EDMUND SPENSER and the HISTORY of the BOOK, 1569-1679. DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For
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EDMUND SPENSER AND THE HISTORY OF THE BOOK, 1569-1679. DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Steven K. Galbraith, M.A., M.L.S. * * * * * The Ohio State University 2006 Dissertation Committee: Approved by: Professor John N. King, Advisor Professor Richard Dutton __________________________ Professor Christopher Highley Adviser English Graduate Program Copyright by Steven K. Galbraith ABSTRACT This dissertation fills the critical void on the history of Spenser and his editions. Applying the critical methods of the History of the Book, I situate each of Spenser’s editions published from 1569 through 1679 within the context of its contemporary print culture. I study each edition’s physical makeup, typography, format, and production history. Additionally, I investigate the lives of the various printers, publishers, booksellers, and editors who had a hand in producing the books. From the evidence I collect, I construct arguments concerning Spenser’s relationship with the printing trade, his readership, and his literary reputation. The first chapter examines Spenser’s interactions with books and the book trade during his youth and how these interactions helped shape his literary career. The second chapter demonstrates how The Shepheardes Calender (1579) deviated from its Italian bibliographic model by substituting italic type with black-letter or “English” type. The choice of “English” type supported the book’s promotion of the English language and literature. The third chapter argues that Spenser and his printer helped position The Faerie Queene (1590) within the epic tradition by imitating the appearance of contemporary editions of classical and Italian epics. The fourth chapter examines Spenser’s first folio (1611-c.1625), demonstrating that it was not a monument to the author, as were contemporary folios, but rather a cheaply produced book sold in sections. ii The fifth chapter reexamines the manuscript and printing history of A View of the Present State of Ireland. The final chapter argues that for many seventeenth-century readers, Spenser’s deliberately archaic language had grown too obscure, resulting in efforts to regularize his works. Spenser’s literary reputation was momentarily rehabilitated in 1679, when, during a time in which reprints made up a large percentage of English books, Spenser’s works returned to folio and set the stage for a minor eighteenth-century rebirth. iii Dedicated to all the Galbraiths, Quinns, Millers, and Pratts, with hope for sustained health and happiness for all. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank my advisor John N. King. It was through his support and generosity that I was able to thrive at Ohio State. I have also had the good fortune of having Jim Bracken, Richard Dutton, and Christopher Highley as mentors and friends. My interests in Edmund Spenser and book history took root while studying at the University of Maine under Professors Burton Hatlen and Linne R. Mooney. I would like to thank them both for their inspiration and for helping me onto the path toward a Ph.D. Over the last five years, I have had the great pleasure of making many new friends. There are too many to acknowledge, but I must thank Ben McCorkle, Justin Pepperney, Danielle Dadras, Shannon Blake, Mark Bayer, and Mark Rankin for their friendship. I am also indebted to the staff of The Ohio State University Libraries. I would especially like to acknowledge the staff of the Rare Books and Manuscript Library, in particular, Geoffrey Smith, Harry Campbell, Doug Scherer, and Elva Griffith. Each made my hours of pouring over rare books all the more enjoyable. Up until last December, I enjoyed the company of my dog, Bucket, who was always by my side as I read and wrote. I thank him for his companionship. Finally, I thank Jeannie, Mom, Dad, Jim, and Anne for their love and support. Welcome to the world Audrey. v VITA June 22, 1972 Born, Crofton, Maryland. 1994 B.A. English, The State University of New York at Buffalo. 1998 M.L.S., The State University of New York at Buffalo. 1998 - 2001 Social Sciences and Humanities Reference Librarian II, The University of Maine. 2001 M.A. English, University of Maine. 2001 - present Graduate Teaching and Research Associate, The Ohio State University. PUBLICATIONS 1. The Undergraduate's Companion to English Renaissance Writers and Their Web Sites. Westport, Conn.: Libraries Unlimited, 2004. FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: English Minor Field: Book History and Bibliography vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract . .ii Dedication . iv Acknowledgements . v Vita . .vi List of Figures . .ix Chapters: Introduction . .1 1. A Theatre for Worldlings: Spenser and Books, 1561-1578 . 