| Research Abstract |
In the initial year, 2004, the research of the textual analysis of The Famous Victories of Henry the Filth(1598), the core of this research project, started with a view to complete Introduction' of the text for the Malone Society Reprints series. The play was printed by Thomas Creede in the Shakespearean London, and the second edition was also put to print in 1617 by his successor. Every aspect of the printing process and of the textual transmission as a material book was researched through direct investigations of examining the original copies held in UK and USA. A book review of Anthony James West, The Shakespeare First Folio : The History of the Book and some brief notes on Bibliography were also published this year. In 2005, I spoke at the Shakespeare Society of Japan Conference to present the textual studies of The Famous Victories of Henry the Fifth in Tokyo in November. In December, I held a lecture of Bibliography for English Faulty students of Doshisha University in Kyoto. In March 2006, I published an essay on University Education and Shakespeare Bibliography for Shakespeare News. This shows how we can reflect. textual analysis and studies of bibliography in university curricula, which are, it seems, rare in Japanese universities. In 2007, I published an article for a Shakespeare Society of Japan festschrift, which deals with John Danter, a printer of Shakespeare and other dramatists. He was involved in printing business with his compositors, pressmen, and, especially, an agent at his printing-house, who was, probably, Henry Chettle. This article also focuses on his life and career, as well as how the dramatic texts of Shakespeare's age were produced at his small printing-house from 1591 through 1599. Finally, I published a Malone Society edition of The Famous Victories of Henry the Fifth 1598 this year.
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