‘To reforme a frame’: The 1602 translation of Il pastor fido and Elizabethan theatrical publishing

Abstract

In the history of translation, it is often the case that one version of a popular book becomes so well-known that it tends to eclipse the efforts of all previous and subsequent practitioners. Richard Fanshawe’s 1647 translation of Giovanni Battista Guarini’s pastoral play, Il pastor fido, has led scholars to overlook the virtues of an earlier version, attributed to Tailboys Dymock and published in 1602. This article argues that this edition, and the book that introduced it to late-Elizabethan London, should be regarded as an important document in the development of English dramatic language and English theatrical publishing.