A Census of Shakespeare's Plays in Quarto 1594-1709 (Classic Reprint)

Book excerpt: Excerpt from A Census of Shakespeare's Plays in Quarto 1594-1709 In opposition to the theory that Shakespeare (that excellent man of busi ness, as we have been taught to consider him) and his fellows submitted to being defrauded of their property fourteen successive times within thirteen years, it has elsewhere been contended, and will be contended as often as a hearing can be obtained, that while the pirates were able not only to get out editions of Henry V and the Merry Wives, but to convey copyright in them to their confederates, and had the profits of single editions of Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet, and possibly also of Love's Labors Lost, the players after each of these attacks, as also after that on Pericles in 1609, can be seen protecting other plays by staying notices, sometimes openly of that character, more often in the form of entries on the Stationers' Register, which while seeming to pave the way for publication were really meant to delay it. Here and now as much has been said as to this fight with the Pirates as there is space for. We must pass on from this negative and defensive support of the Quartos to claim for them positive qualities not easily compatible with piracy, and which give to them a much higher character than they have hitherto been allowed. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.