University of Virginia Library

The Printing of the Plays in the Jonson Folio of 1616
by
James A. Riddell

In the Folio edition of Ben Jonson's Workes of 1616, the order of the plays as they appear in the volume does not fully coincide with the order of their being printed. That is, the first play, Every Man In His Humour, was printed in part after the sixth play in the volume, Volpone, was completed, and in larger part after the two remaining plays and a portion of Epigrammes were through the press. The general order of the printing of the plays has been known for some time: as long ago as 1957, Johan Gerritsen accounted for Every Man Out of His Humour being "quite the most heavily corrected [play] in the volume" because it was the first one Stansby printed.[1] In this paper, I intend to bring together some details about the printing of all of the plays, but with particular attention to that one.

Every Man Out and the next two plays to have been printed, Cynthia's Revels, and Poëtaster, all appear with two kinds of title-pages, "in compartment" and "plain."[2] The compartment is title-page border number 224 in McKerrow and Ferguson, first used by Stansby for these three Jonson plays.[3] The title-pages for Every Man Out are the most various of those for the three plays, and, when considered in conjunction with their conjugate pages, reflect what must have been a fair degree of uncertainty in Stansby's shop as he undertook the printing of the Jonson Folio. The title-pages themselves (sig. G1), as identified by Greg, appear in four variants, two in compartment

(Stansby alone [4] and Stansby for Smithwicke [5]) and two plain (also Stansby alone and Stansby for Smithwicke). Their conjugates (sig. G6v) appear in three variants ("a," original, "b," corrected, and "c," reset; the last follows the corrected state but is distinctly inferior). As Greg recognized, but was not able satisfactorily to explain, it is through correlating the various states of G1 and G6v that the order of printing can be established.

Unfortunately, the work of Herford and Simpson has impeded rather than advanced our understanding of the matter. Because they were convinced that the large-paper sheets of all of the gatherings of the Folio were printed after the small-paper sheets,[6] they made assumptions about the printing of sig. G6v that have proven to be misleading. This is compounded by their failure to understand fully the distinction between the corrected version and the reset one (H&S, textual notes to lines 103 — 146 of Every Man Out; IX, 55 — 56).[7] That large-paper sheets of the volume were not invariably the last to be printed has been demonstrated by Kevin Donovan in his study of the printing of the masques.[8] As to the distinction between the corrected and reset versions, there are variations that did not come to the attention of Herford and Simpson. For instance, in the first line of G6v the word "metaphor" appears in three different forms: original, "Metaphore"; corrected, "Metaphore"; reset, "Metaphore" with a swash "M",[9] the last two

not differentiated by Herford and Simpson. Although they recognize that there is both a corrected and a reset state, they sometimes conflate the two, in the service, so to speak, of the large-paper reading.

They fail, therefore, to come to the conclusion that the penultimate line on the page should read (corrected, but not reset): "Squeeze out the humour of such spongie soules." And the reading that appears in their text is that of the inferior (H&S, "large-paper") reset version: "Squeeze out the humour of such spongie natures" (Induction, line 145). For a reason that they do not explain (it most likely is mere oversight), they reproduce the original and corrected form of "O, 'tis more than most ridiculous" (Induction, line 114)[10] rather than the reset form that, judging from their reliance on the authority of the large-paper version, they would have thought superior: "O,it is more then most ridiculous" (with no space between the comma and "it" in the reset). They declare that "For this play [Every Man Out] we have also collated Mr. H. L. Ford's 'A' copy on large paper" (IX, 53). However, the Ford copy is cited only in their accounting of quire G, none other; for G3.4 it is the sole source for variant readings. There are three, related, difficulties that inhere in this assessment. Why was the Ford copy not cited for any signature but G? Why do the Ford readings not agree with the other two "large-paper" readings cited by Herford and Simpson? Why are the Ford variants in G3.4 present in five small-paper copies, of twenty-three that I have recently examined, but not in the Grenville[11] or two additional large-paper (Clark and Huntington)? The three questions are answered in one explanation: the Ford copy was not, in fact, printed on large paper, which can be inferred from the physical evidence that Ford himself supplies and which can now be confirmed by an examination of the volume (see below, note 14). Ford seems to have judged that it was large-paper by size alone.[12] He describes his "premier copy," the one consulted by Herford and Simpson, in his Collation of the Ben Jonson Folios, 1616 — 31 — 1640, as measuring 11 ⅛ x 7 ⁷⁄₁₆˜.[13] But this is not "larger" than other small-paper copies; it is no taller

and is perhaps but ¼ inch narrower[14] than a copy in the Huntington Library (shelf-mark 62100), which at one time was certainly larger than at present, as now all edges are gilt. On the other hand, large-paper copies are significantly taller.[15]

