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E. 6 It has been left to Genette to observe that in some instances the use of this paratextual space arouses curiosity: ‘in the original edition of the Chartreuse (a novel without intertitles) the running heads are distributed more or less capriciously; in the original edition of the Rouge, the running heads are unfaithful, or fairly liberated’ (316). His work, however, focuses on nineteenth-century French literature. This study examines early modern print culture. In highlighting the diverse uses made of the running title in this period, this chapter ranges across genres, formats and time-frames in an effort to demonstrate, if not that this practice was universal, that it was, at least, well established.

Ogden’s story is told within the bounds of a paratextual genre that is concerned with the production of authenticity and the certification of provenance and availability. Each early modern imprint that appeared both drew on and helped to accumulate a steady stock of verisimilitude, which could then be exploited by false imprints that imitated the standard form for a variety of purposes. That verisimilitude, however, was decisively disrupted by the publication of the Martin Marprelate pamphlets in the late 1580s.

10 Taylor’s imprint, like Fennor’s invocation of Cuckold’s Haven, signals his text’s participation in a comic, satirical mode that is deeply rooted in its London context. 11 It is not my contention that one of the less intrusive elements of the early modern paratext, sometimes as little as a single word in length and rarely exceeding four short lines, can spin the kind of detailed yarn of cause and effect, action and retaliation, that we associate with narrative fiction. 1 Title-page to Taylors Revenge, 1615.