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Liber C
August 23,
1600

Liber C, folio 63 verso

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Liber C, folio 63 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. 63v

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. 63v

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. 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 Documentedhttps://doi.org/10.37078/403.

On August 23, 1600, William Shakespeare's name appears in the Stationers' Register as "MShakespere." 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.
 

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

                                                                           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 MShakespere        .        .           .        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