The question of why quire G (here particularly G1.6v) was reset provokes several possible answers, a couple of which will be entertained merely to dismiss them. It is possible that after the printing had begun it was decided that large-paper copies should be added to the small-paper; but this issue must have been long since decided, as large-paper stock would need to be acquired for the purpose, and, much more to the point, some large-paper sheets, for instance, G3.4, are printed with the original settings. A second reason for G1 being reset might be that originally there had been no provision for a title-page of Every Man Out with Stansby's name only in the imprint; but as will be seen below, this cannot be the case. The most obvious, and the most reasonable, answer is that Stansby, or Stansby and others, decided to enlarge the press-run. Evidence gathered through examining the variant title-pages and their conjugates can pretty well establish the printing order of the title-pages, and once that is established, conjecture about Stansby's practice can be narrowed. Until now there have been understood to be, in Greg's words, "four variant titles — — with and without a border and with and without Smethwick's name as publisher." Greg further observes:

In fact, there are two more variants than are set out by Greg or noticed by Herford and Simpson; that is, there are two distinctive states of plain, Stansby alone and two distinctive states of plain, Stansby for Smithwicke. The order is as follows:

• (1) in compartment, Stansby alone;
• (2) plain, Stansby alone;
• (3) plain, Stansby for Smithwicke;
• (4) plain, Stansby for Smithwicke ("Hor." in margin);
• (5) in compartment, Stansby for Smithwicke;
• (6) plain, Stansby alone.[17]

The difficulties that Greg encountered when he tried to reconcile the four title-pages and the three variant states of G6v led him to change the "wholly unreasonable" order for a "more logical" one. These difficulties vanish when the two additional variants are recognized. But a certain amount of explanation is required.

My evidence is derived from sixty-seven copies of the Folio which have title pages for Every Man Out (not all copies do[18]). Title-pages (1) (one copy[19]), (2) (three copies[20]), and (3) (nineteen copies) appear with the original (a) form of G6v. Title-page (4) appears only with the corrected (b) variant of G6v (six copies), as does title-page (5) (twenty-three copies). Title-page (6) appears only with the reset (c) variant of G6v (nine small-paper and all six of the large-paper copies that I have seen). If this sampling can be considered a representative one (I am aware that it may not be), and if the reset sheets do indeed reflect Stansby's increasing the size of the press-run (I shall present supplementary evidence in the next few paragraphs), we can estimate that it was enlarged by as much as twenty-five to thirty percent. First, the differences between title-pages (2) and (6) need to be explained, as do the differences between (3) and (4). Title-pages (3) and (4) are derived from (2). Title-page (6) is a resetting. The imprint of title-page (2) reads: "London, | Printed by William Stansby. | [rule] | M. DC. XVI." This imprint was altered to produce (3), in the following manner: most probably without being removed from the press, the chase was unlocked, the period after Stansby's name was removed (it would be strikingly inappropriate), the rule was lowered, and "for Iohn Swithwicke."[21] was inserted between Stansby's name and the rule; the original G6v was left unaltered.

There are three immediately recognizable differences between the two

plain, Stansby alone imprints, (2) and (6), the latter, as has been mentioned, a resetting. In the reset plain, Stansby alone (6): after the word "Acted" in line six, a comma; "servants" in line eight set in large and small caps; "London" in the imprint set in the same font as Stansby's name. In the original plain, Stansby alone (2): no comma after "Acted"; "servants" set with an opening capital and then lower-case; "London" set in a smaller font than Stansby's name. These last three characteristics remain unaltered in (3) and (4), though other changes were introduced, rendering (4) easily distinguishable from (3). I set out what seems to be the most likely chain of events that led to the creation of (4) from (3). As a number of corrections were to be made to G6v, the chase was removed from the press. At that time the printer took the opportunity to make two alterations to the title-page. He replaced the "M" in "MAN" because in (2) and (3) the letter was some-what unsightly, the upper left serif wanting. He also inserted "Hor." into the right-hand margin to indicate the source of the epigraph.[22] The run was then continued. It is not clear whether the plain title-page was left standing while the in compartment title-pages were machined or whether the printer continued to machine the plain title-page until he turned his attention once again to the title-page border; the latter does seem more probable. But with the order of (2), (3), and (4) established, the place of (1) can be fairly well determined. Because (3) is derived from (2), and (4) is derived directly from (3), and because (1) shares the same setting of G6v as (2) and (3) but not the same as (4), (1) is almost certainly antecedent to (2). Although Stansby's men could have run off (1) at any time before G6v was corrected, the order I have suggested seems the most likely one.

Apparently at some time during the machining of quire I, it was decided that the press run should be made larger than originally intended, for no full quires of Every Man Out after I were printed short and only one third of quire I was. It may appear that two separate issues are involved here: first, the condition of there being original (and corrected original) and reset sheets in gatherings G, H, and I; second, the question that arises from that fact, "Why?" But the two issues are really one. The reset sheets exist. Where they exist offers a pretty good explanation of why. The most likely reason for their appearing in a significant number in the first three gatherings of the first play printed (but only sporadically in the rest of the volume) is that the press-run was augmented.

