ABSTRACT
Ben Jonson had a troubled relationship with the stage, unable to reach a successful accommodation with it; Shakespeare apparently had a harmonious relationship with the theater. Jonson sought publication for his plays, itching to have sympathetic readers whose judgment Jonson believed in. Shakespeare, so conventional scholarly wisdom has it, remained at best indifferent to publishing plays, although he seems to have had some interest in the publication of his narrative poems and sonnets. The chapter examines the epistle dedicatory and the address "To the great Variety of Readers". It presents the material that introduces to the Folio's texts. The chapter focuses on textual patronage. It argues that through the epistle and addresses the 1623 Folio stands on the patronage fault line between past and future, between aristocratic and commercial support, between what McLuskie would call the "use value" system and the "exchange value" system.
