The enormous production of Golden Age theater (mainly thanks to the vast number of projects linked to Lope, Calderón, and Tirso) is now augmented by the arrival of a series of critical editions aimed at collecting the complete legacy of the celebrated Spanish playwright Juan Pérez de Montalbán. Edition Reichenberger has decided to bring to light the complete works of Montalbán, starting with the two “official” volumes published in the author’s lifetime (1635, 1638): the first (Primer volumen de comedias) appeared in two volumes in 2013 and 2014, and the second (Segundo volumen) is still under preparation. To these works will be added the voluminous miscellany Para todos, also under preparation and whose overflowing success at the time of its publication gave rise to one of the most sour literary polemics of the moment with Francisco de Quevedo, who did not hesitate to brand the author a coarse imitator of Lope (even if Montalbán never hid his devotion to the work of his teacher and friend, the quality of his works went far beyond the rough imitation of a second-class playwright). Finally, the catalogue will be closed with the volumes of Comedias varias that will pick up those pieces that were published apart from the Primer and Segundo volumen de comedias.

It is important to mention that the three comedies published in this Comedias varias, vol. 3.1, are followed by interesting reflections on their textual transmission, reception, and some key aspects of their date of composition and authorship. The first comedy is the earliest one written by the playwright (Morir y disimular), now edited by C. Demattè, composed in late adolescence and strongly critical against the courtly fashions of the time. The second comedy is Gravedad en Villaverde, edited by D. Arbesú, an adaptation of the author’s successful exemplary novel La villana de Pinto. Finally, the third is La más constante mujer, edited by P. Allen, one of the author’s most successful works by number of editions, translations, international projection, and number of representations, and in which a more than interesting resolution of the plot is due to the initiative of the feminine characters. Perhaps for that reason it is not surprising that this comedy had to escape the ten year censorship from 1625 to 1635, during which it was prohibited to print comedies in Castile with the illusive purpose of ending an alleged prevailing sexual immorality that the theater was directly accused of spreading.

The work of Montalbán has been extensively analyzed to date, although his narrative is better known than his theater, as testified by the studies of Victor Dixon, Maria Grazia Profeti, or Luigi Giuliani. His plays have been scarcely treated, at least in comparison, and in that area stand out the studies of German Vega and Claudia Demattè, who signs the first of three comedies collected in this volume and is also the visible figure of the editions of the two official volumes recently reissued and in preparation. In conclusion, Comedias varias vol. 3.1 comes to complete a very pertinent editorial objective to bring to light the complete works of Montalbán, and to which will soon be added the volumes of Estudios de literatura, Bibliografías, and Catálogos. This is, in sum, a long-term project: Montalbán’s success and ingenio well deserve it.