An examination of the running-titles, and thereby the skeletons, employed in the printing of Every Man Out provides evidence about the printing of quires G, H, and I. In quire G only G5v, G6, and G6v have running-titles. The other pages of the quire are devoted to an integral title leaf, preliminary matter (including the "Characters" of figures in the play), and the first page of the dramatic text. One running-title is used for the original

(and corrected) G5v and G6 and a second one for G6v (in both original and corrected states). Both of them, paired with yet other running-titles, appear in skeletons throughout the rest of the play: four of them through H and I, and a fifth skeleton that first appears in K. The running-titles always read "Euery Man out of his Humour." but there are enough variations in the letterforms to render each running-title distinct. The five skeletons remain intact throughout, except for a slight alteration in the running-title that was paired with the one for G6 and G6v: at P3, a new running-title is brought in.[23] It is the same one that is used three times (G5v, G6, G6v) in the reset quire G. Yet although the running-titles themselves are identical, the rules on each of those four pages are different. This suggests that the running-title from P3 was placed between new rules for the printing of G5v (where the page number would be at the left margin, not the right), and then as each forme was composed the running-title was simply moved along. A page-for-page resetting can be prepared in any order, but it seems as though Stansby's men followed what would otherwise be their normal practice of beginning with 3v.4, then 3.4v, and so on, until they came to the final outer forme, 1.6v. At least part of that sequence can be documented, for G5 (p. 81) and G2 (p. 75) have the same rules and the same page number, 81, suggesting that G5 was run off first and the headline then transferred to G2 without the necessary modification. The inner forme G5.2v would therefore have been printed before the outer forme of that sheet, G2.5v.

Because P3, in the final quire of Every Man Out, was machined before G5v, G6, and G6v, it appears that only after all of the play was printed did Stansby's men turn to resetting matter needed for the first quire, G. It is less clear when H and I3.4 were reset and machined, but some inferences can be drawn about them. The eight formes are set with the same two skeletons (one of them at one time altered), which have entirely new running-titles. It is the alteration of the one forme that provides some clues about the order of printing of reset H and I3.4. I shall call the once-altered skeleton "VI" and its running-titles "x" and "w." It appears in reset H three times, in the following configuration: 1(x).6v(w), 3(x).4v(w), 3v(w).4(x).[24] It must appear this way, if the skeleton remains intact, because the right side of the forme on the press must always be headed by w. In I3.4 it appears in both formes — — as 3(x).4v(w), but then, with the running-titles reversed, as 3v(x).4(w). The most reasonable assumption is that the shift of running-titles happened only once, either at the beginning or at the end of this group of formes. There is evidence to suggest that it happened at the end. A striking difference between the original I3 and the resetting is that in the latter the last line of the original is moved to the top of I3v. Because it is much more likely that a line would be dropped from the end of a page than that a line from the bottom of one page would be accidentally set at the top of the page

following, there is some reason to think that forme I3v.4 was composed after I3.4v, and that the three relevant formes of H and the outer forme of I3.4 were printed before inner I3.4, rather than inner I3.4 before the others. So, it seems that reset G, or at least a portion of it, was composed at about the time of, or just following, quire P; a bit later reset quire H and then reset I3.4 were composed, thus producing all of the sheets needed for the full press-run of the plays.[25]

The evidence of the watermarks supports some of this conjecture, and provides grounds for a bit of further speculation. (In the discussion that follows, I employ numbers for watermarks that I have previously assigned; as any such numbers must be somewhat arbitrary, I have thought it not worthwhile to create "new" numbers for this essay). Paper with watermark 3 (two-handled pot with elongated letters O P, topped by grapes and flower) seems to have come into Stansby's shop (or, perhaps, merely began to be used) just as the last sheets of quire O were being machined, as 3 appears in one sheet (O1.6) of one copy of twenty-three. It then appears in P1.6 in all copies but one, and in subsequent quires until 2Z; it is in all five copies of reset G1.6. All reset sheets of G2.5 have either watermark 1 or 2, both being common throughout Every Man Out, but rarely present later in the volume. Also in all copies of the original G3.4 which I have noted, the watermark is either 1 or 2. In the reset G3.4, however, the watermark is 11. Except in seven copies of 2H3.4 (which I do not yet know how to account for), watermark 11 (two-handled pot with the letters TI[?], topped by grapes) does not appear until quire 3G, the fourth quire of The Alchemist. But G3.4 are the pages of "Characters," and nothing else — it would have been easy to print such a discrete portion of the quire (the pages do not even have running-titles) at any time. Thus, taking into consideration the evidence of the running-titles, it seems that G1.6 and 2.5 were set right after quire P, and that G3.4 was set at about the same time that the last two plays, The Alchemist and Catiline, were going through the press. Of the five copies I have referred to that have reset quire G, only four have reset quire H and I3.4. All of these four copies of quire H have yet another watermark (I have designated it as 37 [two-handled pot with the letters RUM, topped by grapes]), which I have not found elsewhere in the Folio. It is, therefore, of no particular use in determining when the reset quire was printed. However, all of the sheets of reset I3.4 have watermark 11, and because the skeleton that was newly composed for quire H was also employed in the machining of I3.4, it is reasonable to suppose that those four sheets were run off more or less together, probably at about the same time as G3.4.

