 The play was first published in 1633, in a quarto printed by Nicholas Okes for the bookseller Richard Collins.Ford dedicated the play to John Mordaunt, 1st Earl of Peterborough and Baron of Turvey.Giovanni, recently returned to Parma from university in Bologna, has developed an incestuous passion for his sister Annabella and the play opens with his discussing this ethical problem with Friar Bonaventura.