Lucrece, first edition

Shakespeare’s Lucrece was first printed in 1594, fulfilling his promise to the earl of Southampton in the 1593 dedication to Venus and Adonis of “some grauer labour.” In the dedicatory epistle to Lucrece, which was likewise addressed to Southampton, Shakespeare writes of the “warrant I haue of your Honourable disposition,” which may imply a connection to, or even a reward of some sort from, the young earl. However there is no other evidence to indicate such a connection.

Lucrece was prefaced by a prose argument, derived from Livy’s version of the Lucrece myth, that detailed the political implications of Tarquin’s central crime: namely, that “the state gouernment changed from Kings to Consuls,” thus inaugurating the Roman republic. Despite this political preface, the poem was often considered as an erotic poem, similar to its best-selling predecessor Venus and Adonis. Indeed, the title-pages of the two pamphlets were nearly identical, and so the poems were quite visibly marketed as companion pieces. Like the first edition of Venus and Adonis, the well-printed first quarto of Lucrece was produced in the printing house of Richard Field, a fellow townsman of Stratford-upon-Avon. However, Lucrece was published by John Harrison, who registered his right to the title on May 9, 1594, just a couple of months before Field transferred the rights to Venus and Adonis to Harrison. Lucrece would prove to be one of the most dependable sources of income for Harrison; he published five total editions of the poem, meaning that “Shakespeare” flourished at his shop at the sign of the White Greyhound throughout his career.

Lucrece would eventually reach an eighth edition before 1640, a number that equals his most popular play, Henry IV Part 1. Although Shakespeare is now known primarily as a playwright, in his own time he was first known as the author of his two sensationally successful Ovidian narrative poems.

The copy shown above is held at the Folger Shakespeare Library, and is one of nine known to exist according to the English Short Title Catalogue.