Shakespeare of Stratford/The Biographical Facts/Fact 18
XVIII. SHAKESPEARE’S NAME BEGINS TO APPEAR ON THE TITLE-PAGES OF HIS PLAYS (1598).
(A) Richard II (second and third editions).[1]
The Tragedy of King Richard the Second. As it hath been publicly acted by the Right Honourable the Lord Chamberlain his Servants. By William Shake-speare. . . . 1598.
(B) Richard III (second edition).
The Tragedy of King Richard the Third. Containing his treacherous Plots against his brother Clarence, the pitiful murther of his innocent nephews, his tyrannical usurpation, with the whole course of his detested life and most deserved death. As it hath been lately acted by the Right Honourable the Lord Chamberlain his servants. By William Shake-speare. . . . 1598.
(C) Love’s Labour’s Lost (earliest extant edition).
A pleasant conceited comedy called Loves Labors Lost. As it was presented before her Highness this last Christmas. Newly corrected and augmented by W. Shakespere. . . . 1598.
Note. Editions of both Richard II and Richard III, and one of Romeo and Juliet, appeared in 1597, all without any mention of the author. The earliest edition of the first part of Henry IV in 1598 likewise fails to indicate the author’s name, but the second quarto (1599) says, ‘Newly corrected by W. Shakespeare.’
- ↑ Two editions of the play, only recently distinguished, were printed in 1598, both with Shakespeare’s name on the title-page.