![CHAPMAN, George (ca 1559-1634). May-Day. A witty Comedie, divers times acted at the Blacke Fryers. London: Printed [by William Stansby] for John Browne, 1611.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2004/NYR/2004_NYR_01460_0009_000(074635).jpg?w=1)
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CHAPMAN, George (ca 1559-1634). May-Day. A witty Comedie, divers times acted at the Blacke Fryers. London: Printed [by William Stansby] for John Browne, 1611.
4o (185 x 141 mm). (Title lightly soiled and with small portion of inner margin renewed, some pale browning.) Modern brown morocco, gilt-lettered on front cover and spine, edges gilt, by Riviere (front cover detached). Provenance: Thomas Ryley (inscription on title dated 1622); Richard Newdigate of Arbury Hall (bookplate dated 1709); Lord Mostyn (sold Sotheby's, 20 March 1919, lot 49).
FIRST EDITION. "The printer of this comedy of intrigue, from the device which occurs on the title, was apparently William Stansby for either late in 1609 or early in 1610 this block passed from the possession of John Windet to Stansby" (Pforzheimer).
Like Ben Jonson, Chapman had taught himself classical scholarship. In 1596 he was employed as a dramatist for the Lord Admiral's Men at Philip Henslowe's Rose Theatre. Francis Meres describes him in Palladis Tamia (1598) as among "our best for tragedy," and since no tragedies before this date survive, it is probable that many of his plays are lost. In addition to his dramatic works, Chapman supplied three cantos to Marlowe's Hero and Leander, which had been left unfinished at Marlowe's death in 1593. At about this time, Chapman began his translation of the Iliad and Odyssey, a project which absorbed him for the remainder of his life.
About 1600 Chapman began writing plays for the Children of the Chapel (the Queen's Revels after 1603) at Blackfriars. The aristocratic audience there was more suited to his esoteric and intellectual style than were those at the popular theaters on the Bankside. He collaborated with Jonson and Marston on Eastward Ho! in 1605 and, with Jonson, was imprisoned briefly when James I objected to a slur against the Scots. After 1608, Chapman's dramatic output lessened, largely due to his increasing attention to his translation of Homer. Greg 297; Pforzheimer 154; STC 4980.
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FIRST EDITION. "The printer of this comedy of intrigue, from the device which occurs on the title, was apparently William Stansby for either late in 1609 or early in 1610 this block passed from the possession of John Windet to Stansby" (Pforzheimer).
Like Ben Jonson, Chapman had taught himself classical scholarship. In 1596 he was employed as a dramatist for the Lord Admiral's Men at Philip Henslowe's Rose Theatre. Francis Meres describes him in Palladis Tamia (1598) as among "our best for tragedy," and since no tragedies before this date survive, it is probable that many of his plays are lost. In addition to his dramatic works, Chapman supplied three cantos to Marlowe's Hero and Leander, which had been left unfinished at Marlowe's death in 1593. At about this time, Chapman began his translation of the Iliad and Odyssey, a project which absorbed him for the remainder of his life.
About 1600 Chapman began writing plays for the Children of the Chapel (the Queen's Revels after 1603) at Blackfriars. The aristocratic audience there was more suited to his esoteric and intellectual style than were those at the popular theaters on the Bankside. He collaborated with Jonson and Marston on Eastward Ho! in 1605 and, with Jonson, was imprisoned briefly when James I objected to a slur against the Scots. After 1608, Chapman's dramatic output lessened, largely due to his increasing attention to his translation of Homer. Greg 297; Pforzheimer 154; STC 4980.