Early Seventeenth-Century Verse Miscellany Manuscripts

Modern editors of seventeenth-century poetry base their work on authorised manuscripts of their subjects where these exist, but otherwise prefer contemporary printed editions (usually posthumous, because before the Civil War it was considered ungentlemanly to publish), to verse miscellany manuscripts which are usually earlier. Yet when these manuscripts are examined as a whole, important information, not only textual but literary and biographical, emerges for the study of both major and minor poets of the period. They set the work of the major poets in the contemporary context of which they are part and even where carelessly copied, may reveal undiscovered lines of textual descent. Such manuscripts, kept for their private enjoyment by gentlemen (and women too), students, lawyers and musicians, contain poems by or about celebrities, friends or family, and especially song texts, revealing hitherto unnoted links between contemporary poets and musicians. Though the contents discussed derive chiefly from Oxford, the principles here identified remain true for manuscripts of any other provenance.Hobbs, Mary is the author of 'Early Seventeenth-Century Verse Miscellany Manuscripts' with ISBN 9780859678568 and ISBN 0859678563.