9 2. Spenser’s “English” Shepheardes Calender . .42 3. The Faerie Queene (1590 and 1596) 3.1 Spenser’s “Roman” Faerie Queene . 71 3.2 Typographical Conversations: Ariosto, Tasso, and Spenser . 119 4. Spenser in Folio 4.1 The 1609 Folio Faerie Queene . .138 4.2 Spenser’s First Folio Works, 1611-c.1625 . .158 5. A View of the Present State of Ireland: A History 5.1 The View in Manuscript . 186 5.2 The View in Print . 225 6. Spenser in and out of Print, 1634-1679 6.1 Unsalable Spenser? . .242 6.2 Seventeenth-Century Canon Formation and Spenser’s. .260 1679 Folio vii Appendix . .291 Bibliography . .294 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 3.1 A canto headnote from The Faerie Queene (1596) . 135 3.2 The typographical representation of ottava rima. 135 3.3 The typographical representation of the Spenserian stanza. .135 3.4 A graph showing the increase of roman type in English Book through the 1580s . 136 3.5 A graph showing the increase of roman type in English literary books in the 1580s . 137 4.1 The opening of Book One, Canto One from the 1596 edition of The Faerie Queene . 182 4.2 The opening of Book One, Canto One from the 1609 edition of The Faerie Queene . 182 4.3 A canto argomento from Franceschi’s Orlando Furioso (1584). .183 4.4 A canto argomento from Harington’s Orlando Furioso (1591). 183 4.5 A canto headnote from the 1596 edition of The Faerie Queene. 183 4.6 A canto headnote from the 1609 edition of The Faerie Queene. 183 4.7 A page from the 1591 edition of Harington’s Orlando Furioso. 184 4.8 A page from the 1609 edition of The Faerie Queene. 184 4.9 Humphrey Lownes’s “Elizabetha Regina” woodcut blocks . .184 4.10 The running headlines to the Two Cantos of Mutabilitie. .185 4.11 The title page of Spenser’s first folio (1611) . 185 5.1 The frontispiece and title page to the 1679 folio edition of ix Spenser’s Works . 241 6.1 The frontispiece and title page from John Milton’s Poems (1645) . ..288 6.2 The frontispiece and title page from John Suckling’s Fragmenta Aurea (1646) . 288 6.3 The frontispiece and title page from Shirley’s Six New Plays (1653) . 289 6.4 The title page from Beaumont and Fletcher’s first folio . .289 6.5 The frontispiece and title page from the works of Cowley (1668). 290 6.6 The conclusion of The Shepheardes Calender and the beginning of Colin Clouts Come Home Again from the 1679 Spenser’s Works. 290 x INTRODUCTION In university and college classrooms, students and scholars read the works of English Renaissance authors such as William Shakespeare, John Milton, and Edmund Spenser in modern critical editions that are centuries removed from the material forms in which these works first circulated. As recent scholarship in print history has demonstrated, reading is always an interaction between the reader and the physical text. Although we are not always conscious of it, the appearance of books (their typography, size, binding, illustrations, etc.) affects the ways in which we interpret them. This presents a problem for literary scholars, because the historical distance separating us from the texts we study can hinder our understanding of their original meaning and reception. If we are to understand how the early editions of English Renaissance authors were first received and by what audience, we must study these editions as material objects, whose appearance and production history provide evidence concerning cultural meaning. As the field of The History of the Book continues to blossom within the greater study of English literature, scholars continue to produce significant work on the print history of English Renaissance authors such as William Shakespeare, John Milton, and John Foxe. Yet, similar studies of Spenser’s works are notably absent. Subsequently, the literary history of perhaps the greatest Elizabethan poet is incomplete, as is his biography. 1 My dissertation, “Edmund Spenser and the History of the Book, 1569-1679,” fills the critical void on the history of Spenser and his editions. Applying the critical methods of The History of the Book, I situate each of Spenser’s editions published from 1569 through 1679 within the context of its contemporary print culture. I study each edition’s physical makeup, typography, format, and production history. Additionally, I investigate the lives of the various printers, publishers, booksellers, and editors who had a hand in producing the books. From the evidence I collect, I construct arguments concerning Spenser’s relationship with the printing trade, his readership, and his literary reputation. Critical Methods or “What is Bibliography?” Bibliography is a misunderstood term. Over a half-century ago, W. W. Greg observed that “the error has of course arisen through the use of the expression ‘a bibliography’ to mean a list of books on some particular subject and the assumption that a ‘bibliographer’ is primarily a compiler of ‘bibliographies’” (24).