- description
- # The small number of surviving copies of early editions.
## Overview
This is a section extracted from a larger work, focusing on the scarcity of surviving copies of early editions of Shakespeare's *Venus and Adonis*. It was extracted on January 30, 2026, by the structure-extraction-lambda tool. The section spans lines 984-987 of the source file.
## Context
This section is part of the [Venus and Adonis, Lucrece, Sonnets, and Pericles (Facsimile Editions)](arke:01KG6S3KNZT62WVVW4VT384KPF) poetry collection, which was extracted from the file [pdf-01KG6Q7Q25RHMFT3SJXPV18VFF.txt](arke:01KG6S2X2EBB305ENM00G16GWA). The file is part of the [PDF Workflow Main Test 2026-01-30T00:26:53](arke:01KG6NWQ2H2K4PGG7H4ZHYCZ3Y) collection. It is preceded by the section [Gradual deterioration of the text.](arke:01KG6S4C5ZRBGZS0211FH9T11T) and followed by [Distribution of surviving copies.](arke:01KG6S4C5ZGGZQRVE36HTXH2AH).
## Contents
The section discusses the surprisingly low number of surviving copies of early editions of Shakespeare's *Venus and Adonis*. Although there were at least six editions during Shakespeare's lifetime and seven more in the following two generations, only two of these thirteen editions have as many as three surviving copies. The text notes that of the editions of 1596, 1627, 1636, and 1675, two copies of each are known. For the editions of 1593, 1599, 1600, 1617 and 1620, and the two editions of 1630, only one copy survives in each case. The author estimates that each edition averaged 250 copies, meaning that over 3,700 copies have been lost. This high rate of loss is attributed to the work's popularity, leading to the copies being eagerly read, worn out, and carelessly discarded.
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- The small number of surviving copies of early editions.
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- The small number of surviving copies of early editions.
The strangest fact to be noticed in regard to the bibliography of Shakespeare’s *Venus and Adonis* is that, though there were at least six editions issued in the poet’s lifetime and seven in the two generations following his death, in the case of only two—the second and the sixth—of these thirteen editions do as many as three copies survive. In regard to the twelve other editions, the surviving copies of each are fewer. Of the editions of 1596, 1627, 1636, and 1675 two copies of each are known. Of the editions of 1593, 1599, 1600, 1617 and 1620, and the two editions of 1630, only one copy survives in each case. It is quite possible that there were editions in other years of which every copy has disappeared. But no more singular circumstance has yet been revealed in bibliographical history than that thirteen early editions of a sixteenth-century work should have been traced and only twenty-one exemplars of them all should be now known to bibliographical research. It is not extravagant to estimate that each sixteenth- or seventeenth century edition of *Venus and Adonis* averaged 250 copies. On that assumption it will be seen that 3,729 copies have perished out of the 3,750 printed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This wholesale mortality is doubtless the penalty the work paid for its popularity and accessibility. The copies were eagerly read and re-read, were quickly worn out and were carelessly flung away.
- title
- The small number of surviving copies of early editions.