ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with an examination of contemporary stationers' book-lists, and shows how the occurrence of printed playbooks on such lists can begin to help nuance questions about the size of dramatic print runs and the cost of playbooks relative to other books and materials. It focuses on the formative work of scholars like Peter W. M. Blayney and Greg Walker. The chapter considers other factors that might have affected the transformation of a manuscript copy, authorial or otherwise, into a printed playbook. The very prevalence of title-page attributed playtexts from across the pre-playhouse period should caution against the traditional association of pre-playhouse drama with anonymity. Anonymous publication might also result when publishers took the decision to print anonymous manuscripts obtained from non-authorial sources. Playbooks with extensive front matter frequently contain multiple attributions; there are early printed playbooks with one or more prefatory paratexts signed by the author.
