Liber C, folio 161 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. 161v
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. 161v
Folger Shakespeare Library Staff, "Stationers' Register entry for King Lear," Shakespeare Documented, https://doi.org/10.37078/416.
The Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers, Liber C, folio 161 verso. See Shakespeare Documented, https://doi.org/10.37078/416.
Nathaniel Butter and John Busby entered King Lear into Liber C of the Stationers' Company on November 26, 1607, as "Master William Shakespeare his 'historye of Kinge Lear' as yt was played before the kinges maiestie at Whitehall vppon Sainct Stephens night at Christmas Last by his maiesties servantes playinge vsually at the 'Globe' on the Banksyde." This is one 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.
Nicholas Okes printed the first quarto edition for Butter in 1608. Although Butter is also listed as the publisher in the second quarto edition, the title page includes false publication information, claiming it was published in 1608, when it was actually printed in 1619 by William Jaggard for Thomas Pavier. Lear was issued in a total of three quarto editions, and appears in both 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]
1607 .5. Regis
26 Novembris
Na. Butter Entred for their copie vnder the handes of
Jo. Busby Sir Geo. Buck knight and The wardens
A booke called. Mr Willm. Shakespeare
his historye of Kinge LEAR as it was
played before the kinges maiestie
at Whitehall vppon St Stephens night
at Christmas Last by his maiesties servantes
playinge vsually at the Globe on the
Banksyde . . . . vjd
27 Novembris
Wm Aspley Entred for their copie by direction
Wm Barret from our master vnder his hand
wrytinge. A booke to be translated
out of Frenche and so printed. Called
A notable Discours of Combattes
of their originall begynninge in Fraunce &
of the hurt which dayly ariseth thereby to the
great endomagement of the weale publique
By Mr Jo. Taille . . . . . vjd deben
7 Decembris
Edm. Weaver Entred for their copie vnder the handes of
Wm Welby my Lo. Bysshop of London and the wardens
A booke called the Doctrine and vse of
repentance preached in sundry sermons
in the parishe of All hallowes in Breadstreet
by Richard Stock . . . vjd
Larw. Lyle Entred for his copy vnder the handes of
my Lo. Bysshop of London and
The wardens A Booke called the
Wynnynge of Worldlinges or
A playne and profitable Dialogue
against Wycked Atheistes . . . . vjd
21 decembris
Mr Knight Entred for his copy vnder the handes of
Mr ETKINS and the wardens. A book
called Jeremiahs teares or a sermon
preached in York mynster vpon Trinitie Sonday
1604 when the sicknes was begunne in the city
by Thomas Pullen Vicar of Ponfret &c . . . 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), 3:366.
DEEP: Database of Early English Playbooks, "King Lear," Ed. Alan B. Farmer and Zachary Lesser. Created 2007. Accessed 15 January 2016. http://deep.sas.upenn.edu.
Martin Wiggins and Catherine Richardson, "1486. King Lear," in British Drama, 1533-1642: A Catalogue. Vol. 5, 1603-1608 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015), 252-259.
Last updated February 23, 2021
