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Jonson, Ben : Masques

Lacks title page. Brown full leather binding. Gilt lettering on red spine label. Modern spine with contemporary boards. Five raised bands. 1640-1641. 7 3/4" x 11 1/4." 159 pages; main text is complete (but title page is missing). Pages are slightly age-toned and rippled with occasional light staining but are very clean and intact and in remarkable shape given their age. Covers are clean and intact except for some surface chipping, slight rubbing, and slight wear to extremities. Binding is tight. A Very Good copy. A compilation of fifteen masques by the noted English playwright and poet, Ben Jonson (c. 1572-c. 1637). Masques were a type of courtly entertainment popular in Europe during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that comprised music, acting, singing, and dancing. Jonson had a prestigious career writing courtly masques under the reign of King James VI and I (1566-1625). Jonson was also a contemporary of William Shakespeare. These fifteen masques are from the first collected edition of 1640-1641. One dealer's note that came with this copy says this is the second series of Masques that constitute the first part of v. 3 of the 1640-1641. Another dealer's note from WorldCat denotes this as "vol. 3, part 2" of the 1640-1641 edition. The following are the titles of the fifteen masques with respective dates of original publication: "Christmas, His Masque; As It Was Presented at Court" [1616], "A Masque Presented in the House of the Right Honorable the Lord Haye" [1617], "The Vision of Delight Presented at Court in Christmas" [1617], "Pleasures Reconciled to Vertue. A Masque as It Was Presented at Court Before King James" [1619], "For the Honor of Wales" [c. 1618], "Newes from the New World Discovered in the Moone. A Masque as It Was Presented at Court Before King James" [1620], "A Masque of the Metamorphosed Gypsies as It Was Thrice Presented to King James" [1621], "The Masque of Augures with the Severall Antimasques Presented on Twelfe-Night" [1622], "Time Vindicated to Himselfe, and to His Honors. In the presentation at Court on Twelfth night" [1623], "Neptunes Triumph for the Returne of Albion. Celebrated in a Masque At the Court on the Twelfth night" [1624], "Pan's Anniversarie; or, The Shepherd's Holy-Day. The Scene Arcadia. As it was presented at Court before King James" [1625], "The Masque of Owles at Kenelworth. Presented by the Ghost of Captaine Coxe mounted in his Hoby-horse" [1626], "The Fortunate Isles, and Their Union. Celebrated in a Masque Design'd for the Court, on the Twelfth night" [1626], "Loves Triumph Through Callipolis. Performed in a Masque at Court" [1630], and "Chloridia. Rites to Chloris and Her Nymphs. Personated in a Masque at Court. By the Queenes Majestie And her Ladyes. At Shrove-tide" [1630].. Book. Book Condition: Very Good. Binding: Hardcover