Ben Jonson Folios

Ben Jonson Folios

The folio collections of Ben Jonson's works published in the seventeenth century were crucial developments in the publication of English literature and English Renaissance drama. The first folio collection, issued in 1616, treated stage plays as serious works of literature instead of popular ephemera—at the time, a controversial position. The 1616 folio stood as a precedent for other play collections that followed—most notably the First Folio of Shakespeare's plays in 1623, but also the first Beaumont and Fletcher folio of 1647, and other collections that were important in preserving the dramatic literature of the age for subsequent generations.

Read more about Ben Jonson Folios:  The First Folio, 1616, The Abortive 1631 Addition, The Second Folio, 1640/1, The Third Folio, 1692

Famous quotes containing the words ben jonson, ben and/or jonson:

    Give me a look, give me a face,
    That makes simplicity a grace;
    Robes loosely flowing, hair as free:
    Such sweet neglect more taketh me,
    Than all the adulteries of art;
    They strike mine eyes, but not my heart.
    Ben Jonson (c. 1572–1637)

    And showed the names whom love of God had blessed,
    And, lo! Ben Adhem’s name led all the rest!
    Leigh Hunt (1784–1859)

    Do but consider this small dust, here running in the glass,
    By atoms moved.
    Could you believe that this the body was
    Of one that loved?
    And in his mistress’ flame playing like a fly,
    Turned to cinders by her eye?
    Yes, and in death as life unblest,
    To have’t expressed,
    Even ashes of lovers find no rest.
    —Ben Jonson (1572–1637)