HARD TO FIND BOOK, only a very limited number of copies are still available

About the Plays:

The five plays in this collection represent the complexity of Ben Jonson's art as a playwright. Everyman in his Humour, represents the high point of the 'humours' comedy with which Jonson is always associated. Sejanus, is an experiment in tragedy on classical principles. Volpone and The Alchemist are Jonson's most distinctive comedies set among a world of rogues and dissemblers. Bartholomew Fair is more tolerant of human weakness as it is more relaxed in form, and is now perhaps the most attractive of Jonson's plays.

The text is the modernized version of Herford and Simpson’s edition (1925-52), with full annotation.

What people say:

"This a handy edition for teacher and student." — Robert C. Steensma, University of Utah

"This is the right selection, balanced intelligently. The accompanying information is useful and appropriate." — Dorothy H. Jacobs, University of Rhode Island

Ben Jonson (1572 – 1637) was an English playwright, poet, actor, and literary critic of the seventeenth century, whose artistry exerted a lasting impact upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularized the comedy of humours. A major force in Elizabethan and Jacobean theatre, second only to William Shakespeare himself, he is best known for his satirical plays, particularly Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair, which are considered his best, and his lyric poems.

G. A. Wilkes is Challis Professor of English Literature, University of Sydney.