William Wycherley

‘He’s a fool that marries, but he’s a greater fool that does not marry a fool.’This bawdy, hilarious, subversive and wickedly satirical drama pokes fun at the humourless, the jealous, and the adulterous alike. It features a country wife, Margery, whose husband believes she is too naïve to cuckold him; and an anti-hero, Horner, who pretends to be impotent in order to have unrestrained access to the women keen on ‘the sport’. A number of licentious and hypocritical women request Horner’s services – the country wife among them. The Country Wife has provoked powerfully mixed reactions over the years. The seventeenth century libertine king Charles II saw it twice, and is said to have joined the ‘dance of the cuckolds’ at the end of one performance; the eighteenth century actor-playwright David Garrick declared it ‘the most licentious play in the English language’; the Victorian Macaulay compared it to a skunk, because it was ‘too filthy to handle and too noisome even to approach’. Twentieth century productions heralded it a Restoration masterpiece. Sexually frank, and as ready to criticise marriage as infidelity, the virtuosity, linguistic energy, brilliant wit, naughtiness and complexity of this ribald play have made it a staple of the modern stage. This student edition contains a lengthy, entirely new introduction, by leading scholar, Tiffany Stern, with a background on the author, structure, characters, genre, themes, original staging and performance history, as well as an updated bibliography and a fully annotated version of the playtext.

Chefs d'oeuvre des theatres etrangers... traduits en francais. Tome 4, 2 / . Theatre anglaisDate de l'edition originale: 1827"Collection: Chefs d'oeuvre des theatres etrangers; Tomes 7-11Comprend: L'Americain, comedie en 5 actes en prose; La lune de miel...; L'ecole de la medisance; Le magasin de curiosites; Jane Shore; Don Carlos, prince d'Espagne, tragedie...; Venise sauvee, ou Une conspiration decouverte; Le cadenas, opera comique en 2 actes; L'heritiere, comedie en 5 actes; L'ecole des epouseurs, ou Ce qu'il faut savoir avant de prendre femme, comedie en 5 actes et en vers; Douglas, tragedie en 5 actes; Tancrede et Sigismond; L'orpheline, ou Le mariage malheureux; Chacun dans son caractere, comedie en 5 actes"Ce livre est la reproduction fidele d'une oeuvre publiee avant 1920 et fait partie d'une collection de livres reimprimes a la demande editee par Hachette Livre, dans le cadre d'un partenariat avec la Bibliotheque nationale de France, offrant l'opportunite d'acceder a des ouvrages anciens et souvent rares issus des fonds patrimoniaux de la BnF. Les oeuvres faisant partie de cette collection ont ete numerisees par la BnF et sont presentes sur Gallica, sa bibliotheque numerique. En entreprenant de redonner vie a ces ouvrages au travers d'une collection de livres reimprimes a la demande, nous leur donnons la possibilite de rencontrer un public elargi et participons a la transmission de connaissances et de savoirs parfois difficilement accessibles. Nous avons cherche a concilier la reproduction fidele d'un livre ancien a partir de sa version numerisee avec le souci d'un confort de lecture optimal. Nous esperons que les ouvrages de cette nouvelle collection vous apporteront entiere satisfaction. Pour plus d'informations, rendez-vous sur www.hachettebnf.fr

