DEEP: Database of Early English Playbooks

[1625] Middleton, Thomas A Game at Chess

Reference Information

DEEP #: 725
Greg #: 412a
STC/Wing #: 17882
Record Type: Single-Play Playbook
Play Type: Adult Professional
Genre (Annals): Political Satire
 
Book Edition: 1
Play Edition: 1
Format: Quarto
Leaves: 38
Date of First Publication: [1625]
Date of First Production: 1624 [licensed for stage, Jun 12]
Company of First Production: King's Men
Company Attribution: n/a
 
Total Editions: 3 quartos

Title-Page Features

Title: [engraved title page; A2r] A Game at Chæss
Author:
Performance: as it was Acted nine days to gether at the Globe on the banks side[.]
Illustration: On engraved title page, eight figures around a chessboard at top, and at bottom, "the Fatte Bishop", "the Black Knight", and "the White Knight"
Imprint:

Paratextual Material

Other Paratexts: "The Picture plainly explained, after the manner of the Chesse-play" (verses) [A1v]

Stationer Information

Printer: Okes, Nicholas
Entries in Stationers' Register: Mar 15, 1655: Transferred from Martha Harrison, the widow of John Harrison (4), to John Stafford (1) and William Gilbertson: "The Game att Chesse." [It is very unlikely that this entry refers to this play.]
 
Additional Notes: For the printer of this edition, see Gary Taylor, "A Game At Chess: General Textual Introduction," in Thomas Middleton and Early Modern Textual Culture, 717-18.