To Cut a Long Title Short: Titling Conventions in Printed English Renaissance Drama
Publication Date
3-1-2026
Document Type
Article
Publication Title
English Literary Renaissance
Volume
56
Issue
2
DOI
10.1086/740660
First Page
249
Last Page
280
Abstract
This essay traces the textual evolution of first-edition professional playbook titles in the London book trade, over 1580–1659. The essay’s chief findings are twofold. First, the mean length of titles declined from approximately twenty-eight to five words. Second, titles shifted in naming conventions from generally longer, plot-descriptive “theatrical” titles to shorter, totemic “literary” titles that resemble the proper names of plays as we know them today. The quantitative data presented in the essay are supplemented by an examination of the multiple interrelated drivers of the title-shortening phenomenon. The trend was prompted in part by gradual changes in dramatic title-page design and typography, namely, the introduction of competing title-page paratexts and enlarged type size of title wordage. It also represented a response to a maturing play-reading public that no longer depended on or required paratextual guidance to inform their buying decisions. Attendant case studies consider the on-the-ground perception and interpretation of playbook titles from the perspective of prospective buyer-readers. The essay ultimately contends that the move towards a minimalist, standardized title paradigm reciprocally spurred and indexed the development of printed English Renaissance drama into a cohesive, recognizable textual-conceptual category within the London book trade. [A.B.]
Department
English and Comparative Literature
Recommended Citation
Andreas P. Bassett. "To Cut a Long Title Short: Titling Conventions in Printed English Renaissance Drama" English Literary Renaissance (2026): 249-280. https://doi.org/10.1086/740660
Comments
© 2026 English Literary Renaissance, Inc. All rights reserved, including rights for text and data mining and training of artificial intelligence technologies or similar technologies. Published by The University of Chicago Press for the Arthur F. Kinney Center for Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies.