Recycling and Compilation Techniques in Francis Kirkman’s Psittacorum Regio (1669) and Richard Steere’s The Travels of Don Francisco de Quevedo (1684): Two Rewritings of Joseph Hall’s Mundus alter et idem (1605)

This paper offers a detailed comparative investigation of two recycled versions of Joseph Hall’s Mundus alter et idem (1605) with the purpose of demonstrating the widespread use of compilation as a textual strategy in late seventeenth-century prose fiction. Hall’s satirical travelogue is first reissued by Francis Kirkman in 1669 with no reference to its original author, combining the original with new sources and introducing numerous structural changes as well. Altogether, Kirkman’s compilation seems to focus more on the selective recycling and rearrangement of already existing sources, with no significant individual additions. The second recycled version was published in 1684, and it is proposed here that its previously unidentified author might be the lesser-known American poet Richard Steere. Steere’s compilation technique shows significant differences from Kirkman’s. He adds new paratextual materials and inserts a poem in his version. The new paratexts present the text as a translation of Francisco de Quevedo’s Spanish original, a completely fictional attribution, which, however, reflects the immense popularity of the Spaniard’s works in England. Based on an in-depth comparative analysis of the two later versions, and a thorough exploration of their intertextual backgrounds and literary contexts, the article situates the recycled editions within the changing requirements of the Restoration book market.