Depledge, Emma

2021, Nicosia, Marisa, Garrison, John, Depledge, Emma

This volume consists of fourteen original essays that showcase the latest thinking about John Milton's emergence as a popular and canonical author. Contributors consider how Milton positioned himself in relation to the book trade, contemporaneous thinkers, and intellectual movements, as well as how his works have been positioned since their first publication. The individual chapters assess Milton's reception by exploring how his authorial persona was shaped by the modes of writing in which he chose to express himself, the material forms in which his works circulated, and the ways in which his texts were re-appropriated by later writers. The Milton that emerges is one who actively fashioned his reputation by carefully selecting his modes of writing, his language of composition, and the stationers with whom he collaborated. Throughout the volume, contributors also demonstrate the profound impact Milton and his works have had on the careers of a variety of agents, from publishers, booksellers, and fellow writers to colonizers in Mexico and South America.

2018, Depledge, Emma

Shakespeare's rise to prominence was by no means inevitable. While he was popular in his lifetime, the number of new editions and revivals of his plays declined over the following decades. Emma Depledge uses the methodologies of book and theatre history to provide a re-assessment of the reputation and dissemination of Shakespeare during the Interregnum and Restoration. She demonstrates the crucial role of the Exclusion Crisis (1678–1682), a political crisis over the royal succession, as a foundational moment in Shakespeare's canonisation. The period saw a sudden surge of theatrical alterations and a significantly increased rate of new editions and stage revivals. In the wake of the Exclusion Crisis, Shakespeare's plays were made available on a scale not witnessed since the early seventeenth century, thus reversing what might otherwise have been a permanent disappearance of his drama from canonical familiarity and firmly establishing Shakespeare's work in the national cultural imagination.

2021, Depledge, Emma

This chapter combines close textual analysis with analytical bibliography to explore what paper and ink—the primary materials used to produce Shakespeare’s poems and plays in both manuscript and print—can teach us about Shakespeare’s texts. Paper and ink often take on metaphorical significance in Shakespeare’s works. For example, Othello describes Desdemona as “fair paper,” asking if such a “goodly book” was “made to write ‘whore’ upon.” Similarly, Leontes of The Winter’s Tale deems Florizel’s mother faithful because she accurately “print[ed]” his “Royal father off” when she conceived him, thus punning on the paper size, “Royal,” whilst alluding to commonplace links between printing and parenting. At the heart of both examples are concerns over honesty, legitimacy and reliable copying. It is perhaps ironic, then, that in recent years paper and ink have enabled researchers to expose seemingly “goodly,” legitimate print editions of Shakespeare’s texts as piracies and forgeries. The chapter will approach the relationship between paper, ink, and the Shakespearean text by adhering to textual allusions to paper and ink within his plays and poems; to traces of ink accidentally transferred between the paper of Shakespeare books once bound together; and to examples where the dates of Shakespeare editions are contradicted by watermarks hidden within the paper onto which they were printed. As I intend to demonstrate, these forms of invisible writing, these intersections of paper and ink, have the potential to revolutionize our understanding of the material forms in which Shakespeare’s texts first circulated.

2021, Depledge, Emma

This section offers a comprehensive introduction to the resources available to students and scholars wishing to conduct research into Shakespeare and textual studies. It begins with an overview of major libraries and research centres with noteworthy Shakespeare collections, highlighting particularly rare items, courses offered, and fellowships provided by these institutions. An annotated list of courses offered at schools of book history, textual studies, and bibliography is also included, along with current course fees, and scholarships to cover fees, as are details of online ‘teach yourself’ courses in topics ranging from paleography to paper making. This is followed by an account of the eligibility requirements, upper funding limits, and stated aims of major grants and funding bodies that support work on Shakespeare and textual studies in Europe and the English-speaking world. The section ends with an account of different professional and academic associations promoting work on Shakespeare and textual studies, current membership costs and requirements, and the timing and format of the events they sponsor. In sum, this section aims to equip interested parties with knowledge of where, when, and how they can become more involved in the dynamic field of Shakespeare and textual studies