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.

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*worldcat id|lccn-n2004-122472