A Book of Masques

A Book of Masques Synopsis

The English court masque was one of the most extravagant and spectacular forms of entertainment ever produced, the most important period being between 1600 and 1640 when the writers included some of the best-known poets and dramatists of the age. This volume, first published in 1967, was the first selection of masques to be published in England in the twentieth century. It consists of fourteen masques, each specially edited with an introduction and commentary by a different scholar, including Ben Jonson, James Shirley, Samuel Daniel, Thomas Campion, Francis Beaumont, William Browne, Thomas Middleton, Thomas Nabbes and William Davenant. Professor Gerald Eades Bentley examines the masque as Jonson conceived it and the clash that took place between Jonson and his collaborator as designer, Inigo Jones. There is also a final essay on the influence of the masque on the drama of the period. A group of 48 plates has been prepared many of them reproducing designs by Inigo Jones.