- description
- # The Bodleian copy, I. Unique readings.
## Overview
This section, titled "The Bodleian copy, I. Unique readings.", details specific textual variations found in one of the Bodleian Library's copies of "Lucrece," a work by Shakespeare. It was extracted on January 30, 2026, from a larger text file.
## Context
This section is part of [Chapter III](arke:01KG6S4EM1AKPD5T35XS8GTZ8A) and is included in the [PDF Workflow Main Test 2026-01-30T00:26:53 collection](arke:01KG6NWQ2H2K4PGG7H4ZHYCZ3Y). It follows the section titled "[Discrepancies among extant exemplars.](arke:01KG6S5HRFSWVG24PY4EH5BQB0)" and precedes the section "[Reading peculiar to two extant copies.](arke:01KG6S5HRNXPK5D5K9G8XQ76PN)". The content was extracted from the file [pdf-01KG6Q7Q25RHMFT3SJXPV18VFF.txt](arke:01KG6S2X2EBB305ENM00G16GWA).
## Contents
The section focuses on five unique readings present in one specific copy of "Lucrece" held by the Bodleian Library, which are not found in any other extant impressions of the first edition. These readings are identified as "defects" that were subsequently corrected in later impressions. The unique readings discussed are: 'morning' (l. 24) for 'mornings' (morning’s); 'Appologie' (l. 31) for 'apologies'; 'Colatium' (l. 50) for 'Colatia'; 'himselfe betakes' (l. 125) for 'themselves betake'; and 'wakes' (l. 126) for 'wake.' The text analyzes each of these variations, discussing their grammatical and orthographical implications and the likely reasons for their alteration. It also notes one reading that appears in this Bodleian copy and one other, specifically "Euen so the patterne of this worne out age" (l. 1350).
- description_generated_at
- 2026-01-30T06:25:51.799Z
- description_model
- gemini-2.5-flash-lite
- description_title
- The Bodleian copy, I. Unique readings.
- end_line
- 3673
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T06:24:08.801Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 3659
- text
- The Bodleian copy, I. Unique readings.
The copy in the Bodleian Library which is reproduced in this volume—one of two in that library—has at least five readings which are met with nowhere else. They were apparently all deemed to be defects, and were afterwards changed.
<!-- [Page 170](arke:01KG6QCD03SEHNSS4W8B22TM2J) -->
LUCRECE 31
Their survival in only one extant copy, their absence from all the others, proves that the copy which retains them was the earliest extant impression to leave the printing-office. The five unique readings in the Bodleian copy I, with the corrections which appear in all other impressions of the first edition, are:—‘morning’ (l. 24) for ‘mornings’ [i.e. morning’s]; ‘Appologie’ (l. 31) for ‘apologies’; ‘Colatium’ (l. 50) for ‘Colatia’; ‘himselfe betakes’ (l. 125) for ‘themselves betake’; ‘wakes’ (l. 126) for ‘wake.’
Only the first of these readings is a quite obvious misprint. The substitution of ‘apologies’ for ‘Appologie’ improves the spelling, but the verb ‘needeth’, which the noun governs, is suffered to remain in the singular after its subject is put into the plural—a syntactical construction which is defensible but not usual. The alteration ‘Colatia’ is right. No such town as Colatium is known, but in spite of its removal from line 50, the erroneous form ‘Colatium’ is still suffered to deface in all copies line 4—the only other place where the town is mentioned. The change in line 125 seems intended to get rid of the awkward construction of the singular verb with a plural subject in ‘winds that wakes’ in the next line, 126. In line 125 the first reading ‘And euerie one to rest himself betakes’ is grammatically better than the second, ‘And euerie one to rest themselves betake’; but in order to rime ‘wake’ (of the next line) satisfactorily, it was needful to put the verb at the end of the preceding line in the plural and to give it a plural instead of a singular subject.
In the following instance the reading in the Bodleian copy which is here reproduced appears in only one other copy—in the second (Caldecott) copy in the same library.
‘Euen so the patterne of this worne out age’ (l. 1350.)
- title
- The Bodleian copy, I. Unique readings.