Mucedorus: the last ludic playbook, the first stage Arcadia

This article argues that two seemingly contradictory factors contributed to and sustained the success of the anonymous Elizabethan play Mucedorus (c. 1590; pub. 1598). First, that both the initial composition of Mucedorus and its Jacobean revival were driven in part by the popularity of its source, Philip Sidney's Arcadia. Second, the playbook's invitation to amateur playing allowed its romance narrative to be adopted and repurposed by diverse social groups. These two factors combined to create something of a paradox, suggesting that Mucedorus was both open to all yet iconographically connected to an elite author's popular text. This study will argue that Mucedorus pioneered the fashion for “continuations” or adaptations of the famously unfinished Arcadia, and one element of its success in print was its presentation as an affordable and performable version of Sidney's elite work. The Jacobean revival of Mucedorus by the King's Men is thus evidence of a strategy of engagement with the Arcadia designed to please the new Stuart monarchs. This association with the monarchy in part determined the cultural functions of the Arcadia and Mucedorus through the Interregnum to the close of the seventeenth century

A note on the teaching of English language and literature, with some suggestions,

Mode of access: Internet

A dictionary of the printers and booksellers who were at work in England, Scotland and Ireland from 1668 to 1725,

In continuation of the author's Dictionary of the booksellers and printers ... 1641 to 1667, published in 1907, which in turn continued the Dictionary of printers and booksellers ... 1557-1640, edited by R. B. McKerrow, 1910.Continued by a Dictionary covering the period 1726 to 1775 edited by A. W. Pollard, 1932."References": p. [xi] - xii

The Library.

Editors: 1889-Oct. 1919, J. Y. W. MacAlister (with A. W. Pollard, 1904-19); June 1920-Mar. 1934, A. W. Pollard; June 1934-Mar. 1937, R. B. McKerrow (with F. C. Francis, June 1936-Mar. 1937); June 1937- F. C. Francis.At head of title, ser. 4, v. 1- : Transactions of the Bibliographical Society.No issues for Jan.-Feb. 1899.Mode of access: Internet.Official organ of the Library Association (formerly the Library Association of the United Kingdom) from 1889 to 1898.Absorbed: Transactions of the Bibliographical Society (Great Britain), with the Transactions section retaining its own numbering, i.e., ser. 2, v. 1-v. 10 (June 1920-Mar. 1930