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The Tudor Facsimile Texts

The Tragedy of
Dido Queen of Carthage

Written by
CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE and THOMAS NASH

1594

_Date of this the earliest known edition_.... 1594

[_Bodleian_]

_Reproduced in Facsimile_....  1914




The Tudor Facsimile Texts

_Under the Supervision and Editorship of_
JOHN S. FARMER

The Tragedy of
Dido Queen of Carthage

Written by
CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE and THOMAS NASH

1594

_Issued for Subscribers by the Editor of_

THE TUDOR FACSIMILE TEXTS

MCMXIV




The Tragedy of
Dido Queen of Carthage

Written by CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE and THOMAS NASH

1594


_This play is facsimiled from the Bodley copy. Other examples
(says Sir Sidney Lee, but unrecorded by Greg) are at Bridgewater
House and at Chatsworth; the Devonshire Collection of Plays has
recently been disposed of to an American collector_.

_For other and bibliographical details see D.N.B. I have
included in this facsimile the page of manuscript in the Bodley
example inasmuch as it contains matter of interest to the
student._

_The reproduction from the original was made by The Clarendon
Press, Oxford_.

                        _JOHN S. FARMER_.



[Transcriber's Note: The following paragraphs have been
transcribed from a handwritten page. Some text is illegible, and
this has been marked with asterisks where appropriate.]

The tragedy of _Dido_ is one of the scarcest plays in the English
language. There are but two copies known to be extant; in the
possession of D^r Wright and M^r Reed.

M^r Warton speaks in his _Hist. of Eng. Poet_ (III. p. 435) of an
Elegy being prefixed to it on the death of Marlowe; but no such
is found in either of those copies. In answer to my inquiries on
this subject he informed me by letter, [crossed-out text] that a
copy of this play was in Osborne's catalogue in the year 1754,
that he then saw it in his shop (together with several of M^r
Oldys's books that Osborne had purchased), + that the elegy in
question--"on Marlowe's untimely death" was inserted immediately
after the title page; that it mentioned a play of Marlowe's
entitled _The Duke of Guise_ and four others; but whether
particularly by _name_, he could not recollect. Unluckily he did
not purchase this rare piece, + it is now God knows where.

Bishop Tanner likewise mentions this elegy in so particular a
manner that he must have seen it. "Marlovius (Christopherus),
quondam in academia Cantabrigiensi musarum alumnus; postea actor
scenicus; deinde poeta dramaticus tragicus, paucis inferior
Scripsit plurimas tragedias, sc. Tamerlane.-Tragedie of Dido
Queen of Carthage. Pr. Come gentle Ganymed. Hanc perfecit +
edidit Tho. Nash Lond. 1594. 4^to.--Petrarius in praefatione ad
Secundam partem Herois et Leandri multa in Marlovii
commendationem adfert; hoc etiam facit Tho. Nash in _Carmine
Elegiaco Tragidiae Didonis praefiso in obitum Christop. Marlovii_,
ubi quatuor ejus tragidiarum mentionem facit, nec non et alterius
_de duce Guisio_." _Bib. Britan._ 1740.

I suspect M^r Warton had no other authority than