Dekker
2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Dekker. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
THOMAS, an English dramatist; born in London, about 1570; died some time after 1637. He wrote a great number of plays, but only a few of them were published, among them the two comedies, "The Shoemak. er's Holiday," and "Old Fortunatus"; they are both specimens of whatever is best and most genuine in English humor, and the second in particular abounds in passages of consummate poetic beauty. Of other writings of his we have "The Wonderful Year," a pamphlet describing graphically the horrors of the plague; an amusing tract, "The Bachelor's Banquet," a satire on henpecked husbands; and many other fugitive pieces lashing the vices and follies of the age. He also collaborated with other dramatists. DE KOVEN (HENRY LOUIS) REGI- NALD, an American composer born in Middletown, Conn., April 3, 1859. He was graduated at Oxford in 1879 and studied music in the leading cities of Europe. His operettas have had great success, notably "The Begum," "Don Quixote," "Robin Hood," "The Fencing Master," "The Three Dragoons," "Maid Marian," "Student King," etc. He composed some popular songs, as "Oh, Promand "Recessional." Died 1915. ise Me," Me,"
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
or Decker, Thomas (1570-1637 or later), an English dramatist. Little is known of his life, except that he lived in London, wrote about twenty-eight dramas alone, and many others in collaboration with Massinger, Ford, Webster, Rowley, Middleton, and others. He excelled in scenes laid in shops, inns, taverns, and the like. SAYINGS. Turn over a new leaf. Honest labor bears a lovely face. This principle is old, but true as fate,-- Kings may love treason, but the traitor hate.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Both accounts leave Dekker's death open — Collier's in 1921 says he "died some time after 1637," Aiton's in 1910 gives "1637 or later." Parish records settle it: a Thomas Dekker was buried at St James, Clerkenwell on 25 August 1632, and that date is now standard, with his birth put at about 1572. Much else has been filled in too, notably the seven years he spent in the King's Bench prison for debt, from 1612 to 1619, and his likely hand in the manuscript play Sir Thomas More, the same manuscript that carries the passage widely credited to Shakespeare. Collier's picks out The Shoemaker's Holiday and Old Fortunatus; modern readers are at least as likely to meet him through The Honest Whore, The Roaring Girl (with Middleton) or The Witch of Edmonton (with Ford and Rowley).
Written for this edition, 2026.