Stephen Orgel is the Jackson Eli Reynolds Professor in the Humanities at Stanford. He has published widely on the political and historical aspects of Renaissance literature, theater, and art history. He has taught at Harvard, Berkeley and Johns Hopkins, and has been visiting professor at universities throughout the world. In addition to his eight books, he has edited Ben Jonson's masques, Christopher Marlowe's poems and translations, the Oxford Authors John Milton, The Tempest and The Winter's Tale in The Oxford Shakespeare, and several novels by Trollope and Edith Wharton in the Oxford World's Classics. He is a general editor of the New Pelican Shakespeare.

good value ... a study of early modern marginalia but also -- the bit I'm looking forward to -- a reflection on our more recent idolization of the clean, unmarked page.

• List of Illustrations 1: Reading in Action 2: Learning Latin 3: Writing for the Stage 4: Spenser from the Margins 5: Scherzo: The Insatiate Countess and the Puritan Revolution 6: Reading with the Countess of Pembroke and Montgomery 7: Coda: A Note from the Future Bibliography Index

Stephen Orgel is the Jackson Eli Reynolds Professor in the Humanities at Stanford. He has published widely on the political and historical aspects of Renaissance literature, theater, and art history. He has taught at Harvard, Berkeley and Johns Hopkins, and has been visiting professor at universities throughout the world. In addition to his eight books, he has edited Ben Jonson's masques, Christopher Marlowe's poems and translations, the Oxford Authors John Milton, The Tempest and The Winter's Tale in The Oxford Shakespeare, and several novels by Trollope and Edith Wharton in the Oxford World's Classics. He is a general editor of the New Pelican Shakespeare.

good value ... a study of early modern marginalia but also -- the bit I'm looking forward to -- a reflection on our more recent idolization of the clean, unmarked page.

• List of Illustrations 1: Reading in Action 2: Learning Latin 3: Writing for the Stage 4: Spenser from the Margins 5: Scherzo: The Insatiate Countess and the Puritan Revolution 6: Reading with the Countess of Pembroke and Montgomery 7: Coda: A Note from the Future Bibliography Index

Stephen Orgel is the Jackson Eli Reynolds Professor in the Humanities at Stanford. He has published widely on the political and historical aspects of Renaissance literature, theater, and art history. He has taught at Harvard, Berkeley and Johns Hopkins, and has been visiting professor at universities throughout the world. In addition to his eight books, he has edited Ben Jonson's masques, Christopher Marlowe's poems and translations, the Oxford Authors John Milton, The Tempest and The Winter's Tale in The Oxford Shakespeare, and several novels by Trollope and Edith Wharton in the Oxford World's Classics. He is a general editor of the New Pelican Shakespeare.

good value ... a study of early modern marginalia but also -- the bit I'm looking forward to -- a reflection on our more recent idolization of the clean, unmarked page.

• List of Illustrations 1: Reading in Action 2: Learning Latin 3: Writing for the Stage 4: Spenser from the Margins 5: Scherzo: The Insatiate Countess and the Puritan Revolution 6: Reading with the Countess of Pembroke and Montgomery 7: Coda: A Note from the Future Bibliography Index