The first collected edition of the plays of Beaumont and Fletcher was published in 1647, in folio (12 1/2 ins. x 8 1/8 ins. is the measurement of the copy used for the purpose of collation). The title-page runs thus:—
Comedies | and | Tragedies |
{ Francis Beaumont }
|written by { And } Gentlemen. |
{ John Fletcher }
Never printed before, | And now published by the Authours | Originall Copies. | Si quid habent veri Vatum præsagia, vivam.|London, | Printed for Humphrey Robinson, at the three Pidgeons, and for | Humphrey Moseley at the Princes Armes in St Pauls.
This collection, which is referred to as the First Folio throughout the present edition, contained all the authors' previously unpublished plays (34) except The Wild-Goose Chase, which, at the date of the Folio, was supposed to be lost. The dedicatory epistles, commendatory poem, and Catalogue of Plays, prefixed to the First Folio, are reprinted in the preliminary pages at the end of this Note (pp. ix—lvii).
The second collected edition appeared in 1679 in folio (14-3/8 ins. x 8-1/4 ins.); a reprint of the title-page is given on p. lix of the present volume. This collection, referred to henceforth as the Second Folio, contained (i) all the plays included in the First Folio, (ii) The Wild-Goose Chase, which had been published in folio in 1652, (iii) all the other then known plays of the authors which had been published previously to 1679.
William Marshall's portrait of John Fletcher faces the title-page of both folios with the following inscription engraved underneath:—
Felicis ævi ac Præsulis Natus; comes Beaumontis; sic, quippe Parnassus, biceps; FLETCHERUS unam in Pyramida furcas agens. Struxit chorum plus simplicem Vates Duplex; Plus duplicem solus: nec ullum transtulit; Nec transferendus: Dramatum æterni sales, Anglo Theatro, Orbe, Sibi, superstites.
FLETCHERE, facies absqz vultu pingitur; Quantus! vel umbram circuit nemo tuam.
J. Berkenhead.