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Pierre Béhar / Helen Watanabe-O'Kelly (Hgg.), Spectaculum Europæum. Theatre and Spectacle in Europe (1580–1750). 1999

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a handbook is “A compendious book or treatise for guidance in any art, occupation, or study”, a meaning that is attested since the early nineteenth century. In their Introduction, Watanabe-O'Kelly and Béhar modestly use this term (translated as “manuel” in the French text) to describe the present work (p. VIII). Its 818 pages indicate beyond the shadow of a doubt that researching the various types of spectacle in Europe between 1580 and 1750 is an overwhelming, and yet necessary, task.