MANHOOD AND THE DUEL. Masculinity in Early Modern Drama and Culture.

First edition. Publisher's original black cloth with silver titles to the spine, in dustwrapper. With three black and white illustrations. A near fine copy, the binding square and firm, with a touch of fading to the top edge and head of the spine. The contents are clean throughout, and without inscriptions or stamps. Complete with the lightly rubbed dustwrapper, which has a hint of toning at the edges, and is without loss or tears.

The author looks at the early modern duel in its theatrical context, and its relationship to Jacobean and Renaissance ideals of masculinity. Through reading a variety of documents from fencing manuals to plays by contemporary dramatists such as Shakespeare and Middleton, she examines the duel in practice, as a stage device, and its contributions as a concept to the wider social debate surrounding early modern gender expectations.