When pages are present in the three states of original, corrected, and reset, as they are in the cases of G6v, H3v.4, and I3v.4, it will be found that the reset is based upon the corrected state. This can be seen particularly in punctuation marks that were introduced in the corrected state, such as the question mark after "this" on G6v, and the exclamation points after "above" and "edifice" on I4. It will also be found that the printer was often careless in his composition of the reset, whether it was set from the original or, if there was such, the corrected state. Here, for instance, are some obvious errors: on G4 (original and reset), from "Fungoso" to "Fungosa"; on H2 (original and reset), "Insula Fortunata" to "Insula, Fortunata"; on H3v (corrected and reset), "foode." to "food" (when the word unmistakably comes at the end of a sentence).

After Stansby's men had completed Every Man Out, they printed the following plays of the Folio, from Cynthia's Revels to Catiline, in the order in which they appear there. It is the coherence of that order, in conjunction with a brief disruption of it, that I wish to establish in this section of the essay. The plain title-pages for Cynthia's Revels are the same for both large-paper and small-paper and retain the imprint from title-page (6) of Every Man Out, which was left standing: "London, | Printed by William Stansby. | [rule] | M. DC. XVI." The imprint was retained intact for the large-paper title-pages of Poëtaster, the next play in the volume. For the small-paper plain copies it was modified to read: "London, | Printed by William Stansby, | for Matthew Lownes. | [rule] | M. DC. XVI.", with a comma substituted for the period following Stansby's name. In other words, the Stansby alone (which appears only in large-paper copies) imprint was first machined, then modified for the imprint with Lownes. Then, with the comma following Stansby's name still in place from the small-paper Poëtaster title-page, titles for Sejanus (both large- and small-paper) were machined, reading "London, | Printed by William Stansby, | [rule] | M. DC. XVI." For Volpone a new imprint was composed, with the following identifiable characteristics:[26] 1) "London" with a distinctive "dot" (no doubt caused by an air bubble when the letter was cast) near the bottom of the vertical of the letter "L"; 2) in Stansby a new "t", the horizontal no longer tilting up to the right; 3) a longer rule (fifty-two millimeters rather than forty), between Stansby's name and the date; 4) in the date, a new "X," with a bulge at the bottom of the left foot. This imprint was left standing for plays six and seven,[27] Volpone and Epicoene. It appears also on the title-page of Every Man In His Humour. As this imprint became altered during the printing of play eight, The Alchemist, we can infer that at least the first part (in fact, the first gathering) of Every Man In was printed about the same time as Volpone (which runs from 2O4 to 2X4v) and Epicoene (from 2X5 through 3D5v).

For well over thirty years Dr. Gerritsen has been aware that "the first quire [of Every Man In] was printed off roughly concurrently with the first quires of Epicoene."[28] Gerritsen bases his conclusions on evidence he derived chiefly from the headlines in the volume, although how, precisely, he does not explain. Other evidence, that of the watermarks, can be brought to bear, although it is only somewhat helpful in determining when quire A of Every Man In may have been printed. I have made a chart of all the watermarks (there are more than three dozen of them) in twenty-two small-paper copies of the Folio. A watermark I have designated 12 (two-handled pot with the letters PLS, topped with grapes) appears the most frequently of any in the Folio, but, except in Every Man In, not before the third play, Cynthia's Revels. Watermark 5 (one-handled pot with the letters OLC[?] and the date 1613) appears several places in the Folio, but most frequently in the fifth play, Poëtaster, then in Epicoene and the first two quires of The Alchemist; it also appears very often in A3.4 of Every Man In. Both the imprints and the watermarks, then, are consistent with Gerritsen's opinion about the printing of quire A. The evidence of the watermarks is much more compelling (which is just as well because, so far as I know, there isn't much other evidence) as it concerns the printing of the last five quires of Every Man In. My watermarks 6 and 7 (difficult to describe — each in its own way a misshapen pot) do not appear at all in the Folio until Epigrammes,[29] which follows the last play, Catiline. Those two watermarks appear often in the last five quires of Every Man In, though never in the first.

The imprint of Volpone, Epicoene, and Every Man In appears in the title-page of The Alchemist in some copies of the Folio. However, part way through the printing of that play the period following Stansby's name went missing,[30] perhaps pulled out by an inking ball, and is not to be found in most copies. For Catiline, the imprint was somewhat changed. A new period (somewhat flattened on the bottom) was installed after Stansby's name, the "y" at the end of Stansby's name slipped down (at the same time that the period was replaced?), and the space between the lines (the one above "London" and the one between Stansby's name and the date) was reduced to thirty-four millimeters from thirty-nine. However, the "L" with the distinctive "dot" was retained, as was the "X" with the bulge at the bottom of the left foot. There are four printed title-pages in the remainder of the volume, for Epigrammes (with which The Forrest appears), for Part of the King's Entertainment, for the Entertainment . . . at Althorpe, and for Masques at Court. Stansby's name appears on none of these title-pages. All bear the imprint: "London, | [rule] | M. DC. XVI.", which small fragment seems to have been left standing for the printing of all four.

