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Liber C
November 26,
1607

Liber C, folio 161 verso

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Liber C, folio 161 verso
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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. 161v

Item Creator
Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers
Item Title
Liber C
Item Date
1595-1620, entry for November 26, 1607
Repository
Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers, London, UK
Call Number
Liber C, fol. 161v

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. 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 Documentedhttps://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.
 

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

                                                                                    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