Liber C, folio 78 recto
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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. 78r
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. 78r
Folger Shakespeare Library staff, "Stationers' Register entry and transfer for The Merry Wives of Windsor," Shakespeare Documented, https://doi.org/10.37078/408.
The Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers, Liber C, folio 78 recto. See Shakespeare Documented, https://doi.org/10.37078/408.
The Merry Wives of Windsor was entered twice into Liber C of the Stationers' Company on January 18, 1602, shown above. John Busby, who made the first entry for that day, printed no known copies, and had never registered the title previously. In the next entry, Busby transfers the publishing rights to Arthur Johnson. Busby enters the title of the play as "An excellent and pleasant conceited commedie of Sir John ffaulstof and the merry wyves of Windesor." Johnson enters the title as "An excellent and pleasant conceyted Comedie of Sir John ffaulstafe and the merye wyves of Windsor." Johnson published the first quarto edition, which was printed by Thomas Creede, later in 1602. Three quarto editions in total were published before 1642, and the play was included in the First and Second Folio.
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]
1601/. 44. Regine 78
4to Januarij
mr Man Entred for his Copye vnder the handes of mr
Pasfeild & Mr Seaton warden A booke
Called A Defence of Tabacco with
a frendly answere to the late printed booke
Called woorke for Chymney swepers. . . . . vjd
mr Man / Entered for his Copye vnder the lyke
Aucthoritie Tenne sermons of mr
Burtons vppon the i--2--3 & 4 verses
of the 6 Chap of Matthewe /. . . . . vjd
8o Januarij
Raffe Howell Entred for his Copye vnder the handes of mr
Pasfeild and mr Seaton warden A booke
called the vnmaskinge of the politique
Atheist. . . . . vjd
xo Januarij
Tho Pavier Entred for his Copye vnder the
handes of mr Seaton warden
A booke called / Extremites
pressinge my lord generall to
offer the lateante parlee to the
ArchDuke Albertus / . . . . vjd
18 Januarij
Jo Newberie Entred for their copie by assignement
Tho. Adams. from mr Raffe newberie / one
booke called mr Stowes Cronicle
in Quarto / and in noone other volume . . . . vjd
Jo. Busby Entred for his copie vnder the
hand of mr Seton / A booke
called An excellent & pleasant vjd
conceited commedie of Sir Jo ffaulstof
and the merry wyves of Windesor
Arthure Johnson Entred for his Copye by
assignement from John Busbye, A booke
Called an excellent and pleasant conceyted
Comedie of Sir John ffaulstafe and the
merye wyves of Windsor . . . 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), 3:199.
DEEP: Database of Early English Playbooks, "The Merry Wives of Windsor," Ed. Alan B. Farmer and Zachary Lesser. Created 2007. Accessed 15 January 2016. http://deep.sas.upenn.edu.
Martin Wiggins and Catherine Richardson, "1079. The Merry Wives of Windsor," in British Drama, 1533-1642: A Catalogue. Vol. 3, 1590-1597 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), 395-401.
Last updated February 8, 2020
