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Scarce cloth hardcover, limited academic edition of 600 copies, 262 pages [introduction (pp 7-41) + facsimiles of 7 works], NOT ex-library. No ISBN. Gentle wear, book is clean, untanned, with unmarked text, free of inscriptions and ownership stamps, securely bound. Boards show faint handling marks, moderate discolourations to spine ends and edges. No dust jacket. -- This is a work of comparative philology and literary history, designed as a sourcebook to illuminate the direct and indirect connections between Renaissance England and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The author meticulously compiles and analyzes a range of primary texts - including diplomatic correspondence, travel accounts, poetry, and dramatic records - to demonstrate the significant cultural, political, and intellectual traffic between the two nations. Key areas of investigation include the activities and influence of the "English Comedians" (strolling players) in Poland, particularly in Gdansk; the Polish travels and connections of Sir Philip Sidney; and a comparative analysis of poetic forms used by figures like Jan Kochanowski. The overarching aim is to provide Shakespearean scholars with a richer European context, suggesting plausible sources and analogues for the Bard's work and challenging the notion of English cultural isolation during the period. -- Contents: Introduction; -- Facsimile: - Laurentius Grimaldus Goslicius: The Counsellor; - François de Belleforest: La Cosmographie Universelle; - Giovanni Botero: The Worlde, or an Historicall Description; - Anthony Munday: A Briefe Chronicle of the Successe of Times from the Creation; - Martine Cromer (Marcin Kromer): A Notable Exemple of Gods Vengeance uppon a Murdering King; - Thomas Beard: The Theatre of Gods Judgements: or, a Collection of Histories; - Jerzy Ossolinski: True Copy of the Latine Oration of the Excellent Lord George Ossolinski, Count Palatine of Tenizyn, and Sendomyria, Chamberlain to the Kings Maiestie of Poland, and Suethland, and Embassadour to the Kings Most Excellent Maiesty -- "This volume offers the reader a choice of texts relating to the early phase of Poland's intercourse with England and Western Europe. They enjoyed some popularity in Shakespeare's lifetime or thereabout, and have never since been reprinted. Very few original copies have survived, and those still extant are now not easily accessible. For this reason the present collection may, it is hoped, prove of value to students of the Renaissance and of the history of ideas in particular, bringing to light points of cultural contact between England and Poland in the 16th century. It so chances, however, that the items represented in this anthology, in facsimile reprints, can also easily be linked with the name of Shakespeare, either as background to his work, or (in one or two cases) as problems in direct source relationship. The purpose of this introduction is to comment on both these aspects, the wider historical, and the more intimate, Shakespearian." -- The book delves into the lesser-known Polish contributions to Renaissance humanism and literary production, offering a fresh perspective on the period's intellectual currents. It is a unique contribution to both Shakespearean studies and the broader field of Renaissance literary criticism, particularly for those interested in the intersection of Eastern and Western European literary traditions. It serves as a key resource for understanding the transnational flow of ideas and literary forms that defined the Renaissance, for scholars and students alike.
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