Troilus and Cressida, first edition

This is the first edition of Troilus and Cressida. This play was recorded twice in the Stationers’ Company register before it was ever printed. It was first entered on February 7, 1603 by James Roberts, and then again on January 28, 1609 by Henry Walley and Richard Bonian. Shortly after the second entry, George Eld, Walley and Bonian’s printer, printed two entirely separate editions that same year.

The title page of this edition declares that it was “acted by the Kings Majesties seruants at the Globe.” However, the second edition omits that claim and even adds an epistle to the reader that states that the play has never been performed. Scholars speculate that the play was perhaps first written for a private performance, or perhaps ran into issues with the censors (Oxford Companion 485).

The copy shown above, owned by the British Library, is one of only three known copies listed in the English Short Title Catalogue. It was once owned by the noted 18th century Shakespearean commentator George Steevens, and passed through the hands of the Duke of Roxburghe and King George III. To learn more about this copy, please see the British Library’s Shakespeare in Quarto page.

To learn more about the plot and early printing history of Troilus and Cressida, please see the Folger Shakespeare Library’s Shakespeare's Works and the British Library’s Shakespeare in Quarto.