Gallathea, 1592

John Lyly's comedy Gallathea was performed in 1588, in what may have been already a revival, and was printed by John Charlwood in 1592. The present volume provides a photographic facsimile of this text taken from one of the three surviving copies, now in the British Library. The songs, not printed in 1592, are supplied from a copy of Lyly's Sixe Court Comedies, published by Edward Blount in 1632, now in the Huntington Library, California. In her Introduction, Leah Scragg discusses the publication and printing of the 1592 quarto and describes the surviving copies. She provides evidence relating to the composition and early performance of the play and briefly characterises it as 'Lyly's outstanding achievement in the translation of the euphuistic mode into a dramatic technique'. Through-line-numbers for the quarto text are supplied.