Continuations to Sidney's Arcadia, 1607–1867

Sidney’s Arcadia was extremely popular in the early period of its appearance, with parts of it being extracted and rewritten many times. However, sustained adaptations of the work are less common and can be limited to just six texts: Markham’s English Arcadia (1607 and 1613), Belling’s sixth book to Arcadia (1624), an anonymous manuscript called The Historie of Arcadia (c.1649), Weamys’s continuation (1651), Stanley’s modernization (1725) and Friswell’s edition of Arcadia (1867). Of these, only Weamys’s currently exists in a modern scholarly edition. This project presents the remaining five.

This critical edition contains five continuations of Arcadia as well as two short supplements which attempt to bridge the gap between Sidney’s original and revised versions of the work. All the texts are rare, with the Stanley and Friswell versions being particularly obscure. Publication of these volumes will allow for serious scholarly comparison as well as re-interpretation. An extensive general introduction analyses the history of the Arcadia’s reception and the place of each version in that history. Consideration is given to authorship and editorship and how these were defined over time. Each text is prefaced by its own introduction and includes a bibliography of key material relating to the edition. Further editorial apparatus includes endnotes and textual variants.

• All texts are exceptionally rare
• Allows first direct comparison of five continuations of the Arcadia
• The Historie of Arcadia manuscript is newly transcribed and all material is reset
• General introduction, introductions to each work, bibliographies, endnotes and textual variants

Contents

Volume 1 (Editors: Marea Mitchell, Ann Lange and Danijela Kambaskovic-Sawer)
Anon., The Historie of Arcadia; or an Addition to and a Continuance of Sir Phillip Sydney’s Arcadia (1649); Richard Bellings, A sixth booke to the Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia (1624) [including Johnstoun’s and Alexander’s bridging sections]; Gervase Markham, English Arcadia Part 1 (1607) and Part 2 (1613)

Volume 2 (Editor: Dianne Osland)
Mrs D Stanley, Sir Philip Sidney’s Arcadia Moderniz’d (1725) [Books 1 and 2]

Volume 3 (Editor: Dianne Osland)
Mrs D Stanley, Sir Philip Sidney’s Arcadia Moderniz’d (1725) [Books 3–4]

Volume 4 (Editor: Marea Mitchell)
Sir Philip Sidney, The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia (edited by Hain Friswell) (1867)

Related titles

• The Pamela Controversy : Criticisms and Adaptations of Samuel Richardson’s Pamela, 1740–1750

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