Character lists in manuscript: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 11:16, 22 July 2016

A character list (also known as a dramatis personae) is a paratext that names most or all of the characters in a play. Many early modern playbooks included printed character lists, but some surviving texts include manuscript lists or printed lists that have been annotated.

The Folger Shakespeare Library

Jonson, Ben. Every Man in his Humour. London: [By S. Stafford] for Walter Burre. 1601. Shelfmark STC 14766 Copy 1. A printed character list with annotations.

Massinger, Philip. The Fatal Dowry. London: John Norton for Francis Constable. 1632. Shelfmark STC 17646 Copy 3. A printed character list with annotations.

Shakespeare, William. The Merry Wives of Windsor. First Folio. 1623. Shelfmark STC 22273 Fo.1 no.57. A partial character list with descriptions written on the final page of the play. See this blog post by Marissa Nicosia and Emma Depledge for more information, digital images, and a transcription.

The Bodleian Library, Oxford

Braithwaite, Richard. Mercurius Brittanicus, or the English Intelligencer. 1641. Shelfmark Malone 197(8). Manuscript additions to the printed character list.

Markham, Gervase. The Dumb Knight. 1633. Shelfmark Malone 199(4). A handwritten character list on the verso of "To the Reader" (sig. A2v), facing 1.1.

Shakespeare, William. Cymbeline. Fourth Folio. 1685. Shelfmark Arch. G. c. 12. A handwritten character list with descriptions for Cymbeline added to the final page of Antony and Cleopatra (facing the first page of Cymbeline).

The Boston Public Library

[Middleton, Thomas.] The Revenger's Tragedy. London: By G[eorge]. Eld. 1607. Call #: RARE BKS G.3977.37 A character list with several descriptions written on the title page verso.

The Morgan Library & Museum

Shakespeare, William. King Lear. London: Printed for Nathaniel Butter. 1608 [1619]. Call Number: W 08 C MS character list on the title page verso.

University of Pennsylvania Libraries

Shakespeare, William. King John, Coriolanus, and Macbeth. First Folio. 1623. Shelfmark Folio PR2751 .A1 Character lists for these three plays were written in and later washed off. See the Provenance Online Project for more information and digital images.

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 Shakespeare, William. ''The Merry Wives of Windsor''. First Folio. 1623. Shelfmark [http://hamnet.folger.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=50354 STC 22273 Fo.1 no.57.]
-A partial character list with descriptions written on the final page of the play.
+A partial character list with descriptions written on the final page of the play. See [https://marissanicosia.wordpress.com/2016/06/28/handwritten-character-lists-at-the-folger-shakespeare-library/ this blog post] by Marissa Nicosia and Emma Depledge for more information, digital images, and a transcription.
 === The Bodleian Library, Oxford ===