Old Fortunatus

<p>With its fantasy of magical travel and inexhaustible riches Thomas Dekker's <i>Old Fortunatus </i>is the quintessential early modern journeying play. The adventures of Fortunatus and his sons aided by a magical purse and wishing-hat offers the period's most overt celebration of the pleasures of travel as well as a sustained critique of the dangers of intemperance and prodigality. Written following a period of financial difficulty for Dekker the play is also notable for its fascination with the symbolic mercantile and ethical uses of gold.<br><br>This <i>Revels Plays</i> edition is the first fully annotated single-volume critical edition of <i>Old Fortunatus</i>. It offers scholarly discussion of the play's performance and textual history including attention to the German version printed and performed in the early seventeenth century. It provides a long overdue critical reappraisal of this unjustly neglected play.</p>