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Liber C
October 28,
1600

Liber C, folio 66 recto

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Liber C, folio 66 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. 66r

Item Creator
Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers
Item Title
Liber C
Item Date
1595-1620
Repository
Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers, London, UK
Call Number
Liber C, fol. 66r

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. 66r

Folger Shakespeare Library staff, "Stationers' Register entry for the transfer of The Merchant of Venice in 1600," Shakespeare Documented, https://doi.org/10.37078/405.

The Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers, Liber C, folio 66 recto. See Shakespeare Documentedhttps://doi.org/10.37078/405.

The Merchant of Venice was originally entered into Liber C of the Stationers' Company on July 22, 1598, and licensed to James Roberts. On October 28, 1600, Roberts legally transferred his publication rights for the play to another London publisher, Thomas Hayes, with another entry in Liber C. After transferring his rights at this time, Roberts printed the first quarto edition of the play for Hayes that same year. 

A total of three quarto editions of the play were produced before 1642, and the play was 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]

                                                    1600  42 Regine                                                  66

                                                        21. Octobris
mr white       Entred for his copie vnder
Warden         the handes of mr Harsenett
                     & mr Dawson warden. A
                      booke called : Certen lectures
                      vppon diuerse porcons of scripture
                      in one Volume by Lewes Thomas        .       vjd

                                                        .23. Octobris

Rich Oliff     Entred for his copie by assignement
                      from ffelix norton A booke called
                      John Dromes enterteinement as
                      yt hathe ben Acted by the Children
                      of Paules        .          .        .       .       .      vjd

Rich Oliffes  Entred for his copie vnder the handes
                      of mr Pasfeild and mr white
                      Warden A booke called, the
                      Weakest goethe to the Walles        .         .        .       .      vjd

                                                        28 octobris
Tho. haies      Entred for his copie under the
                       handes of the Wardens & by
                       Consent of mr Robertes. A
                       booke called the booke of the
                       merchant of Venyce        .         .        .       .      vjd

mr burby        Entred for their copie vnder
Wa. burre       the handes of mr Harsnet and the
                       Wardens. A booke called
                       Sommers last Will and testament
                       presented by Will Sommers        .         .        .       .      vjd

                                                        3 nov
hughe Astley   Entred for his copies in full Court holden
                        this day. These viij copies folowinge
                        savynge the right of euery man that hath right    iiijs
                            viz

                            The Art of navigation by Martin Curtis
                            The safegard of Saylers
                            The newe Attractyue
                            The patheway to saluation
                            The godly exhortac to England
                            The poore mans rest
                            The newe Invencon of Arithmetique
                            The garden of muses

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), 3:175.

DEEP: Database of Early English Playbooks, "The Merchant of Venice (The Jew of Venice),"  Ed. Alan B. Farmer and Zachary Lesser. Created 2007. Accessed 15 January 2016. http://deep.sas.upenn.edu.

Martin Wiggins and Catherine Richardson, "1047. The Merchant of Venice," in British Drama, 1533-1642: A Catalogue. Vol. 3, 1590-1597 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), 341-46.

Last updated February 8, 2020