ComedyandCrisiscontainsthefirsteverscholarlyEnglishtranslationofPieterLangendijk’sQuincampoix,ortheWindTraders[QuincampoixofdeWindhandelaars],andHarlequinStock-Jobber[ArlequinActionist].Thefirstplayisafull-lengthsatiricalcomedy,andthesecondisashort,comicharlequinade;bothwerewritteninDutchinresponsetothespeculativefinancialcrisisorbubbleof1720andwereperformedinAmsterdaminthefallof1720,asthebubbleintheNetherlandswasbursting.ComedyandCrisisalsocontainsourtranslationoftheextensiveapparatuspreparedbyC.H.P.Meijer(Introductionandnotes)forhis1892editionoftheseplays.Thecurrenteditorshaveupdatedthefootnotesandaddedsixnewcriticalessaysbycontemporaryliteraryandhistoricalscholarsthatcontextualizethetwoplayshistoricallyandculturally.Thebookincludesanextensivebibliographyandindex.ThematerialsassembledinComedyandCrisisarearichresourceforcultural,historical,andliterarystudentsofthehistoryoffinanceandofeighteenth-centurystudies.
