{"id":"01KG6S6RVBY0H5485ZNVFSZA0C","cid":"bafkreif462s7ij6saqoobxr7f2lwraijfiedlcinbj3m3o6b3ezyqsmdiu","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":909,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T06:24:48.288Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG6S2X2EBB305ENM00G16GWA","start_line":884,"text":"Leake fills an important place in the bibliographical history of Shakespeare’s first poem, although Shakespeare did not presumably concern himself with his intervention. He controlled the publication for a period approaching twenty years—for the rest of Shakespeare’s lifetime and for ten months after the poet’s death. He issued three editions. The first which seems to have come out under his auspices was dated 1599, and was apparently printed for him by Peter Short. Another followed about 1600. In July, 1602, he moved to new premises in St. Paul’s Churchyard—to a building bearing the sign of the Holy Ghost—and before the end of the year he produced a new edition of the poem, on the title-page of which he gave his new address. He now seems to have employed Humphry Lownes to print the book. Other editions may have come from his press, but no copies of them survive.¹ On February 16, 1617, he transferred his chief copyrights, including *Venus and Adonis*, to ‘Master [William] Barrett’, and there the third chapter in the publishing history of the poem closed. Leake’s two successors enjoyed brief reigns. Barrett, the first of them, at once reprinted the volume in 1617, but there his interest in it ended. Three years later, on March 8, 1620, he transferred *Venus and Adonis* and the other property that he had acquired of Leake to John Parker. The title-page of one edition of 1620 bears Parker’s initials (J. P.), and then on May 7, 1626, he made the book over to John Haviland and John Wright.\n\n¹ In 1607, Robert Raworth, a printer, who purchased Adam Islip’s press the year before, was charged before the Star Chamber with printing *Venus and Adonis*, which was ‘another’s copy’. Raworth was found guilty, and his printing office was for a time forcibly closed, by way of punishment. It is uncertain whether Raworth succeeded in circulating his piratical reprint. No copy has been met with (cf. *Arber’s Transcript*, iii. 701, 703–4).\n\n<!-- [Page 54](arke:01KG6QANJNN6T282JMZRAT4H2K) -->\nVENUS AND ADONIS 47\n\njointly. The official entry in the Stationers’ Company’s Register runs thus:—\n\n&gt; 7° Maij 1626\n\nAssigned over unto them [i.e. to John Haviland and John Wright] by master Parker and by consent of master Islip warden A Booke called Venus and Adonis vjd.\n\nJohn Haviland was a printer, not a bookseller, and he alone actively controlled the newly-purchased copyright. At least two editions—those of 1630 and 1636—came from his press, and the bookseller whom he employed to distribute the copies was ‘Francis Coules in the Old Bailey without Newgate’. On September 4, 1638, the title of Haviland and his partner Wright to the poem was confirmed anew by the officers of the Stationers’ Company’s Registers. After 1640, the copyright passed to Edward Wright. He had begun life August 6, 1604, as apprentice to Haviland’s partner, John Wright, doubtless his uncle. Edward Wright did not adhere to the volume long. On April 4, 1655, he assigned it to one William Gilbertson, who acquired at the same time a share in *Lucrece*. Gilbertson was the last publisher to claim any exclusive property in *Venus and Adonis*. It is likely enough that both he and his immediate predecessor Edward Wright issued new editions, but no copies survive to confirm the suggestion; and the two men have left small impression on the history of the book.\n\nThere were thus eight formal transfers of the copyright of the poem with due payment of fees in the course of sixty-two years—a proof that the volume retained throughout that long period a marketable value in the sight of publishers. The authorized London editions numbered at least eleven; a serious attempt was made to infringe the copyright in London in 1607, and there was a surreptitious issue at Edinburgh in 1627. In 1675 a rough reprint was issued by\n\nJohn Wright, sixth owners, May 7, 1626—1640 (?).\n\nEdward Wright, seventh owner, 1640 (?)—April 4, 1655.\n\nWilliam Gilbertson, eighth owner, April 4, 1655.\n\n<!-- [Page 55](arke:01KG6QANHK22J9Y0ZRX0BG0T9K) -->\n48 VENUS AND ADONIS\n","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6S5NXAT9AWHQD8W2DZNT2D","peer_type":"section","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6S2X2EBB305ENM00G16GWA","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG6NWQ2H2K4PGG7H4ZHYCZ3Y","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6S6RVBMYCQH72VB7CY7JEA","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T06:24:49.003Z","ts":"2026-01-30T06:24:54.725Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}