- description
- # FOURTH EDITION, 1599.
## Overview - What this is (type, form, dates, scope)
This is a section from a digitized text that discusses the fourth edition of William Shakespeare's poem *Venus and Adonis*, published in 1599. The section provides bibliographic details about extant copies of the 1599 edition and subsequent editions. It was extracted on January 30, 2026.
## Context - Background and provenance from related entities
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. This section follows the section titled [Brit. Mus. copy, 1596.](arke:01KG6S4CVXZSXHRMAVGAJ126DJ) and precedes the section titled [FIFTH EDITION, 1600?](arke:01KG6S4CW1YRWVPTPDPMZ38BD9).
## Contents - What it contains, key subjects and details
The section focuses on the 1599 fourth edition of *Venus and Adonis*, noting the discovery of a copy at Lamport Hall in 1867. It mentions that this copy, once owned by Sir Charles Isham, was sold to Mr. Christie Miller of Britwell Court. The text describes the physical characteristics of the 1599 edition, including its measurements ($4\\frac{3}{4}'' \\times 3\\frac{1}{8}''$), signatures (A to D iij in eights), and the number of leaves (twenty-seven). It also notes that the text follows that of the 1596 edition but with spelling variations, and that the title-page ornaments differ from those used by Harrison and Field, suggesting Peter Short as the printer. The section also discusses a succeeding issue lacking a title page, located in the Bodleian Library (Malone 327), and a sixth edition issued by Leake in 1602.
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- FOURTH EDITION, 1599.
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- 2026-01-30T06:23:29.729Z
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- FOURTH EDITION, 1599. No. VII. Britwell copy, 1599.
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62 VENUS AND ADONIS
FOURTH EDITION, 1599.
lumber-room. All were in good condition in contemporary vellum binding, and in many cases the leaves were uncut. But the most interesting feature of this treasure-trove was the vellum-bound volume in perfect condition which sheltered within its covers Leake's edition of *Venus and Adonis* dated 1599, a copy of *The Passionate Pilgrim* published in the same year, and a copy of *Epitgrames and Elegies by I. D. and C. M. At Middleborough*. (The last pamphlet consisted of epitgrams by Sir John Davies, and certain of Ovid's Elegies translated by Christopher Marlowe, and was issued in London—not, as stated, at Middleborough—in all probability in 1598.) This rare volume of triplicate interest was sold in the summer of 1895, by Sir Charles Isham, to Mr. Christie Miller of Britwell Court, Maidenhead, together with much else that was valuable in the Lamport treasure-trove. The 1599 edition of *Venus and Adonis*, which is now at Britwell, measures $4\frac{3}{4}'' \times 3\frac{1}{8}''$; the signatures run as before in eights from A to D iij; and it consists of twenty-seven leaves. The text follows that of 1596, but there are some
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VENUS AND ADONIS 63
ignorant variations of spelling. The ornaments on the title-page altogether differ from those employed by Harrison and Field, and suggest that the printer whom Leake employed was Peter Short. A typed facsimile, limited to an edition of 131 copies, was published by Messrs. Sotheran & Co. in 1870.
Of a succeeding issue, only a single copy is again known to be extant. This copy, which lacks a title-page, is in Malone’s collection at the Bodleian Library (Malone 327). It is bound up with a copy of Shakespeare’s *Lucrece*, which has the imprint ‘printed by I. H. for Iohn Harison’ and the date 1600. The volume was a gift from Dr. Farmer to Malone, who collated it before March 24, 1785, with the 1596 edition, and drew up a manuscript list of thirty-nine changes, which is extant, but is not exhaustive.¹ A manuscript title-page which has been supplied to this edition of the *Venus*, merely copies the *Lucrece* imprint (‘printed by I. H. for Iohn Harison,’ 1600). The date may be right, but the printer’s and publisher’s names are errors. John Harrison’s connexion with the *Venus and Adonis* had ceased with the transfer of the copyright in 1597 to William Leake. The edition was doubtless published by Leake. It is of textual importance, for although it follows the typography of 1599 there have been deliberately introduced several new misreadings, which are adopted in all subsequent editions of the seventeenth century. The measurements are $4\frac{2}{16}'' \times 2\frac{2}{10}''$. The signatures (A–D iij) in eights, and the number of leaves, which are unpaged, twenty-seven, are the same as in previous issues.
A new—the sixth—edition was issued by Leake in 1602. It seems to have been set up, with reasonable care, from the text of 1600. The curious printer’s device, in a square scrolled frame on the title-page, shows a winged and laurelled skull surmounted by an hour-glass in front of an open book, inscribed ‘I liue to dy. I dy to liue’: beneath the skull is a globe showing the Western hemisphere and the sea with a ship.
¹ See No. I, p. 57, note 1.
FOURTH EDITION, 1599.
- title
- FOURTH EDITION, 1599.