ABSTRACT
With the 1616 Folio Jonson brought his achievement to its peak, and carefully enshrined it in the form that he correctly estimated would outlast any other kind of monument. The lovely book that his printer eventually produced contained nine plays, nineteen masques and two collections of Jonson's poetry. Taken together, these form a staggering display of Jonson's range and power. Their combined effect is , however, very much greater than the sum of the parts, substantial though each of these is in its own right. The Folio, great in every sense of the word, warrants throughout the validity of Jonson's claim to the title poeta regius 'the royal poet', 1 or more simply, 'the poet', which, as Drummond noted, 'in his merry humour he was wont to name himself' (HS I, 150).
