan writer and first critical edition of his collected works in over one hundred years, with major new discoveries of authorship and attribution.
Thomas Kyd (1558-94) is best known as author of The Spanish Tragedy, the first revenge play, hugely influential on Shakespeare and other dramatists. He also wrote another love tragedy, Soliman and Perseda, and Cornelia, a classical tragedy translated from the French. This is a small canon for a dramatist described as "industrious". Kyd worked between 1585 and 1594, when the instability in the London theatre caused by the plague led to companies breaking up and plays being published anonymously. For over a century scholars have been searching for Kyd plays, the most frequently attributed being Arden of Faversham.
Uniting accepted methods with modern electronic data processing, Brian Vickers has endorsed Kyd's authorship of Arden and added two other plays: King Leir, Shakespeare's main source, and Fair Em, a comedy - justifying Jonson's reference to "sporting Kyd". His research has also identified Kyd as co-author with Nashe of 'harey the vi', which became 1 Henry VI after Shakespeare adapted it to his "Wars of the Roses" sequence. The evidence suggests that Kyd and Shakespeare co-authored Edward III.
The Collected Works of Thomas Kyd brings together for the first time his dramas, poetry, translations, and letters in accurate modernized editions, each text edited by one of a team of internationally renowned scholars, accompanied by commentaries, collation notes, and introductions. Kyd emerges as a pioneering playwright of much greater generic range than has been hitherto recognized. His newly defined canon will stimulate a fresh evaluation of English drama in this crucial period.
Thomas Kyd (1558-94) is best known as author of The Spanish Tragedy, the first revenge play, hugely influential on Shakespeare and other dramatists. He also wrote another love tragedy, Soliman and Perseda, and Cornelia, a classical tragedy translated from the French. This is a small canon for a dramatist described as "industrious". Kyd worked between 1585 and 1594, when the instability in the London theatre caused by the plague led to companies breaking up and plays being published anonymously. For over a century scholars have been searching for Kyd plays, the most frequently attributed being Arden of Faversham.
Uniting accepted methods with modern electronic data processing, Brian Vickers has endorsed Kyd's authorship of Arden and added two other plays: King Leir, Shakespeare's main source, and Fair Em, a comedy - justifying Jonson's reference to "sporting Kyd". His research has also identified Kyd as co-author with Nashe of 'harey the vi', which became 1 Henry VI after Shakespeare adapted it to his "Wars of the Roses" sequence. The evidence suggests that Kyd and Shakespeare co-authored Edward III.
The Collected Works of Thomas Kyd brings together for the first time his dramas, poetry, translations, and letters in accurate modernized editions, each text edited by one of a team of internationally renowned scholars, accompanied by commentaries, collation notes, and introductions. Kyd emerges as a pioneering playwright of much greater generic range than has been hitherto recognized. His newly defined canon will stimulate a fresh evaluation of English drama in this crucial period.
Reviews / Votes
Any reader of volume 1 will be impressed by the range and quality of Kyd's dramaturgy in its own right and will be prompted to recognize Kyd's significance in the development of English Renaissance drama. Kyd is worth serious scholarly attention, and this edition greatly facilitates the extended scholarly study of Kyd's expanded canon. We should all look forward to the publication of volume 2. * RENAISSANCE AND REFORMATION *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Boydell & Brewer Ltd
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
3 b/w illus.
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 39 mm
Weight
1127 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-84384-694-9 (9781843846949)
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
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
03/2024
1st Edition
De Gruyter
€96.99
Available for download
Persons
Sir Brian Vickers, FBA, School of Advanced Study, London University. Darren Freebury-Jones, the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratford-upon-Avon. Sir Brian Vickers, FBA, School of Advanced Study, London University. Darren Freebury-Jones, the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratford-upon-Avon.
Editor
Contributions
Associate editor
Content
Kyd and the London Theatre, Brian Vickers
Recognizing Kyd, Brian Vickers
Verses of Praise and Joy (1586), ed. Daniel Starza Smith
Introduction
Text
Textual Notes
Commentary
The Spanish Tragedy (1585-7), ed. Brian Vickers
Introduction
The Persons in the Play
Text
Textual Notes
Commentary
The Householder's Philosophy (1588), ed. Domenico Lovascio
Introduction
Text
Textual Notes
Commentary
Soliman and Perseda (1588), ed. Matthew Dimmock
Introduction
The Persons in the Play
Text
Textual Notes
Commentary
King Leir (1589), ed. Eugene Giddens
Introduction
The Persons in the Play
Text with Authorship Commentary by Darren Freebury-Jones as Footnotes
Textual Notes
Commentary
Recognizing Kyd, Brian Vickers
Verses of Praise and Joy (1586), ed. Daniel Starza Smith
Introduction
Text
Textual Notes
Commentary
The Spanish Tragedy (1585-7), ed. Brian Vickers
Introduction
The Persons in the Play
Text
Textual Notes
Commentary
The Householder's Philosophy (1588), ed. Domenico Lovascio
Introduction
Text
Textual Notes
Commentary
Soliman and Perseda (1588), ed. Matthew Dimmock
Introduction
The Persons in the Play
Text
Textual Notes
Commentary
King Leir (1589), ed. Eugene Giddens
Introduction
The Persons in the Play
Text with Authorship Commentary by Darren Freebury-Jones as Footnotes
Textual Notes
Commentary