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:

    We are persons of quality, I assure you, and women of fashion, and come to see and to be seen.
    Ben Jonson (c. 1572–1637)

    When long ago I saw her ride
    Under Ben Bulben to the meet,
    The beauty of her country-side
    With all youth’s lonely wildness stirred,
    She seemed to have grown clean and sweet
    Like any rock-bred, sea-borne bird....
    William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)

    O, for an engine, to keep back all clocks,
    Or make the sun forget his motion!
    —Ben Jonson (c. 1572–1637)