Stansby's men, it would seem, left standing as much matter as they could for the printing of the volume, even if that matter amounted to very little, perhaps no more than a few words. Their practice has proven useful for this study, as the evidence uncovered through a close look at the standing type confirms the order of the printing of the plays. A good example is the fragment "The Author B. I.," which remains unchanged on all of the plain title-pages from Every Man Out to Epicoene and Every Man In. Depending upon the heaviness of the inking, the serifs at the bottom of the letter "A" in this bit of standing type are flat at the base and are scarcely separated at the middle of the letter; even when the inking is relatively light, there is usually a "shadow" between them. Different type is used for "The Author B. I." on the title-pages of The Alchemist and Catiline, which can be determined also by the letter "A." The "A" of "Author" in the title-pages for the last two plays has serifs which are clearly separated and which have slight, but quite discernible, curves in the base. The practice of leaving small portions of type standing began early on in the printing of the Folio, but not, apparently, from the outset. The dramatis personae page for Every Man Out is headed by "The Names of the Actors" (sig. G2v); this is altered for all of the following plays (including Every Man In) to "The Persons of the Play," obviously altogether different. Not so obvious are the differences between various versions of the latter. For Cynthia's Revels, "The Persons" is distinguished by a "dot" about one-third down the vertical of the letter "T," very much similar to the "dot" in the letter "L," discussed above. One can say with a fair degree of certainty that the type was distributed, for the same distinctive letter appears in "THE END" at the conclusion of the play. A different "T" is found in "The Persons" of Poëtaster. This one is not particularly distinctive, but it is clearly different from the "T" of "The Persons" of Sejanus, in which the left part of the horizontal slants slightly downward and the right part wants the downturning serif which, more often than not, is a part of an upper-case "T." Such a serif is to be found in "the Persons" for Volpone and for the plays printed afterward, including Every Man In. Indeed the type seems to have been left standing for the printing of the last four plays.[31]

There are several examples of the same standing type being used for the final pages of some plays.[32] Details of type face, of punctuation, and of upper- and lower-case type vary enough that patterns can be detected in the printing of these final pages; one such pattern provides further evidence that the last part of Catiline was printed within some proximity of the last part of Every Man In. The heading that was fashioned for the final page of Every Man Out became the model for all of the rest of the plays in the volume: "This Comicall Satyre [or 'Comoedy' or 'Tragoedy'] was first |

acted in the yeere | 1599 [or other]." The type for the heading of the final page of Every Man Out was distributed. A new setting, worded just the same except for the date, was made up for Cynthia's Revels. It was decided, however, that a headline with a page number should be added[33] and that a comma was needed after "acted," which punctuation was retained for all of the rest of the plays. That Stansby's men did not simply insert the comma and retain the rest of the type can be seen in the "w" of "was." In that for Every Man Out, the second of the four strokes distinctly curves back toward the beginning of the letter. In that for Cynthia's Revels, the stroke is perfectly straight. This heading was left intact for the final page of Poëtaster. Indeed, virtually the entire page was left standing, the only alterations required being a change of date and a change of the names of two (of six) actors. Some newly set type was required for the final page of the next play, for Sejanus is, of course, a tragedy, not a comical satire. It is worth noting at this point that the "Tragœdie" is here set with a ligature "œ" in a smaller font than that for the rest of the word. Also, the second element on the page had to be set anew. "By the then Children of Queene | Elizabeths | Chappell." served for both Cynthia's Revels and Poëtaster; for Sejanus and for the next play, Volpone, it reads: "By the Kings Maiesties | Servants." It is at least likely that this is the same type, for in each case the capital "M" is a swash letter. The heading for the final page of Volpone ("This Comœdie was first | acted, in the yeere | 1605") was altered. It had originally been set with the same ligature "œ" as that used in "Tragœdie" on the final page of Sejanus. Early in the run, apparently, the ligature was replaced with separate letters of the correct font.[34] Save for a necessary change in the date, the entire heading seems to have been left intact for The Alchemist.

Except for the heading, after Volpone was printed, most of the type for the final page was distributed. The second element of Epicoene, which had been performed by the Children of the Revels was, of course, different from that of Volpone. Although for The Alchemist its wording was the same as that for Sejanus and Volpone, one can easily see that the type is different because the "M" of "Majesties" is not a swash. The final page of Catiline was set entirely new. The heading reads: "This Tragoedy was first | Acted, in the Yeere | 1611." The lower-case "a" for "acted" in all earlier plays is now upper-case. The second element is: "By the Kings Maiesties | Servants." "Kings" is in roman type and a swash "M" has again been employed. There is yet another piece of evidence that the entire page has been newly set. The last element on each of the final pages is a single line of type,

