Sir John Harington and the Book as GiftSir John Harington (1560-1612) has long been recognized as one of the most colourful and engaging figures at the English Renaissance court. Godson of Queen Elizabeth, translator of Ariosto, and inventor of the water-closet, he was also a lively writer in a wide variety of modes, and an acute commentator on his times. This study opens a new perspective on Harington's literary production by attending to the fact that almost all of his writings were designed as gifts. Combining detailed readings and first-hand historical research, Jason Scott-Warren reconstructs the complex, often devious agenda which Harington wrote into his books as he customized them for specific individuals and occasions. Offering a wealth of insights into self-fashioning and the pursuit of patronage, this study makes a persuasive case for the significance of material culture to textual interpretation. It will be of interest to all who work on the early modern period, and in particular to historians of the book. |
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Aeneid Antiquæ Ariosto Bacon Basilicon Doron Bath Beal HrJ Bishop BL Add Burghley Cambridge University Press Cannington canto Catholic chapter claim Clarendon Press collection Countess of Bedford court courtier Culture death dedication Discourse Donno Earl Early Modern England edition Edward Rogers Elizabeth Russell Elizabethan English epigram epistle Essex evidence favour gift hath haue Henry Constable Henry Harington Henry's History humanistic Humez ington Jacobean James VI James's Jane Rogers Kelston King James Lady Rogers Library literary Lord loue Ludovico Ariosto manuscript Markham marriage Mary Matthew McNulty Metamorphosis Misacmos monarch Muse Nuga Orlando Furioso Oxford Papers Peter Beal poem poet poetry political portrait presentation copies Prince Henry Princeton printed Privy Protestant Puritan Queen Elizabeth readers Renaissance Rogers's Satire self-fashioning sent Sheldon Sir John Harington Sir Thomas Stuart Studies thou tion Tract trans translation Tudor verse vols volume wife William words writing wrote