This is the first single volume edition of A Trick to Catch the Old One
for many decades. This edition presents a thoroughly reconsidered text
based on collation of all known copies of the 1608 quarto (including
material unnoticed by earlier editors).
Textual analysis draws on detailed internal investigation and the
printer's wider practice to propose that relatively improvisational
procedures and a paper quota governed A Trick's printing operations.
Discovery of an overlooked record revises the date of court performance
to 1 January 1607, with implications for the play's early history.
Critical discussion freshly examines the play's multi-layered ironic
texture in relation to such issues as the status of women, marriage's
relation to prostitution and vice versa, and the contemporary marriage
market. And the Courtesan receives special attention in the context of
this overarching ironic scheme. An extensive stage history explores
original staging and documents revivals to 2011. The commentary is the
most wide-ranging and comprehensive of all modern editions.