Gerald Eades Bentley (September 15, 1901 – July 25, 1994) was an American academic and literary scholar, best remembered for his seven-volume work, The Jacobean and Caroline Stage, published by Oxford University Press between 1941 and 1968.
Originally intending to be a creative writer, he changed his career to literary scholarship during his graduate studies.
[1][2] In addition to his Jacobean and Caroline Stage, Bentley wrote a wide range of works on Shakespeare and other figures of the English Renaissance.
In his obituary, the New York Times noted that he raised a literary stir in 1956 when he edited and wrote the preface to a hitherto unknown 1577 text called The Arte of Angling in which he noted several passages that reminded him of Isaac Walton's later The Compleat Angler.
"[3] Bentley was married first to Esther Felt, a significant colleague in his scholarly work, from 1927 until her death in 1961.