James Stokes, Ed. Lincolnshire. Records of Early English Drama

James Stokes, ed. Lincolnshire. Records of Early English Drama. 2 vols. Toronto: Re British Library and University of Toronto Press, 2009. Pp. x + 913 + 4 maps. $425.00. James Stokes's two substantial volumes of records of early music, dance, performance, ritual, ceremony, and entertainments have the virtues of the Records of Early English Drama series as a whole, bringing together an impressive array of primary documents, most of them previously unpublished and others only available in rare volumes, in a coherently organized, nicely produced, and attractive edition. Volume 1 contains the records themselves, while the second volume is comprised of a lengthy introduction, a select bibliography, four maps, six appendices, translations of the Latin records that appear in volume 1, a Latin and an English glossary, and a full index. As might be expected from such an experienced REED editor (his excellent Somerset volume came out in 1996), the bibliographic entries are meticulous, and the translations from the Latin and French (the latter by the late Graham Runnalls) expertly done, while the lengthy chapters at the start of volume 2 on the Historical Background, Drama, Music, and Popular Customs, the Documents, and Editorial Procedures, do a masterful job both of placing the records into significant contexts and in drawing out noteworthy patterns that a less experienced eye might easily overlook in the welter of detail.