PRIVACY, PLAYREADING, AND WOMEN'S CLOSET DRAMA, 1550-1700

First edition, first printing. Publisher's original black cloth with gilt titles to the spine, in dustwrapper. With seven black and white illustrations. A near fine copy, the binding square and firm, bright and fresh, with just a small bump to the head of the spine. The contents are clean throughout, and without inscriptions or stamps. Complete with the lightly rubbed dustwrapper, which is a little faded to the upper panel and spine, and otherwise without loss or tears.

A detailed historical analysis of early modern women's closet plays: plays explicitly written for reading, rather than public performance. The author reveals that such works were part of an alternative dramatic tradition, an elite and private literary culture, which was understood as intellectually superior to and politically more radical than commercial drama.