What is available on The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Ben Jonson Online and how does it differ from the print edition?
The Online Edition presents a fully searchable version of the Print Edition, including all the original introductions, collations, and commentary, but it complements, develops, and vastly extends the Print Edition with a large and flexible array of textual and contextual materials.
The original online edition, hosted by Kingʼs College London, had an array of tools which are no longer available in this staticized version hosted by the University of Victoria, but plays and other texts, along with digital facsimiles, are now being incorporated into the LEMDO platform and will be separately published in due course.
In addition, the Online Edition includes a comprehensive body of essays and archives necessary for full study of Jonson’s life, performance history, and afterlife.
In total, the edition contains 167 modern-spelling and 76 old-spelling texts, 590 contextual documents, 89 essays, over 4000 high-quality images, and nearly 150 music scores with accompanying MIDI files. It also lists details of more than 1400 stage performances, and has a cross-linked bibliography of over 6700 items. Other archival materials include a Literary Record, transcribing documents relating to Jonson’s reputation and afterlife, edited by Hugh Craig; the Foot Voyage into Scotland, a recently-discovered diary of Jonson’s walk to Edinburgh in 1618, edited by James Loxley, Julie Sanders, and Anna Groundwater; ten letters written to Jonson, edited by Ian Donaldson, Jason Rosenblatt and Winfried Schleiner; essays on writings dubiously ascribed to Jonson, edited by Karen Britland; and additional collations to Jonson’s non-dramatic verse as it is reproduced in 550 scribal manuscripts, by Colin Burrow.
Can I use my ipad/tablet to view the site?
The site should work on mobile devices, but some of the pages are large and may be difficult to navigate on a small screen.
The audio files aren’t working as expected, what should I do?
Once you have clicked on the relevant MIDI file, the file should automatically download. You then need to click on the downloaded file to listen to the file within your chosen audio player.
Please note: In order to play the MIDI (*.mid) files from the Music area of the site, your computer must have audio capabilities (i.e. sound hardware and a set of speakers or headphones). The following software is suggested (it is free, and typically ready to use on most computers):
PC running Windows: Media Player
Mac running OS X: QuickTime Player
If you are a Windows user and unable to play the MIDI files (i.e. you hear no sound), you may find the following advice helpful: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/84752
Please note we are unable to support any specific problems you may encounter trying to use the MIDI files.
How does the search work?
There is a single search page for the entire site. Search links within
other pages simply take you to the main search page, preconfigured to search within a specific
document type. The main Search page has a Search features
link which explains the controls
available.
I have noticed an error with the content, who should I contact?
Please contact hcmc@uvic.ca if you have any questions about this site.