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- # Brit. Mus. copy, 1596.
## Overview
This section, titled "Brit. Mus. copy, 1596.", is part of a larger collection titled "[Venus and Adonis, Lucrece, Sonnets, and Pericles (Facsimile Editions)](arke:01KG6S3KNZT62WVVW4VT384KPF)". It was extracted from the file "[pdf-01KG6Q7Q25RHMFT3SJXPV18VFF.txt](arke:01KG6S2X2EBB305ENM00G16GWA)" and belongs to the collection "[PDF Workflow Main Test 2026-01-30T00:26:53](arke:01KG6NWQ2H2K4PGG7H4ZHYCZ3Y)". The section is dated 1596 and discusses a specific copy of "Venus and Adonis" held by the British Museum.
## Context
This section details the provenance and acquisition of a particular copy of "Venus and Adonis" by the British Museum. It notes that after being part of the Daniel sale in 1864, the British Museum acquired this copy for £336. The press-mark for this copy is C. 21. a. 37. The text also contrasts this with another copy in the Malone collection of the Bodleian Library, providing details of its acquisition history, including its purchase from a broker's shop and its subsequent inclusion in a volume with other early poetical pamphlets.
## Contents
The section focuses on the British Museum's copy of "Venus and Adonis" from 1596. It provides its acquisition details and press-mark. Additionally, it includes a comparative description of the Malone copy at the Bodleian Library, detailing its smaller size, closely shaved margins, and its complex provenance involving several collectors and booksellers before being acquired by Malone. The text also briefly mentions the first extant edition bearing Leake's imprint from 1599 and its discovery.
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- Brit. Mus. copy, 1596.
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copy, 1596.
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VENUS AND ADONIS 61
the Daniel sale in 1864, the British Museum acquired the copy for £336. The press-mark is C. 21. a. 37.
The other copy, in the Malone collection of the Bodleian Library (Malone 37), measures only 4¼" × 3", and the margins are closely shaved. It originally formed part of a volume of early poetical pamphlets which was sold at Dr. Bernard’s sale in 1698 for 1s. 3d.; Thomas Warton bought it for 6d. in 1760 ‘out of some rubbish in a broker’s shop’. His brother, Joseph Warton, gave it to Malone before 1785. Malone modestly wrote of the volume in 1791: ‘If it were now to be produced at an auction, it would undoubtedly be sold for three or four guineas.’ He detached the Venus and Adonis from the collection, inlaid all the leaves in paper measuring 9" × 7¼", and bound it up with inlaid copies of Romeo and Juliet (1597 and 1599), of Richard III (1597), of King Lear (1608), and of Titus Andronicus (1611).
The first extant edition bearing Leake’s imprint is dated 1599. Only a single copy exists, and that did not come to light till 1867. The existence of such an edition was not previously suspected by bibliographers. It was discovered in an upper lumber-room at Lamport Hall, near Northampton, the seat of Sir Charles Isham, Bart., by Mr. Charles Edmonds in September of that year. Mr. Edmonds had been sent to Lamport Hall by Henry Sotheran & Co., the London booksellers, to report on the state of Sir Charles’ library. Mr. Edmonds discovered some twenty rare poetical tracts published at the end of the sixteenth century in the disused volume is from the Libraries of y* late W. [Sir William] Bolland and B. H. Bright, Esq*. At Mr. Bolland’s sale [in 1840] (at y* rooms of Messrs. Evans) it was bought by Mr. Bright for £91. At Mr. Bright’s sale [no. 5067] (at y* rooms of Messrs. Sotheby & Co.) on 7 April, 1845, I became the Purchaser for y* sum of £91 10s. od. George Daniel, Canonbury Square.’—He also inserted in the volume the following note, which he received in the sale-room from the bookseller Thomas Rodd:—“There are three marquises wanting the Venus, one will I fear push hard at her. I do not think there is any lik[e]lihood of your getting her under £101. I know that it will not go under £91 10s. od. T[homas] R[odd].”
THIRD EDITION, 1596. No. VI. Bodleian (Malone) copy, 1596.
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- Brit. Mus. copy, 1596.