Shakespeare Documented is still growing! Currently, two thirds of the descriptions and 98% of the images are available in the resource. Descriptive text will continue to be added, updated and expanded. Visit our About page to learn more about the project scope.
EXPLORE THE DOCUMENTS BY CATEGORY
SHAKESPEARE DOCUMENTED IS STILL GROWING
Descriptive content and transcriptions will continue to be added, updated and expanded. Check back for regular updates!
Filter the documents by tag(s)
ca. 1598
The scholar and writer Gabriel Harvey was known and mocked in his lifetime for making copious notes in the margins of printed books. An inventor of words, friend of Edmund Spenser, and rival of Thomas Nashe, he constantly sought to improve himself through note-taking and repetitive reading.
October 1, 1598
Lay subsidies were a type of tax based on personal wealth. In London, the collection of subsidies was managed at the local level of ward and parish.
July 18, 1598
In the summer of 1598, Thomas Blackford of Butlers Marston sold a house on the north side of Sheep Street, Stratford-upon-Avon, to Daniel Smith. The deed recording the sale, shown here, was drawn up on July 18.
1598
Love’s Labor’s Lost, first edition: One of the first instances of Shakespeare's name on a title page
William Shakespeare's name first appeared on the title pages of three plays in 1598, including this edition of Love's Labor's Lost. Fourteen copies of this edition are known to survive. The sub-title, "Newly corrected and augmented By W.
January 24, 1598
In this letter, dated January 24, 1598, Abraham Sturley wrote to fellow Stratford townsman Richard Quiney about several town matters, including a rumor regarding Shakespeare’s intent to purchase land.
1598
Richard II was printed in a second quarto edition in 1598, a year after its first printing. It was again published by the London bookseller Andrew Wise and printed by Valentine Simmes.
November 4, 1598
On October 25, 1598, Richard Quiney wrote both to Shakespeare, asking for his help in securing a loan of £30 and to his friend Abraham Sturley in Stratford-upon-Avon to let him know the request had been made.
1598
Shakespeare’s Richard II was printed in a third quarto edition in 1598, the same year as its second edition. As was the case with the first two editions, London bookseller Andrew Wise was the publisher.
ca. November 4, 1598
While in London in the autumn of 1598, Richard Quiney received five letters from his father Adrian. Four are dated (October 20 and 29, November 10 and 18).
1599
The fifth edition of Shakespeare’s perennially popular poem Venus and Adonis appeared in 1599.