invariably reading: "With the allowance of the Master of Revells" In the case of Every Man Out, for which all of the type on the final page was distributed, there is, as one would expect, a clear dot over the single "i." In Cynthia's Revels, the "i" in "With" is different from that of the earlier version; on the final page of Cynthia's Revels the "dot" is a mere fragment in a piece of slightly broken type (in some copies it prints so faintly that it can scarcely be seen). And in the final pages of the plays following, from Pöetaster through Volpone, the "dot" is missing altogether. The newly set final page of Catiline and the final page of Every Man In have two details in common, the upper-case "A" in "Acted" in the heading and a dot over the "i" in "With" in the bottom line. That is, the word "Tragœdy" was removed from the first line and was replaced by "Comoedy," and the date was changed to 1598. The second line, "Acted, in the Yeere," seems to have been left intact. One cannot be absolutely certain that "Acted, in the Yeere" was unchanged or that the bottom line was. But given the practice of Stansby's shop, at least in the production of the Jonson Folio, the assumption is a reasonable one. Thus, it makes sense to conclude that the final pages of the last two plays were printed within some temporal proximity of each other. As the evidence of the watermarks seems to confirm that the last quires of Every Man In were machined after the printing of Epigrammes was begun, it is very likely that those quires were the final parts of Jonson's plays that Stansby printed.

Appendix I: Skeletons in the original and corrected sheets of Every Man Out of His Humour.

                                           

Quire	Sig.	Running-Title	Sig.	Running-Title	Skeleton
G	1	—	6v	g	—
	1v	—	6	e	—
	2	—	5v	e	—
	2v	—	5	—	—
	3	—	4v	—	—
	3v	—	4	—	—
H	1	b	6v	a	I
	1v	c	6	d	II
	2	h	5v	g	IV
	2v	e	5	f1	III
	3	d	4v	c	II
	3v	a	4	b	I
I	1	f1	6v	e	III
	1v	g	6	h	IV
	2	b	5v	a	I
	2v	c	5	d	II
	3	f1	4v	e	III
	3v	g	4	h	IV
K	1	d	6v	c	II
	1v	g	6	h	IV
	2	j	5v	i	V

                                                                                             

	2v	e	5	f2	III
	3	b	4v	a	I
	3v	c	4	d	II
L	1	f2	6v	e	III
	1v	c	6	d	II
	2	h	5v	g	IV
	2v	i	5	j	V
	3	f2	4v	e	III
	3v	g	4	h	IV
M	1	b	6v	a	I
	1v	i	6	j	V
	2	h	5v	g	IV
	2v	i	5	j	V
	3	f2	4v	e	III
	3v	a	4	b	I
N	1	h	6v	g	IV
	1v	c	6	d	II
	2	b	5v	a	I
	2v	c	5	d	II
	3	h	4v	g	IV
	3v	e	4	f2	III
O	1	d	6v	c	II
	1v	g	6	h	IV
	2	b	5v	a	I
	2v	g	5	h	IV
	3	j	4v	i	V
	3v	e	4	f2	III
P	1	f2	6v	—	—
	1v	c	6	—	—
	2	j	5v	—	—
	2v	a	5	—	—
	3	†[35]	4v	—	—
	3v	e	4	f2	III
Reset G	1	—	6v	†	—
	1v	—	6	†	—
	2	—	5v	†	—
	2v	—	5	—	—
	3	—	4v	—	—
	3v	—	4	—	—
Reset H	1	x	6v	w	VI
	1v	y	6	z	VII
	2	z	5v	y	VII
	2v	y	5	z	VII
	3	x	4v	w	VI
	3v	w	4	x	VI
Reset I3.4	3	x	4v	w	VI
	3v	x	4	w	VI (alt.)

The difference between f1 and f2 is that in the former the is of His is two separate letters; in the latter, is is a ligature. Otherwise, the two running-titles appear to be identical.

Quire P comprises the last eight pages of Every Man Out and the preliminary matter (i. e., title-page [verso blank], Dedication, and Persons of the Play) for Cynthia's Revels.

Appendix II: Variant readings in quires G, H, and I3.4 not noticed in Herford and Simpson (H&S format).

G2, p. 75

         

	Original	Altered Original	Reset	Corrected Reset
Ded. 18	use-full	use full	use-full	use-full
19	For so	For so	For, so	For so,
	it:	it:	it.	it.
20	gowne	gowne	gowne,	gowne,

The Altered Original always appears with the fourth (last Original) variant of G5v (see below). The single change in it is the result of the disappearance of the hyphen from "use-full" in line 18, which must have occured during the machining of the forme, for in one copy (of nine) of this variant, the hyphen is present.

The headline from the reset G5, with the page number "81" mistakenly left in place, was used for the headline of the reset and corrected reset of G2.

Gerritsen points out (p. 53) that the largest block of italic type (the body of the Dedication) was not reset, which is almost correct. The first two lines were, in fact, reset; there were several alterations in punctuation later in the text.

G2v, p. 76

In their "Survey of the Text," for line 13 H&S fail to italicize "their servant" (IX, 53) but do get it right in the play (III, 422). For line 23 they note in the "corrected" state: "Rustici" (above "Fungoso"), which also appears in their edition of the play. I have not been able to find this variant anywhere, including in the Grenville copy at the British Library, which is cited in their notes (IX, 53). This ghostly fragment may be similar to a couple noted by Parker in his edition of Volpone (p. 358).

