Now Publishing,
In Half-Crown monthly vols., post 8vo, each volume containing 500 pages and an etched fround in cloth with cut or uncut edges,
An Unexpurgated Edition of
THE BEST PLAYS
OF
THE OLD DRAMATISTS,
Under the General Editorship of HAVELOCK ELLIS.
In the Mermaid Series are being issued the best plays of the Elizabethan and later dramatists—plays which, with Shakespeare's works, constitute the chief contribution of the English spirit to the literature of the world. The Editors who have given their assistance to the undertaking include men of literary eminence, who have distinguished themselves in this field, as well as younger writers of ability.
Each volume contains on an average five complete plays, prefaced by an Introductory Notice of the Author. Great care is taken to ensure, by consultation among the Editors, that the plays selected are in every case the best and most representative—and not the most conventional, or those which have lived on a merely accidental and traditional reputation. A feature will be made of plays by little known writers, which although often so admirable are now almost inaccessible. In every instance the utmost pains is taken to secure the best text, the spelling is modernised, and brief but adequate notes are supplied. In no case do the Plays undergo any process of expurgation. It is believed that, although they may sometimes run counter to what is called modern taste, the free and splendid energy of Elizabethan art, with its extreme realism and its extreme idealism—embodying, as it does, the best traditions of the English Drama—will not suffer from the frankest representation.