Jeniffer electronic book

{31a}
The second puzzle is,--Why did Shakespeare, conscious of his great
powers, never secure for his collected plays the permanence of print
and publication? We cannot be sure that he and his company, in fact,
did not provide publishers with the copy for the better Quartos or
pamphlets of separate plays, as Mr. Pollard argues on good grounds
that they sometimes did. {31b} For the rest, no dramatic author
edited a complete edition of his works before Ben Jonson, a scholarly
man, set the example in the year of Shakespeare's, and of Beaumont's
death (1616). Neither Beaumont nor Fletcher collected and published
their works for the Stage. The idea was unheard of before Jonson set
the example, and much of his work lay unprinted till years after his
death. We must remember the conditions of play-writing in
Shakespeare's time.
There were then many poets of no mean merit, all capable of admirable
verse on occasion; and in various degrees possessed of the lofty,
vigorous, and vivid style of that great age. The theatre, and
writing for the theatre, afforded to many men of talent a means of
livelihood analogous to that offered by journalism among ourselves.
They were apt to work collectively, several hands hurrying out a
single play; and in twos or threes, or fours or fives, they often
collaborated.
As a general rule a play when finished was sold by the author or
authors to a company of players, or to a speculator like the
notorious Philip Henslowe, and the new owners, "the grand
possessors," were usually averse to the publication of the work, lest
other companies might act it.


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