Chefs d'oeuvre des theatres etrangers... traduits en francais. Tome 3 / . Theatre anglaisDate de l'edition originale: 1827"Collection: Chefs d'oeuvre des theatres etrangers; Tomes 7-11Comprend: L'Americain, comedie en 5 actes en prose; La lune de miel...; L'ecole de la medisance; Le magasin de curiosites; Jane Shore; Don Carlos, prince d'Espagne, tragedie...; Venise sauvee, ou Une conspiration decouverte; Le cadenas, opera comique en 2 actes; L'heritiere, comedie en 5 actes; L'ecole des epouseurs, ou Ce qu'il faut savoir avant de prendre femme, comedie en 5 actes et en vers; Douglas, tragedie en 5 actes; Tancrede et Sigismond; L'orpheline, ou Le mariage malheureux; Chacun dans son caractere, comedie en 5 actes"Ce livre est la reproduction fidele d'une oeuvre publiee avant 1920 et fait partie d'une collection de livres reimprimes a la demande editee par Hachette Livre, dans le cadre d'un partenariat avec la Bibliotheque nationale de France, offrant l'opportunite d'acceder a des ouvrages anciens et souvent rares issus des fonds patrimoniaux de la BnF. Les oeuvres faisant partie de cette collection ont ete numerisees par la BnF et sont presentes sur Gallica, sa bibliotheque numerique. En entreprenant de redonner vie a ces ouvrages au travers d'une collection de livres reimprimes a la demande, nous leur donnons la possibilite de rencontrer un public elargi et participons a la transmission de connaissances et de savoirs parfois difficilement accessibles. Nous avons cherche a concilier la reproduction fidele d'un livre ancien a partir de sa version numerisee avec le souci d'un confort de lecture optimal. Nous esperons que les ouvrages de cette nouvelle collection vous apporteront entiere satisfaction. Pour plus d'informations, rendez-vous sur www.hachettebnf.fr

Title: The Plain Dealer: a comedy in five acts and in prose]. ... With alterations by I. Bickerstaffe]. Publisher: British Library, Historical Print EditionsThe British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. It is one of the world's largest research libraries holding over 150 million items in all known languages and formats: books, journals, newspapers, sound recordings, patents, maps, stamps, prints and much more. Its collections include around 14 million books, along with substantial additional collections of manuscripts and historical items dating back as far as 300 BC. The POETRY & DRAMA collection includes books from the British Library digitised by Microsoft. The books reflect the complex and changing role of literature in society, ranging from Bardic poetry to Victorian verse. Containing many classic works from important dramatists and poets, this collection has something for every lover of the stage and verse. ++++The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification: ++++ British Library Wycherley, William; Bickerstaffe, Isaac; 1767. 8 . 643.h.10.(7.)

Title: The Country Girl, a comedy in five acts and in prose], altered from Wycherley by David Garrick]. Publisher: British Library, Historical Print EditionsThe British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. It is one of the world's largest research libraries holding over 150 million items in all known languages and formats: books, journals, newspapers, sound recordings, patents, maps, stamps, prints and much more. Its collections include around 14 million books, along with substantial additional collections of manuscripts and historical items dating back as far as 300 BC. The POETRY & DRAMA collection includes books from the British Library digitised by Microsoft. The books reflect the complex and changing role of literature in society, ranging from Bardic poetry to Victorian verse. Containing many classic works from important dramatists and poets, this collection has something for every lover of the stage and verse. ++++The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification: ++++ British Library Wycherley, William; 1767. 8 . 83.a.20.(3.)

Title: Love in a Wood, or, St. James's Park. A comedy, etc. in five acts and in prose]. Publisher: British Library, Historical Print EditionsThe British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. It is one of the world's largest research libraries holding over 150 million items in all known languages and formats: books, journals, newspapers, sound recordings, patents, maps, stamps, prints and much more. Its collections include around 14 million books, along with substantial additional collections of manuscripts and historical items dating back as far as 300 BC. The POETRY & DRAMA collection includes books from the British Library digitised by Microsoft. The books reflect the complex and changing role of literature in society, ranging from Bardic poetry to Victorian verse. Containing many classic works from important dramatists and poets, this collection has something for every lover of the stage and verse. ++++The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification: ++++ British Library Wycherley, William; 1694. 4 . 644.i.82.

Title: The Country Girl, a comedy in five acts and in prose], altered from Wycherley by David Garrick]. Publisher: British Library, Historical Print EditionsThe British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. It is one of the world's largest research libraries holding over 150 million items in all known languages and formats: books, journals, newspapers, sound recordings, patents, maps, stamps, prints and much more. Its collections include around 14 million books, along with substantial additional collections of manuscripts and historical items dating back as far as 300 BC. The POETRY & DRAMA collection includes books from the British Library digitised by Microsoft. The books reflect the complex and changing role of literature in society, ranging from Bardic poetry to Victorian verse. Containing many classic works from important dramatists and poets, this collection has something for every lover of the stage and verse. ++++The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification: ++++ British Library Wycherley, William; 1766. 8 . 643.i.2.(5.)