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Chapter 2 - Authorizing Histories

Andrew Wise and Shakespeare’s English History Plays

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2022

Amy Lidster
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
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Summary

Chapter 2 argues that Andrew Wise’s editions of Richard II, Richard III, 1 Henry IV, and 2 Henry IV established Shakespeare’s early print reputation as a dramatist of English monarchical history. The chapter begins by driving a wedge between stage and print patterns during the late sixteenth century, demonstrating that Shakespeare’s English histories were unrepresentative of the historical subjects that were popular on the London stages. It proposes that Wise’s selection and presentation strategies were contingent on three main factors: the book trade’s interest in English monarchical history and its application to Elizabethan politics; the connection of Wise to Shakespeare’s company and George Carey’s patronized writers, which can be seen as a flexible model of textual patronage that eschews a direct link between patron and stationer; and the growing marketability of Shakespeare’s name. The result is an assessment of Shakespeare’s histories and ideas of genre that reveals the intersection of multiple agendas: it draws attention to the book trade as a collaborative system of exchange that frustrates efforts at singularizing agency and notions of genre.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publishing the History Play in the Time of Shakespeare
Stationers Shaping a Genre
, pp. 86 - 131
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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  • Authorizing Histories
  • Amy Lidster, University of Oxford
  • Book: Publishing the History Play in the Time of Shakespeare
  • Online publication: 10 March 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009043656.003
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  • Authorizing Histories
  • Amy Lidster, University of Oxford
  • Book: Publishing the History Play in the Time of Shakespeare
  • Online publication: 10 March 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009043656.003
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Authorizing Histories
  • Amy Lidster, University of Oxford
  • Book: Publishing the History Play in the Time of Shakespeare
  • Online publication: 10 March 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009043656.003
Available formats
×