Liber C, folio 63 verso
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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. 63v
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. 63v
Folger Shakespeare Library Staff, "Stationers' Register entry for Much Ado About Nothing and Henry IV Part 2," Shakespeare Documented, https://doi.org/10.37078/403.
The Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers, Liber C, folio 63 verso. See Shakespeare Documented, https://doi.org/10.37078/403.
On August 23, 1600, William Shakespeare's name appears in the Stationers' Register as "Mr Shakespere." This is the first of the four times Shakespeare's name appears in the Stationers' Register during his lifetime. His name also appears in two later entries for the First Folio and Two Noble Kinsmen. The London publishers Andrew Wise and William Aspley entered two of his plays at that time: Much Ado About Nothing, entered as "Muche a Doo about nothinge," and Henry IV Part 2, entered as "the second parte of the history of kinge Henry the iiijth with the humours of Sir John ffallstaff."
Much Ado About Nothing had been stayed (forbidden to be printed or distributed) by the Stationers' Company earlier on August 4, along with Henry V and As You Like It. It is unknown whether any editions of Much Ado About Nothing were issued prior to being stayed. The first known quarto edition was printed by Valentine Simmes for Wise and Aspley later in 1600. A cancelled leaf for Henry IV Part 2 was accidentally inserted part-way through this first edition. No other quarto editions are known before 1642, but the play does appear in the First and Second Folios.
The first quarto edition of Henry IV Part 2 was printed by Valentine Simmes, again for Wise and Aspley, later in 1600. Later that same year, this edition was reissued in a second state, with cancellations and a new four-leaf sheet inserted. Due to the appearance of a cancelled leaf in the first edition of Much Ado About Nothing, we know that this reissue interrupted the printing of Much Ado. No further quarto editions were issued before 1642, and 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.
[This transcription is pending final vetting]
[Current transcription based on Arber; check back soon for a transcription that conforms to Shakespeare Documented conventions]
1600 42 Regine
Hasletons Travelles . . . . . . . vjd
The lookinge glass for London . . . . . . vjd
Solempne passion of the Soules love . . . . vjd
Godes Arrowe Against Atheistes . . . vjd
21. Augusti
Willm aspley Entred for his copie vnder the handes of
Mr Jackson and the wardens. A
booke called Smythes Jewell
wherein the brief of the whole
bible not onely particularly but
summaryly is conteined by
Analyticall methode and Alphabeticall
verse translated out of Latin into
Englishe . . . . . . . . vjd
Mr Wolff. Entred for his copie vnder the
handes of Mr Sonybank and the
Wardens. A booke called
Disce Mori. Learne to Dye . . vjd
22 Augusti
Jo. Smythick. Entred for his copie vnder the handes of
Mr Jackson & Mr white warden. A
booke called. Pasquilles, Swullen
humours . . . . . . . . vjd
23 Augusti
Andrewe Wyse Entred for their copies vnder the handes
Willm Aspley of the wardens Two bookes. the one called: Muche a Doo about
nothinge. The other the second parte
of the history of kinge Henry the IIIJth
with the humours of Sir John
Ffallstaff : Wrytten by Mr Shakespere . . . xijd
28 Augusti
Mr Waterson Entred for his copie vnder the handes of Mr V
ycars and the wardens. A booke
called. E. W. his Thamisiados Devyded
into three bookes . . . . vjd
primo Septembris
Mr Raffe Jackson Entred for their copie vnder the handes of
Mr Dexter Mr Harsnet and the wardens
The second and Third parte of the workes
of the Reuerend and faithfull servant of
Christ master Richard Greenham . 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), 3:170.
DEEP: Database of Early English Playbooks, "2 Henry the Fourth," Ed. Alan B. Farmer and Zachary Lesser. Created 2007. Accessed 15 January 2016. http://deep.sas.upenn.edu.
DEEP: Database of Early English Playbooks, "Much Ado About Nothing," Ed. Alan B. Farmer and Zachary Lesser. Created 2007. Accessed 15 January 2016. http://deep.sas.upenn.edu.
Martin Wiggins and Catherine Richardson, "1083. 2 Henry IV," in British Drama, 1533-1642: A Catalogue. Vol. 3, 1590-1597 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), 406-414.
Martin Wiggins and Catherine Richardson, "1148. Much Ado About Nothing," in British Drama, 1533-1642: A Catalogue. Vol. 4, 1598-1602 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), 60-4.
Last updated February 23, 2021
