"Staging Memory and Materiality in Eighteenth-Century Theatrical Biography" examines theatrical biography as a developing genre in eighteenth-century England. Drawing heavily on primary sources, then-contemporary reviews and archival material in the form of extra-illustrated or "scrapbooked" copies, this text investigates the increasing emphasis on materiality which was designed to consolidate, but often challenged, the biographer's authority.

Amanda Weldy Boyd, an adjunct associate professor of English at Hope International University, received her PhD from University of Southern California and her undergraduate degree from University of California, Los Angeles. She specializes in eighteenth-century theatre history, teaching courses in drama as well as literature.

Acknowledgments; Introduction: Competition and Legitimacy; Chapter One: "Davies' Name...In Fame's Brightest Page Shall on Garrick Attend": From Anonymous to Personalized Participation in the Life of David Garrick; Chapter Two: His Work, My Words: Three Posthumous Lives of Charles Macklin, Comedian; Chapter Three: Epistolary Resurrections: James Boaden and the Rise of the Professional Thespian Biographer; Epilogue: The Limits of Materially Bound Permanence; Notes; References; Index