William Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis, 1594, leaf F4v.

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Date:1594

Description:Shakespeare’s first published works.

The long poem, Venus and Adonis, was Shakespeare’s first published work. It was printed in 1593 by Stratford-born Richard Field, and dedicated to Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton. The poem's treatment of the delights of sexual love made it immediately popular and it was reprinted seven times before 1620. A single copy of the 1593 edition has survived and the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust owns this single leaf of the 1594 pamphlet of which only four copies still exist. In 1594 Richard Field published Shakespeare's second long poem, The Rape of Lucrece, which was also very successful, and like Venus and Adonis was based on stories in Ovid’s Metamorphosis.

See: Venus and Adonis, lines 931-954.


Full title: William Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis, London, Richard Field, sold by J. Harrison, J., 1594


Timeline

The timeline shows resources around this location over a number of years.

1570s
Henri Estienne, A mervaylous discourse upon... Katherine de Medici…, 1575 - title page
Henri Estienne, A mervaylous discourse upon... Katherine de Medici…, 1575 - title page

Shakespeare may have owned this book. Shakespeare purchased New Place, the largest ...

1590s
William Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis, 1594. Single leaf F4r.
William Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis, 1594. Single leaf F4r.

Shakespeare’s themes for his early poems are rooted in his education. The ...

1610s
Plutarch, The lives of the noble Grecians and Romaines, 1612 - Antony and Cleopatra, p. 922, detail.
Plutarch, The lives of the noble Grecians and Romaines, 1612 - Antony and Cleopatra, p. 922, detail.

Shakespeare followed this description of Cleopatra. Shakespeare became very ...

1630s
William Shakespeare, Quartos, Love's Labour's Lost, 1631 - title page
William Shakespeare, Quartos, Love's Labour's Lost, 1631 - title page

A play for the Blackfriars Theatre: Shakespeare's Love’s Labour’s Lost. The ...

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Donor ref:SR/P 35.44 [22,355] (32/10419)

Source: The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust - Library

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