. Old picture books; with other essays on bookish subjects. B- X. z P WOODCUTS IN ENGLISH PLAYS 183 WOODCUTS IN ENGLISH PLAYSPRINTED BEFORE 1660 WHEN loaves are lacking it seems natural toattach a high value to crumbs, and perhapsthis may be accepted as an excuse forprinting the following rough notes on the few woodcutswhich I have been able to find in editions of Englishplays printed before 1660. An excuse is needed, because,while the artistic value of the cuts is distinctly low, theplays in which they are found, with the exception ofMarlowes Dr. Faustus, are not of the first interest. Onthe
. Old picture books; with other essays on bookish subjects. B- X. z P WOODCUTS IN ENGLISH PLAYS 183 WOODCUTS IN ENGLISH PLAYSPRINTED BEFORE 1660 WHEN loaves are lacking it seems natural toattach a high value to crumbs, and perhapsthis may be accepted as an excuse forprinting the following rough notes on the few woodcutswhich I have been able to find in editions of Englishplays printed before 1660. An excuse is needed, because,while the artistic value of the cuts is distinctly low, theplays in which they are found, with the exception ofMarlowes Dr. Faustus, are not of the first interest. Onthe other hand, as I hope to show, the woodcuts, as arule, are not merely fancy pictures used only because theylooked pretty. They are real illustrations, drawn by menwho had certainly read the plays themselves, and in allprobability had seen them. To have had, say, the play-scene from Hamlet * drawn, however rudely, as a title-cut by a contemporary artist would have been a verypleasant addition to our scanty sources of knowledge as tothe appearance of the actors a
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectbibliog, bookyear1902
