The Worlde and the Chylde, issued by the press of Wynkyn de Worde in 1521, is one of the very earliest plays published in England. It also has very considerable interest for its adaptation of the Ages of Man iconography, which is extensively treated in the introduction, notes, and illustrations.
Dr Peter Happé is a Visiting Fellow in English at the University of Southampton.
His first degree was in English at Queens' College, Cambridge (1955); after a Certificate in Education, he gained an MA in English at Birkbeck College, London, followed by a London PhD. He has taught English at a variety of schools and colleges, and was appointed Principal of Rutland Sixth Form College and then later of Barton Peveril Sixth Form College.
He has been a Tutor and Associate Lecturer of the Open University since 1983, as well as teaching undergraduate courses at the Universities of Cambridge, Southampton, and Tours. He has supervised PhD students at both Southampton and Tours. He was a visiting professor of the University of Tours in 1994, and was later awarded the Medal of Honour of the City of Tours in 2002. In 1995-6 he held a Hartley Fellowship at the University of Southampton, and was then a Research Associate at the Open University between 1996 and 1999.
He has published extensively on medieval and early Renaissance drama.