Beaumont and Fletcher Folios - The Second Folio, 1679

The Second Folio, 1679

The second folio, titled Fifty Comedies and Tragedies, was published by the booksellers Henry Herringman, John Martyn, and Richard Marriot; the printing was done by J. Macock. The three stationers had obtained the rights to previously-published works, and added 18 dramas to the 35 of the first folio —

  • The Maid's Tragedy
  • Philaster
  • A King and No King
  • The Scornful Lady
  • The Elder Brother
  • Wit Without Money
  • The Faithful Shepherdess
  • Rule a Wife and Have a Wife
  • Monsieur Thomas
  • Rollo Duke of Normandy
  • The Wild Goose Chase
  • The Knight of the Burning Pestle
  • The Night Walker
  • The Coronation
  • Cupid's Revenge
  • The Two Noble Kinsmen
  • Thierry and Theodoret
  • The Woman Hater

— 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.

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