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A bibliographical enquiry into Thomas Johnson's A Collection of the Best English Plays
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Rybczak, Emil (2020) A bibliographical enquiry into Thomas Johnson's A Collection of the Best English Plays. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.
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Official URL: http://webcat.warwick.ac.uk/record=b3710611~S15
Abstract
This thesis investigates Thomas Johnson’s A Collection of the Best English Plays, arguing that Johnson and his Collection deserve a more prominent position in the history of eighteenth-century publishing. This principally bibliographical investigation into a single publisher and his work supports a range of fields of enquiry, and provides a foundation for future study on the wider significance of Johnson and his work.
Major areas of research on Johnson are: his biography; the nature of his Collection; his work as an editor; and the circulation and impact of the Collection. Examination of previously unknown letters by Johnson, and of more copies of his works than other critics, allows me to extend their findings considerably. I reveal the international scope of Johnson’s market for his plays, and argue that future histories of the publication and reception of English drama must take greater account of works produced by non-copyright-holding publishers, such as Johnson. I suggest that examination of multiple copies of these publishers’ works is crucial when gauging the full range of people’s access to such books.
I begin by mapping Johnson’s role and contacts as an Enlightenment publisher, before explaining the scope and development of his Collection as both a single unified project, and as multiple individual works. By examining the Collection’s Shakespearean plays I suggest editorial principles that are applicable across Johnson’s work, and which provide valuable insights on his practice.
In detailing the circulation and influence of Johnson’s Collection, I record the organisation and provenance of extant copies of his plays, showing who was reading them, where, and why. I reveal a previously unknown market for English drama in Europe by cataloguing the reissue of Johnson’s plays by later publishers, and demonstrate the influence of Johnson’s works on other publishers’ design strategies.
Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) | ||||
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Subjects: | P Language and Literature > PR English literature | ||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Johnson, Thomas, 1677?-1735. Collection of the Best English Plays, English drama -- History and criticism | ||||
Official Date: | March 2020 | ||||
Dates: |
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Institution: | University of Warwick | ||||
Theses Department: | Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies | ||||
Thesis Type: | PhD | ||||
Publication Status: | Unpublished | ||||
Supervisor(s)/Advisor: | Grant, Teresa, 1972- | ||||
Format of File: | |||||
Extent: | 286 leaves : colour illustrations | ||||
Language: | eng |
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