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Liber C
June 25,
1603

Liber C, folio 98 recto

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Liber C, folio 98 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 C
Date: 1595-1620
Repository: Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers, London, UK
Call number and opening: Liber C, fol. 98r

Item Creator
Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers
Item Title
Liber C
Item Date
1595-1620, entry for June 25, 1603
Repository
Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers, London, UK
Call Number
Liber C, fol. 98r

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. 98r

Folger Shakespeare Library Staff, "Stationers' Register entry for the transfer of Richard III, Richard II, and Henry IV Part 1 in 1603," Shakespeare Documented, https://doi.org/10.37078/412.

The Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers, Liber C, folio 98 recto. See Shakespeare Documentedhttps://doi.org/10.37078/412.

Richard III,  Richard II, and Henry IV Part 1 were all transferred to publisher Matthew Law from publisher Andrew Wise in an entry in Liber C of the Stationers' Company, dated June 25, 1603. Here we see the entries grouped together, along with two other titles Wise was transferring. Richard III is entered as "Richard the. 3.", Richard II is entered as "Richard the. 2.", and Henry IV Part 1 is entered as "Henry the. 4 the firste part". A note appearing to the right of the entry Henry IV Part 1 reads, "all kinges".

Wise had entered all of these plays in Liber C in quick succession in 1597 and 1598—Richard II in August of 1597, Richard III in October of that same year, and Henry IV Part 1 in February of 1598. He produced the first three quarto editions of Richard II (one in 1597, and two in 1598), the first three quarto editions of Richard III (1597, 1598, and 1602) and the first three quarto editions of Henry IV Part 1 (two in 1598, and one 1599) before passing the rights to Law. Law then produced the next three quarto editions of Henry IV Part 1 (1608, 1613, 1622), the next four quarto editions of Richard III (1605, 1612, 1622, 1629), and the next two quarto editions of Richard II (1608, 1615). Each play was also 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]       

                                                              1603 J. Regis Jacobi                                             
                                                                  25 Junij                            98

ffrauncis Burton      Entred for his copie vnder the handes of 
                                mr Doctor Mountford and the wardens
                                A booke called an answere vnto
                                the Catholique supplicacion presented
                                vnto the kinges maiestie for a tolleracon 
                                of popish religion in England. with
                                An informacon &c. Wrytten by Christopher
                                Muriell the elder      .        .      vjd

Walter Burre          Entred for his copie vnder the
                               handes of the wardens A
                               Lecture preched by mr Egerton 
                               vpon the xijth chapter of
                               Genesis. verses. 17. 18. 19. 20     .        .       .       vjd

Math. Lawe          Entred for his copies in full courte
                             Holden this Day. These ffyve copies
                             folowinge     .        .       .         .        .         .         .       .  ijs vjd  
                              viz  
                             iij enterludes or playes
                             The ffirst is of Richard the. 3.
                             The second of Richard the. 2.
                             The Third of Henry the. 4 
                             the firste part. all kinges.
                             Item master Doctor Plafordes sermons
                             Item a thing. of. no man can
                             be hurt but by hym self.
                             all whiche by consent of the Company
                             are sett ouer to him from Andrew Wyse

Wm Aspley        Entred for his copye vnder the handes of the
                           wardens. A true & large discours of the
                           whole flete of Ships sett forth the 20 of Aprill
                           1601 by the gouernours and Assistentes of the East Indian
                           merchantes to ye East Indies with their returne home
                           wherein is sett downe the order & manner of yeir traffique
                           the discription of the cuntrey, the nature of the people
                           & their language with the names of suche men as Died
                           in the voiage        .         .         .       .        .         .         .       .      vjd

Tho. purfoot Sen     Entred for their copie vnder the handes of mr 
Tho. purfoot Jun      Charier & the wardens. A booke called
                                 Davides pastorall Idyllian or sheppardes
                                 songes in 7 sermons on ye 23 psalme of David
                                 whereof ye last was preched at Asheford in Kent the
                                 26. of marche 1603 being the first Satterday after
                                 her maiesties Death and the day that kinge James was
                                 proclaimed there, by Tho. Jackson precher at Wye. in
                                 the Audience of Diuerse knightes and gentilmen             .      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), 3:239.

DEEP: Database of Early English Playbooks, "1 Henry the Sixth," Ed. Alan B. Farmer and Zachary Lesser. Created 2007. Accessed 15 January 2016. http://deep.sas.upenn.edu.

DEEP: Database of Early English Playbooks, "Richard the Second," Ed. Alan B. Farmer and Zachary Lesser. Created 2007. Accessed 15 January 2016. http://deep.sas.upenn.edu.

DEEP: Database of Early English Playbooks, "Richard the Third," Ed. Alan B. Farmer and Zachary Lesser. Created 2007. Accessed 15 January 2016. http://deep.sas.upenn.edu.

Martin Wiggins and Catherine Richardson, "888. The First Part of the Contention betwixt the Two Famous Houses of York and Lancaster," in British Drama, 1533-1642: A Catalogue. Vol. 3, 1590-1597 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), 92-103.

Martin Wiggins and Catherine Richardson, "919. Harry VI," in British Drama, 1533-1642: A Catalogue. Vol. 3, 1590-1597 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), 161-7.

Martin Wiggins and Catherine Richardson, "950. King Richard III," in British Drama, 1533-1642: A Catalogue. Vol. 3, 1590-1597 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), 219-26.

Martin Wiggins and Catherine Richardson, "1002. King Richard II," in British Drama, 1533-1642: A Catalogue. Vol. 3, 1590-1597 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), 287-92.

Last updated July 14, 2020