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Liber C
January 18,
1602

Liber C, folio 78 recto

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Liber C, folio 78 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. 78r

Item Creator
Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers
Item Title
Liber C
Item Date
1595-1620, entry for January 18, 1602
Repository
Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers, London, UK
Call Number
Liber C, fol. 78r

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. 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 Documentedhttps://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.
 

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]                                                                                   
                                                          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