We record with great sadness the death on 2 August 2019 of our dear friend and colleague
David Bevington, a fellow General Editor of The Cambridge Edition of the Works of
Ben Jonson and an inspiring force behind its creation. David was recruited in 1994,
to our great delight, to join the then still-nascent Cambridge Jonsonian team, to
which he brought astounding energy and experience. Perhaps the most seasoned Shakespearian
scholar of his generation, David had already edited Shakespeare’s complete works in
29 volumes for Bantam Classics and in a single collected volume for Longmans, and
written illuminatingly about aspects of the entire Shakespearian canon. But his sense
of the English dramatic tradition hardly stopped there. His classic study, From Mankind
to Marlowe (1962), had given early indication of his dramatic appetite and reach,
which was later vividly demonstrated in the range and number of scholarly ventures
in English drama, especially of the early modern period, with which he was constantly
involved. The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Ben Jonson is one of the many enterprises
to have been blessed by his learning, his dedication, and his enthusiasm. The entire
editorial team and those who worked on the project at Cambridge University Press remember
him with deep admiration and gratitude. To his widow, Peggy – always an engaged and
supportive companion in his work -- and his family we offer our most sincere condolences.
Ian Donaldson and Martin Butler
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