Theatre of the Book, 1480-1880

Book excerpt: Theatre of the Book explores the impact of printing on the European theater, 1480-1880. Far from being marginal to Renaissance dramatists, the printing press played as essential role in the birth of the modern theater. Looking at playtexts, engravings, actor portraits, notation systems, and theatrical ephemera as part of the broader history of theatrical ideas, this illustrated book offers both a history of European dramatic publication and an examination of the European theater's continual refashioning of itself in the world of print.