The Abortive 1631 Addition
In 1631 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 Devil is an Ass
- The Staple of News
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, who believed they owned the rights to the works.
Read more about this topic: Ben Jonson Folios
Famous quotes containing the words abortive and/or addition:
“To write anything tolerable, the mind must be in a natural, proper disposition; provocatives, in that case, as well as in another, will only produce miserable, abortive performances.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)
“As easy mayst thou fall
A drop of water in the breaking gulf,
And take unmingled thence that drop again,
Without addition or diminishing,
As take from me thyself and not me too.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)