Peter Short (printer)

Peter Short (printer)

Peter Short (died 1603) was a London printer of the later Elizabethan era; he printed several first editions and early texts of Shakespeare's works. [F. E. Halliday, "A Shakespeare Companion 1564–1964," Baltimore, Penguin, 1964; p. 452.]

Short became a "freeman" (full member) of the Stationers Company on March 1, 1589, and operated his own business from that year until his death; he was partnered with Richard Yardley until 1593. His shop was at the sign of the star on Bread Street Hill. About a third of his titles involved translations from Latin or contemporary European languages; in at least one case he entered the specialized field of music publishing. In an era when the functions of publisher and printer were often largely (though not entirely) separate, Short was primarily a printer and only secondarily a publisher; he printed just over 170 works in his career, and the publishers of about 100 are known. [Andrew Murphy, "A Concise Companion to Shakespeare and the Text," London, Blackwell, 2007; pp. 217-19.] Short likely published some or many of the others himself.

Apart from Shakespeare's works, Short's most important printing tasks were: the famous 1600 first edition of William Gilbert's "De Magnete;" the 1601 edition of the "Annals" of John Stow; and the completion of the fifth edition (1597) of the "Acts and Monuments, or Book of Martyrs" of John Foxe. He also printed the first edition (1600) of Marlowe's translation of Lucan's "Pharsalia" for Thomas Thorpe.

Regarding Shakespeare, Short printed:
* The first quarto of "Henry VI, Part 3" (1595), for publisher Thomas Millington. This was the "bad quarto," the early alternative text of Shakespeare's play known as "The True Tragedy of Richard Duke of York."
* The first quarto of "Henry IV, Part 1" (1598), for Andrew Wise.
* The second edition of "The Rape of Lucrece" (1598), for John Harrison. This was the first edition of that poem in octavo rather than quarto format (O1).
* The fifth edition of "Venus and Adonis" (1599), for William Leake; the third octavo edition (O3).

For Cuthbert Burby, Short printed "Palladis Tamia" (1598) by Francis Meres, a book that contains an important early reference to Shakespeare and a list of his plays performed up to 1598.

Short printed a few non-Shakespearean play texts as well:
* For Burby, Short printed Q1 and Q2 of "The Taming of a Shrew" (1594, 1596), the early alternative version of Shakespeare's "The Shrew."
* For William Ponsonby, he printed the closet drama "Antony" (1595), translated from the French of Robert Garnier by the Countess of Pembroke.
* For Simon Waterson, he printed the third, 1598 edition of Samuel Daniel's "Cleopatra."
* And for William Holme, Short printed one of the three editions of Jonson's "Every Man Out of His Humour" that appeared in a single year, 1600.

Short's connection with the Shakespeare canon has led scholars to study his printed output and learn details of the workings of his shop, including the compositors he employed. [Alan E. Craven, "The Compositors of the Shakespeare Quartos Printed by Peter Short," "Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America," 65 (1971), pp. 393-7.]

After his 1603 death, Short's widow continued his business; she married Humphrey Lownes, another member of the Stationers Company, in 1604.

References

External links

*worldcat id|lccn-n2004-122472


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Peter Short — For the Elizabethan printer, see: Peter Short (printer). For the former soccer coach, see: Peter Short (soccer); For the Canadian field hockey player, see: Peter Short (field hockey) The Very Rev. Peter Short was the 38th Moderator of the United… …   Wikipedia

  • Peter Mansfield — For the historian specialising in Arabs and the Middle East, see Peter Mansfield (historian). Peter Mansfield Born 9 …   Wikipedia

  • Robert Crowley (printer) — Robert Crowley also Robertus Croleus, Roberto Croleo, Robart Crowleye, Robarte Crole, and Crule (c. 1517 ndash; June 18 1588), was a stationer, poet, polemicist and Protestant clergyman who was among the Marian exiles at Frankfurt. Crowley… …   Wikipedia

  • John Day (printer) — For the soul singer, see Johnny Daye John Day or Daye (c. 1522 [Evenden. The birthdate is calculated from a 1562 woodcut of Day that proclaims his age to be 40 ( Life is death and death is life: ætatis suæ XXXX ).] ndash; 23 July 1584) was an… …   Wikipedia

  • Partners in Crime (short story collection) — infobox Book | name = Partners in Crime title orig = translator = image caption = Dust jacket illustration of the US (true first) edition. See Publication history (below) for UK first edition jacket image. author = Agatha Christie cover artist =… …   Wikipedia

  • Ordnance QF 25-pounder Short — 25 pounder Short Mark I An Ordnance QF 25 pounder Short in 1944 Type Field gun / howitzer Pl …   Wikipedia

  • QF 25-pounder Short — 25 фунтовое короткоствольное орудие в 1944 году Тип: пушка гаубица …   Википедия

  • Malcolm Peter McBeath — (2 December 1880 – 15 June 1957) was the 17th mayor of Vancouver, British Columbia from 1915 to 1917. Born in Allenford, Bruce County, Ontario, the son of Thomas and Lena (Foisie) McBeath, McBeath moved with his family to Portage la Prairie,… …   Wikipedia

  • List of German Americans — This is a list of notable German Americans.German Americans (Deutschamerikaner) are citizens of the United States of ethnic German ancestry and form the largest ancestry group in the United States, accounting for 17% of US population. [cite web… …   Wikipedia

  • Nicholas Okes — Contents 1 Life and work 2 Shakespeare 3 And others 4 Pub …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”