             

G3, p.77		Original	Reset
	Char. 10	falls	fals
	16	singularity	singualaritie
	27	de- | formity	de- | formitie
G3v, p.78	41	Hee	He
	43	neede	need
	44	marchant	merchant

                       

	63	Lady	Ladie
	CW	Sor-	Sor.
G4, p. 79	67	Al- | manacks . . .	Al- | manackes . . .
		felicity	felicitie
	70	Fungoso	Fungosa
	75	aimes	aymes
	79	Gentleman	gentleman
	84	Souldier	souldier
	94	he. . . . He	hee. . . . Hee
G4v, p. 80	112	discreet,	discreet
G5, p. 81	[H&S seem to have noticed all variants.]
G5v, p. 82	Ind. 56	friends.	friends,

There are at least five states of G5v, four in the original and one in the reset. The stage-direction, between lines 51 and 52, "Here hee makes address to the People," appears at "the left extending into the outer margin, . . . [and at] the right, extending to the inner margin" (H&S, IX, 54). In at least one copy the stage direction at the right is broken off after the first letter of the. The page also appears without the stage-direction, both in the original and in the reset. The most likely order is this: The stage-direction at the left was thought unsightly and it was moved to the inner margin; when the stage-direction broke, it was removed and several lines of the page were re-spaced, "giving the page an irregular look" (H&S, IX, 53). When the page was reset the lines were spaced evenly.

G6, p. 83

Herford and Simpson seem to have noticed all the variants between the original and the reset page. In their assessment of the reasons for the changes, however, they are wrong, misled by their belief in the authority of "large-paper" (including "Ford") copies. They contend that "one change on pages 82 and 83 of the Folio . . . corrected a printer's error in the setting of the verse. Jonson liked his lines to be marshalled in even column, and he kept strictly to the verse-arrangement when a speech did not begin the line" (III, 416). It is much more likely that the printer was rearranging lines so that the page of the reset would end at the same place as the original.

         

G6v, p. 84		Original	Corrected	Reset
	Ind.103	Metaphore	Metaphore	Metaphore (swash M)
	138	Worthy	Worthy	Worthie
	139	this,	this?	this?
	145	crush . . . soules	squeeze . . . soules	squeeze . . . natures

Herford and Simpson note: "This quire [G] shows a corrected state in lines 103, 139, 140, 142, and 145. The readings found in M1, Ford, and S3 [the copies that they consider to be large-paper] alone are a resetting." Broadly speaking, they are right, but they do not deal with the most significant implication of what they say. The corrected readings, as noted above, are always to be preferred to the reset — when the distinction can be made.

                                                                                                 

H1, p. 85			Original	Reset
		151	ready	readie
		153	censors,	censors
		154	liberally	liberally.
		163	several	severall
		172	'Tis	Tis
H1v, p. 86		[219	Arte (swash A)	Arte]
		[237	Acts (swash A)	Acts]
H2, p. 87		240	fall	fal
		259	kinde	kind
		265	elegancie	elegancy
		268	bee	be
		273	Insula	Insula,
		278	seas	Seas
		282	countries	countreys
		286	auditorie	auditory
		291	staid a little |	stayed a lit- | tle
H2v, p. 88		298	necessity	necessitie
		305	How?	How,
		307	did or |	did | or
		308	but 'twill not |	but | 'twill not
		310	pro- | logue	Pro- | logue
		311	poyson'd	poison'd
		312	two-penny	two-pennie
		326	him,	him
		327	well-timberd	well timbred
		330	said. . . . cup	saide. . . . cuppe
		331	diamond	Diamond
H3, p. 89		337	mary	marie
		342	do'	do's
		344	withall	with all
		345	He	Hee
		346	Man . . . humour: Sbloud	man . . . Humour: Sblood
		347	humour hee . . . mee	Humour he . . . me
		348	Gentles	Gentiles
		[350	No	No (swash N)]
		351	be thirsty	bee thirstie
		353	play	Play
		354	Cordatus?	Cordatus.
		356	He	Hee
		363	varietie	variety
		367	he	hee
		368	Atheistical	Atheisticall
		369	hee'le ap- | peare	hee'le |
	I.i	1	Viri est	Viriest
			[ferre (swash e)	ferre]
		2	Stoique	Stoicke
		6	every	everie
		7	cor'sive	corr'sive

There is one alteration in the original: "GREX." (following line 353) and "Act I. Scene I. | Macilente" are in some copies off center, to the left, but in other copies are centered.

                                                                                                             

