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Liber B
June 25,
1594

Liber B, folio 310 recto

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Liber B, folio 310 recto
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Institution Rights and Document Citation

Terms of use
The Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers has graciously contributed the above image from their collections to Shakespeare Documented under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license. For any further use, visitors should contact the Clerk of the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers at clerk@stationers.org.

Document-specific information
Creator: Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers
Title: Liber B
Date: 1576-1595
Repository: Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers, London, UK
Call number and opening: Liber B, fol. 310r

Item Creator
Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers
Item Title
Liber B
Item Date
1576-1595, entry for June 25, 1594
Repository
Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers, London, UK
Call Number
Liber B, fol. 310r

Institution Rights and Document Citation

Terms of use
The Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers has graciously contributed the above image from their collections to Shakespeare Documented under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license. For any further use, visitors should contact the Clerk of the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers at clerk@stationers.org.

Document-specific information
Creator: Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers
Title: Liber B
Date: 1576-1595
Repository: Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers, London, UK
Call number and opening: Liber B, fol. 310r

Folger Shakespeare Library Staff, "Stationers' Register entry for the transfer of Venus and Adonis in 1594," Shakespeare Documented, https://doi.org/10.37078/395.

The Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers, Liber B, folio 310 recto. See Shakespeare Documentedhttps://doi.org/10.37078/395.

On June 25, 1594, the London printer and publisher Richard Field (entered as "ffeild") transferred his rights to print Shakespeare's poem Venus and Adonis over to his colleague, John Harrison the Elder. The poem was entered as "Venus and Adonis" in Stationers' Liber B. Field had originally registered the poem on April 18, 1593, after which he printed the first and second quarto editions. Only one fragmentary copy of the third quarto is known to surrvive, and it does not include a title page, although scholars conjecture it was printed by Harrison in 1595, who printed also printed the fourth edition in 1596. Seventeen quarto editions were printed in total before 1641, and the poem's publishing rights in the Stationers' Register were transferred to several different tradesmen over the course of those years.

Liber B and the other registers with Shakespeare’s works are still kept by the Stationers’ Company in their archives.
 

Semi-diplomatic transcription

[This transcription is pending final vetting]
[Current transcription based on Arber; check back soon for a transcription that conforms to Shakespeare Documented conventions
             
                           Anno 1594 Regni Regine Eliz 36to                                    310

                                            22do Die Junij

John Danter.        Entred for his Copie vnder the hande
                            of Mr Warden Cawood. a Ballad
                            entytuled a most straunge and
                            miraculous wonder that happened
                            through lighteninge and thunder. which
                            happened in Divers places in England.  .          .          .        vjd

                                             25 Junij
Mr Harrison        Entred for his copie in Court 
Sen.                     holden this day  /  a booke
                            entituled. Orchestra. or a poeme
                            of Daunsing         .         .         .           .         .   vjd

Mr Harrison       Assigned ouer vnto him from 
Sen.                    Richard ffeild in open Court
                           holden this Day a book called 
                           Venus and Adonis              .           .         .   vjd     
                                The which was before entred to Richard ffeild. 
                                 18. aprilis /  1593 / 

                                                   25.
Edmond bolyfant    Alowed vnto them to prynt to
and his partners       the use of the Company, Dodoneus                                     
                                herball in all volumes and with
                                pictures or without pictures
                                paying alwaies vppon euery Impression 
                                vjin the li to the use of the poore
                                accordinge to the ordonnance in yat behalf .           .         .   vjd

                                               26. Junij
John Wolf.         Entred for his Copie vnder the hande
                          of Mr Warden Cawood, a booke
                          of Michaell de Renichon his aranment
                          and execucon &c   .           .         .   vjd

John danter        Entred for his copie vnder the  handes of Mr
                           Bynge, theis ballades
                           followinge      viz
                           The newe married wyfes fayringe       .         .         . vjd   
                           The Cuntrymans welcomme to Barthme
                           fayre       .         .         . vjd   
                           a maydes lamentacon for lack of a
                           fayringe           .         .        vjd
                           The wofull spectacle of the iust Judgment
                           of god shewed vppon a merchantes servant for
                           his cruelty toward his owne master beinge in poverty

Sources
Edward Arber, ed.,  A Transcript of the Registers of the Company of Stationers of London: 1554–1640 A.D. 5 vols. (London: privately printed, 1875–94): 2:655.

The British Library, "2. William Shakespeare's poems and sonnets." Rev. 1.0.1. Treasures in Full: Shakespeare in Quarto. Last modified December 2, 2004. <bl.uk/treasures/shakespeare/poems.html>.

Last updated February 8, 2020