The article, in order to investigate the pioneering achievements of John Rastell’s printing of interludes, first studies some features of page layout in the manuscripts of morality plays so as to foreground the innovations introduced by Rastell when he started printing plays, perhaps merging the tradition of vernacular play manuscripts with that of Continental early printed play books. To this purpose some incunabula of Terence’s plays are dealt with in detail. It also stresses the role of Rastell’s cultural interests within Thomas More’s humanistic circle, trying to link them to his apparently marginal print of playbooks. The results aim at clarifying at least some aspects of the early modern English ‘theatre of the book’, and at following the process that brought Rastell to define a durable page layout for playbooks.
From Script to the Playbook: John Rastell and the First Printed Interludes
Roberta Mullini
2019
Abstract
The article, in order to investigate the pioneering achievements of John Rastell’s printing of interludes, first studies some features of page layout in the manuscripts of morality plays so as to foreground the innovations introduced by Rastell when he started printing plays, perhaps merging the tradition of vernacular play manuscripts with that of Continental early printed play books. To this purpose some incunabula of Terence’s plays are dealt with in detail. It also stresses the role of Rastell’s cultural interests within Thomas More’s humanistic circle, trying to link them to his apparently marginal print of playbooks. The results aim at clarifying at least some aspects of the early modern English ‘theatre of the book’, and at following the process that brought Rastell to define a durable page layout for playbooks.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
