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Irving Ribner papers

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Held at: University of Delaware Library Special Collections [Contact Us]181 South College Avenue, Newark, DE 19717-5267

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the University of Delaware Library Special Collections. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.

Overview and metadata sections

Irving Ribner, noted Shakespearean critic, joined the University of Delaware faculty in 1964 as an assistant professor in the English Department after eleven years on the faculty of Tulane University. He later became the H. Rodney Sharp Professor of English at Delaware. Ribner also lectured at Cambridge University and at the Sorbonne, and was a visiting scholar at the University of New York, the University of North Carolina, the University of Southern California, and the University of Arizona.

Dr. Ribner graduated from Brooklyn College in 1943 and began his graduate study at the University of North Carolina. After serving in the Army Signal Corp during World War II, he continued his studies at the University of North Carolina and received his PhD in 1949. Following his graduate education Dr. Ribner taught at Ohio State University and Queens College prior to teaching at Tulane.

Dr. Ribner wrote more than fifty articles on the literature of the English Renaissance and authored nine books, including

The English History Play in the Age of Shakespeare (1965),Jacobean Tragedy; the Quest for Moral Order(1962), Poetry: A Critical and Historical Introduction (1962), andTudor and Stuart Drama(1966). He also edited an edition of Christopher Marlowe's plays, a collection of English poetry, and a revision of George L. Kittredge's Shakespeare.

In addition to being elected to several offices of the Modern Language Association, Ribner served as the head of the Association of Shakespeare section. Dr. Ribner died on July 2, 1972.

Information sheet by the Office of Alumni and Public Relations, December 1965. University of Delaware Archives.

This collection consists of typescripts, page proofs, and printed copies of material toward books written or edited by Irving Ribner. The titles include

The Atheist's Tragedie: or, The Honest Man's Revenge by Cyril Tourneur (edited by Ribner), The English History Play in the Age of Shakespeare by Ribner. The collection also includes numerous plays by William Shakespeare as edited by George L. Kittredge and revised by Ribner.

  1. Boxes 1-8: Shelved in SPEC MSS manuscript boxes

Gift of Irving Ribner, 1964-1967.

Reprocessed by Anita A. Wellner, 1990. Encoded by Caitlin Farthing, April 2013.

Publisher
University of Delaware Library Special Collections
Finding Aid Author
University of Delaware Library, Special Collections
Finding Aid Date
2013 April 3
Access Restrictions

The collection is open for research.

Use Restrictions

Use of materials from this collection beyond the exceptions provided for in the Fair Use and Educational Use clauses of the U.S.Copyright Law may violate federal law. Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. Please contact Special Collections Department, University of Delaware Library, https://library.udel.edu/static/purl.php?askspec

Collection Inventory

Scope and Contents

(London: Methuen & Co., 1964). Edited by Irving Ribner. Material toward Ribner's edition of this work.

Photocopy of the 1612 edition of The Atheist's Tragedie.
3 Type scripts with extensive autograph corrections editorial notes.
Scope and Contents

Includes preliminary pages, preface, list of abbreviations, introduction, text, commentary, collation notes, appendix, and glossarial index to commentary.

Physical Description

265 Leaves

Scope and Contents

(London: Methuen & Co., 1965). Revised edition. Material related to this book written by Ribner.

Manuscript which includes Type scripts with autograph corrections of new Preface and other additions to the text.
Scope and Contents

Most of the sheets consist of printed text from 1st edition pasted to 8 1/2 x 14 sheets with autograph revisions to the text and other additions in the margins. Includes preface, text, and Appendices A-D.

Physical Description

347 Leaves.

Paperbound uncorrected proofs with autograph corrections notes by the author throughout the text.
Physical Description

350 Leaves

Inscribed copy of the hardcover edition.
Scope and Contents

Clean copy with dust jacket.

Physical Description

368 pp.

Scope and Contents

Includes A Midsummer Night's Dream, King Henry IV Part III, King Richard the Second, The Merchant of Venice, The Comedy of Errors, Twelfth Night, Macbeth, King John, The Taming of the Shrew, King Henry IV Part I, Julius Caesar, The Tempest. Includes a typescript of the introductions to each play. The text consists of pasted printed material on 8 1/2 x 14 sheets with corrections and revisions in margins. The sheets include extensive autograph corrections and revisions by the author, editor and printer.

Midsummer Night's Dream.
Physical Description

84 Leaves

King Henry IV. Part II.
Physical Description

86 Leaves

King Richard the Second.
Physical Description

84 Leaves

The Merchant of Venice.
Physical Description

78 Leaves

The Comedy of Errors .
Physical Description

56 Leaves

Twelfth Night.
Physical Description

72 Leaves

Macbeth.
Physical Description

75 Leaves

King John.
Physical Description

88 Leaves

The Taming of the Shrew.
Physical Description

90 Leaves

King Henry IV. Part I.
Physical Description

88 Leaves

Othello.
Physical Description

93 Leaves

Julius Caesar.
Physical Description

80 Leaves

The Tempest.
Physical Description

75 Leaves

Scope and Contents

Includes 5 plays by Shakespeare not included in Thirteen Plays. Each has the same mock-up and design as the material for Thirteen Plays. Each is edited by George Lyman Kittredge and revised by Ribner. Includes a typescript introduction with extensive autograph authors', editors & printers' notes for each play. The text is on 8 1/2 x 14 sheets with pasted printed matter with autograph and typescript corrections and additions in the margins. (Publisher listed is Blaisdell Publishing Co., 1966).

The Tragedy of King Lear.
Physical Description

113 Leaves

Romeo and Juliet .
Physical Description

102 Leaves

Antony and Cleopatra.
Physical Description

116 Leaves

As You Like It .
Physical Description

91 Leaves

Hamlet.
Physical Description

132 Leaves

Print, Suggest