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Liber C
July 22,
1598

Liber C, folio 39 verso

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Liber C, folio 39 verso
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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 C
Date: 1595-1620
Repository: Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers, London, UK
Call number and opening: Liber C, fol. 39v

Item Creator
Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers
Item Title
Liber C
Item Date
1595-1620
Repository
Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers, London, UK
Call Number
Liber C, fol. 39v

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 C
Date: 1595-1620
Repository: Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers, London, UK
Call number and opening: Liber C, fol. 39v

Folger Shakespeare Library staff, "Stationers' Register entry for The Merchant of Venice," Shakespeare Documented, https://doi.org/10.37078/401.

The Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers, Liber C, folio 39 verso. See Shakespeare Documentedhttps://doi.org/10.37078/401.

The Merchant of Venice was entered into Liber C of the Stationers' Company on July 22, 1598, under "the title the Marchaunt of Venyce or otherwise called the Jewe of Venyce." James Roberts, the London printer and publisher who entered the title, was allowed to enter the play under the restriction that any printing had to be authorized by the Lord Chamberlain. Roberts' rights to the play were transferred to Thomas Hayes on October 28 of that same year, and Roberts produced the first quarto edition in 1600, to be sold by Hayes. A total of only three quarto editions were produced before 1642; the play was included in the First and Second Folios.

Liber C 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]

                                                   1598  Anno 40mo Regine Elizabeth

                                                                    xxijo Julij
James Robertes./      Entred for his copie vnder the handes
                                 of bothe the wardens, a booke
                                 of the Marchaunt of Venyce
                                 or otherwise called the Jewe
                                 of Venyce / Prouided that
                                 yt bee not prynted by the said James
                                 Robertes or anye other whatsoeuer
                                 without lycence first had from the
                                 Right honorable the lord Chamberlen.         .       .       .         vjd

John Browne /        Entred for his Copie vnder the handes of
                                mr Lyllye and mwarden Ponsonbye
                                a booke intituled / A most fragrant
                                flower or devoute exposition of the Lordes
                                prayer, full od godlye effectes, and
                                Deuided into Seaven meditations or
                                prayers, Compiled by Granado
                                a ffryer and translated out of the Latyn
                                in to Englishe by J / G.         .         .         .         .         .        vjd

                                               7 Augusti
Tho.  East        Entred for his copies these thinges
                        flowinge       viz
                        1  The first sett of English madrigalles
                        to. 3. 4. 5. and 6. voices compiled
                        by John Wilby    .       .        .       .        vjd
                        2  Madrigalles to ffyve voices selected out
                        of the best approued Italian Authours
                        by Tho. Morley gent of her maiesties
                        Roiall Chappell        .           .           .     vjd
                        3  Nove aliquot non antehac ita vsitate
                        ad duas voces Cantiones suauissime
                        omnibus musicis summe vtiles &c
                        Authore Orlando di Lasso  DI LASSO &c     .         .          .          .         .     vjd
                        4 Ballettes and Madrigalles to ffyve voices
                        with one to 6 voices newly published  
                        By Tho Weelkes      .     vjd

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), 3:122.

DEEP: Database of Early English Playbooks, "The Merchant of Venice (The Jew of Venice),"  Ed. Alan B. Farmer and Zachary Lesser. Created 2007. Accessed 15 January 2016. http://deep.sas.upenn.edu.

Martin Wiggins and Catherine Richardson, "1047. The Merchant of Venice," in British Drama, 1533-1642: A Catalogue. Vol. 3, 1590-1597, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), 341-46.

Last updated February 8, 2020