2018 was a big year for the Marlowe Society of America. Our conference in Wittenberg, Germany, over the summer was a resounding success, and we are now also happy to note the publication of Christopher Marlowe, Theatrical Commerce, and the Book Trade (CUP, 2018), edited by founding MSA president Roslyn L. Knutson and current MSA president Kirk Melnikoff. The collection includes essays by many members of the society, as well. Here are the editors in their own words:
Kirk Melnikoff and Roslyn L. Knutson announce the publication of Christopher Marlowe, Theatrical Commerce, and the Book Trade (CUP, 2018). This collection brings together cutting-edge scholarship on the works of Marlowe in performance and print. We conceived the project as a mash-up of theater history and the book trade in the belief that a multi-disciplinary approach would distinguish Marlowe from his fellow poets and playwrights as well as identify the agents responsible for his cultural reputation. Our contributors, grounding their arguments in documentary evidence, build on the foundational issues in Marlowe studies of markets for the stage and bookshop, yet they also open fresh lines of inquiry into the operation of collaborative literary syndicates and the means by which by successive generations evaluated Marlowe as part of their cultural heritage. In our editorial hearts, we still think of this volume as Booking Marlowe (the original but press-rejected title) because the contents playfully unite Marlowe’s booking in playhouses and production in books. However, our pride in publication rests entirely on the originality of the disciplinary mash-up and the readability of each chapter.
We hope you will encourage your institution’s library to purchase a copy—and that you will read with interest!