{"id":"01KG8B0T2TFYJ3DJA7R35N1GNZ","cid":"bafkreibqclzg3xvagkgz2vgdurgpentg5fxggj3k4pfeueroluu6gigfaq","type":"file","properties":{"cid":"bafkreicxnqu6fay42foy5vthkjx25m5vanj4itcwuaucrhbgxxu6d5stqy","content_type":"image/jpeg","filename":"02_venus_and_adonis_1905_facsimile_page_0017.jpg","height":2400,"key":"pdf-page-1769806521462-6mn7boh531a","label":"02_venus_and_adonis_1905_facsimile_page_0017.jpg","page_number":17,"pdf_type":"born_digital","size":506082,"text":"Shakespeare's\npoem\nof\nVenus and Adonis\nhas\na\npeculiar\nPoints of\nfascination\nalike for\nthe\npoet's\nbiographer,\ncritic,\nand\nbiblio-\n\"^^^'■^\"•\ngrapher.\nIt\nis\nsufficient\nto\nmention\nthree points\nof\ninterest.\nFirstly, the\nvolume,\nalone\nin the\ngreat\nroll\nof Shakespeare's\nworks, includes\na\nprecise\npersonal statement from\nthe\ndramatist's\nown\npen\nrespecting\nits\ncomposition.\nSecondly,\nit\nsupplies\na singularly illuminating clue to\nthe\nrelations\nsubsisting\nbetween\nShakespeare's early\nwork\nand\nthe poetic\nefforts\nalike\nof\nhis\ncontemporary\nfellow\ncountrymen and\nof\nthe\npoets\nof the\nItalian\nRenaissance.\nThirdly,\nit\nwas\nthe\nearliest\nof\nhis writings to\nfind\nits\nway\nto\nthe\nprinting\npress,\nand,\nalthough\nthe early\neditions\nwere extraordinarily\nnumerous,\nexceptionally\n^o.^\nearly copies\nsurvive.\nNeither\nthe\nintrinsic\nnor the\nextrinsic\ncharacter\nof\nthe\nvolume\nis\nto\nbe\nexactly\nmatched\nin variety\nof\ninterest\nin\nthe\nwhole\nrange of\nShakespearean\nliterature.\nNo more valuable fragment of autobiography exists '■ First heir\nthan the dedicatory letter bearing the poet's signature, °^™.^ ^\"'\nwhich is prefixed to the original edition of Venus and Adonis,\nIt is addressed to < The Right Honourable Henry Wriothesley,\nEarl of Southampton and Baron of Titchfield '. Only one\nother of Shakespeare's works, The ^ape of Lucrece^ was\nsimilarly distinguished by a prefatory epistle from the poet's\npen, and that was addressed to the same patron. But the\ninscription before the Venus and Adonis^ which is somewhat\nfuller and yet at the same time somewhat simpler in ex-\npression than its successor, differs from it, too, in supplyingB 2","text_extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:55:21.462Z","text_extracted_by":"pdf-processor","text_has_content":true,"text_source":"born_digital","uploaded":true,"width":1632},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG89K4X0DM39SSQK43XXG34R","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KG89JREDR8WY5QQGYR5FZRDY","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:55:22.458Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:55:25.112Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFFH6ETXGRVD10WPNP3007D6"}}