{"id":"01KG8B0T30JZTS2DQX2YYF7PA8","cid":"bafkreif6hkzr7obkmtmcnvttx55arwyj3orgmhes55zhdamwnrafjmsqde","type":"file","properties":{"cid":"bafkreielomlvi6fh2fspgqoeuyi3trfwqx7m3z7e6slpnamdakl7t5h6ii","content_type":"image/jpeg","filename":"02_venus_and_adonis_1905_facsimile_page_0060.jpg","height":2400,"key":"pdf-page-1769806521482-2imva7eb8ds","label":"02_venus_and_adonis_1905_facsimile_page_0060.jpg","page_number":60,"pdf_type":"born_digital","size":539709,"text":"f4 VENUS AND ADONIS\nThe small\nnumber of\nsurviving\ncopies of\nearly\neditions.\nVI\nThe\nstrangest\nfact\nto\nbe\nnoticed\nin\nregard\nto\nthe\nbibliography\nof\nShakespeare's\nVenus and\nAdonis\nis\nthat,\nthough\nthere\nwere\nat\nleast\nsix\neditions\nissued in the\npoet's lifetime\nand\nseven\nin\nthe\ntwo\ngenerations following\nhis\ndeath, in\nthe\ncase\nof\nonly\ntwo\n—\nthe\nsecond and\nthe\nsixth\n—\nof these\nthirteen\neditions\ndo\nas\nmany\nas\nthree copies\nsurvive.\nIn\nregard\nto\nthe\ntwelve other\neditions,\nthe\nsurviving\ncopies of\neach\nare\nfewer. Of\nthe\neditions\nof\nij9<^,\ni<$27,\ni<^3<^,\nand\n167^\ntwo\ncopies\nof\neach\nare\nknown.\nOi\nthe editions\nof\n1593,\n15-99, i<Joo,\n\\6\\7\nand\n1^20,\nand\nthe\ntwo\neditions\nof\ni<^3o,\nonly\none\ncopy\nsurvives in\neach case.\nIt\nis\nquite\npossible\nthat\nthere\nwere\neditions\nin\nother\nyears\nof\nwhich\nevery\ncopy\nhas\ndisappeared.\nBut\nno\nmore\nsingular\ncircumstance\nhas yet\nbeen\nrevealed\nin\nbibliographical history than\nthat\nthirteen\nearly editions of\na\nsixteenth-century\nwork\nshould\nhave beentraced\nand only twenty-one exemplars\nof\nthem\nall\nshould be\nnow known\nto\nbibliographical research.\nIt\nis\nnot extrava-\ngant to\nestimate\nthat\neach\nsixteenth-\nor\nseventeenth-century\nedition of Venus and Adonis\naveraged\n2/0\ncopies.\nOn\nthat\nassumption\nit\nwill\nbe\nseen\nthat 3,729 copies\nhave\nperished\nout of the 3,7^0 printed in the sixteenth\nand\nseventeenth\ncenturies.\nThis wholesale mortality\nis\ndoubtless the penalty\nthe\nwork\npaid\nfor\nits\npopularity\nand\naccessibility.\nThe\ncopies were eagerly read and\nre-read, were quickly\nworn\nout\nand were carelessly flung\naway.\nThe\npresent distribution\nof the\ntwenty-one\ncopies of the\ncoTe\"^''^\"^ early editions which are known to survive is interesting.\nEighteen\nare\nnow\nin\nGreat Britain and\nthree are in\nAmerica.\nThe Bodleian Library\nat\nOxford\nhas the\nhigh\ndistinction of\nDistribution","text_extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:55:21.482Z","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":"2026-01-30T20:55:22.464Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:55:24.851Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFFH6ETXGRVD10WPNP3007D6"}}