Shakespeare and the Rise of the Editor

This book demonstrates that the texts of early printed editions of Renaissance drama, including Shakespeare's, did no simply 'degenerate' or 'corrupt' over time, as subsequent editions were printed using their immediate predecessor as their basis. By focusing on early correctors of dramatic texts for the press, this book identifies a previously overlooked category of textual agents involved in the circulation of early English drama in print and challenges the common assumption that the first editor of Shakespeare was Nicholas Rowe.