H3v, p. 90		Original	Corrected	Reset
	14	[My (swash M)	My (swash M)	My]
		minde	minde	minde
	15	hungrie . . . foode.	hungrie . . . foode.	hungry . . . food
	21	third,	third,	third
	27	eye-balls	eye-balls	eye-bals
	34	incutitq	incutitq	incutique
I.ii	1	Nay . . . Carlo	Nay . . . Carlo	Nay, . . . Carlo
	4	(dropped)	Car. A . . .	Car. A . . .
			resolution.	resolution.
	CW	Car	Sog	Sog.
H4, p. 91	6	tay- | lors	tay- | lors	Tay- | ors
	20	Sogliardo	Sogliardo	Sogliardo
	21	you | affect to be	you | affect to be	you affect | to bee
	22	qualities, |	qualities, |	qualities, hu- | mours
	24	signior	Signior	Signior
	27	me- | dicine	me- | dicine	medi- | cine
	29	you, and	you, and	you, &
	32	Macil.	Macil.	Maci.
	39	city	city	Citie
	42	trunks	trunks	trunkes
	43	conju- | rer . . . be	conju- | rer . . . be	con- | jurer . . . bee
	44	the spring |	the spring |	the | spring
	45	behaviour | in all:	behaviour | in all;	beha- | viour in all;
	[49	As	As	As (swash A)]
	49	are a |	are a |	are | a
	52	he . . . choose	he . . . choose	hee . . . chuse
	53	gentleman	gentleman	Gentleman
H4v, p. 92	59	boot;		boot,
	60	else | as		else as |
	68	city		citie
	69	marchants		Merchants
	72	suppe		sup
	73	hire | a		hire a |
	74	be		bee
	77	kins- | man		kinsman |
	78	there | (while		there (while |
	79	enquiry . . . health, or | so)		enquirie . . . health, or so) one |
	80	carry . . . breakes | it		carrie . . . breakes it up |
	81	publikely		publikly
	82	you | must		you must |
	83	Mi- | stris		Mistresses |
	84	hot | grace		hot grace |
	88	this.		this:
	106	policy		policie
	111	credi- | tor		cre- | ditor
	115	pliant		plyant
	118	new-yeares		new-yeeres
H5, p. 93	124	tragedies		Tragedies
	125	Mary		Marie
	128	feare,		feare
	130	penny		pennie
	136	lye		lie
	137	[Mercuries] . . . me		[Mercuries (swash M)] . . . mee
	138	they had | not		they | had

                                                               

	146	citie		Citie
	152	Signior		signior
	153	i'faith		if'aith
	160	wild		wilde
	166	al . . . straies		all . . . strayes
	169	pitty		pittie
H5v, p. 94	177	Sir		sir
	185	tell		tel
	193	ordinarie		ordinary
	194	beene . . . readie		been . . . ready
	198	well. . . . we		wel. . . . we
	205	that.		that:
	212	he		hee
	213	chap- | falne		chop- | falne
	219	he be		hee bee
	220	him,		him.
	223	and I, |		and | I,
	224,	citie, wee | . . . meet		citie, | we . . . meete
H6, p. 95	225	shun		shunne
	229	devill		divell
I.iii.	14	yeere. . . . see,		year. . . . see
	17	xxi		xxj
	19	xxvi		xxvj
	23	xxxi. . . . S'lid		xxxj. . . . Slid
	24	saies | he		sayes he |
	26	here's . . . rogue,		her's . . . rogue.
H6v, p. 96	35	fortie		forty
	38	bee		be
	44	daies		dayes
	61	booke,		booke.
	63	me		mee
	75	skin		skinne

In the original and corrected quire H, very often the lower case "w" is set with two "v"s, but almost always with the single "w" in the reset.

                         

I3, p. 101	II.i	Original	Reset
		70	be	bee
		80	'Fore	Fore
		85	of an- | other	of | another
		86	to your |	to | your
		91	a ha- | bit	a | habit
		96	lie	lye
		97	muske-cat	musk-cat
		100	sweetnesse	sweetnes
		106	envy | this	en- | vy this
		107	yfaith. How |	yfaith. | How
		115	bounty	bountie
		CW	I	exceeding

The last line of original I3, "I have heard this knight Pvntarvolo, reported to bee a gentleman of" is shifted in the reset to the top of I3v, where "gentleman" is altered to "Gentleman."

                                                                         

I3v, p. 102		Original	Corrected	Reset
	124	hobby	hobby	hobbie
	129	he	he	hee
	133	he	he	hee
	137	hee	hee	he
	139	lady	lady	Lady
	141	gentleman	gentleman	Gentleman
	145	lady	lady	Ladie
	150	as | first,	as | first,	as first, |
	151	he has | his	he has | his	hee has his |
	152	shee . . . out, | and	shee . . . out, | and	she . . . out, and |
	153	hee . . . shee	hee . . . shee	he . . . she
	154	gentle- | men.	gentle- | men.	gentlemen. |
	163	saies	saies	sayes
	166	1Saies	1saies	1saies
I4, p. 103	180	pleasing |	pleasing |	pleasing ob- |
		object	object	ject
II.ii	2	enclosed	enclosed	inclosed
	7	above.	above!	above!
	8	eye	eye	eie
	11	retire	retire	retyre
	36	studied	studied	studyed
	38	play	play	Play
	39	e'en	e'en	e'ene
	40	edifice;	edifice!	edifice!
I4v, p. 104	46	melancholy:		melancholy.
	55	'Slud		Slud
	53	twise		twice
	62	beyond-sea		beyond-seas
	65	back		backe
	68	hee goes | to church		he goes to | Church
	71	he		hee
	72	capacity		capacitie
	74	Shee		She
	77	qua- | lified		quali- | fied
	89	he does? | Looke,		hee does? Looke, |
	90	on: | and		on: and the dogge |

Notes