A Supplement to Dodsley's Old Plays: Ralph Roister Doister. Gorbudoc. Timon. Sir Thomas More. Patient Grissil

A Supplement To Dodsley's Old Plays: Ralph Roister Doister. Gorbudoc. Timon. Sir Thomas More. Patient Grissil — James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps presents the scholarly framework for the Shakespeare Society edition of Dodsley’s Old Plays. The volume provides a bibliographic framework, a long introductory Preface, and detailed Introductory Memoirs for the early authors, followed by printed texts including Ralph Roister Doister (1566) with its Prologue and opening scenes. Editors Amyot, Collier, Durrant Cooper, Dyce, Field, Halliwell, and Wright assemble the earliest known versions of Ralph Roister Doister and Gorboduc, explain sourcing from a unique 1566 copy at Eton and a 1565 edition for Gorboduc, and describe textual emendations and punctuation modernizations. The Introductory Memoirs sketch Nicholas Udall, Thomas Norton, and Thomas Sackville, offering biographical portraits that frame the plays within early English culture, education, religion, and politics. The excerpt of Ralph Roister Doister introduces a witty, urbane London comedy of courtship and social ambition, with a Prologue, Dramatis Personae, and first scenes, all set within a broader discussion of early English theater history and publication practice.