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John Smethwick
John Smethwick (died 1641) was a London publisher of the Elizabethan, Jacobean, and Caroline eras. Along with colleague William Aspley, Smethwick was one of the "junior partners" in the publishing syndicate that issued the First Folio collection of Shakespeare's plays in 1623. As his title pages specify, his shop was "in St. Dunstan's Churchyard in Fleet Street, under the Dial." Career He was the son of a London draper, and began a nine-year apprenticeship under a Thomas Newman at Christmas 1589 (though he was emancipated early by his master's widow). Like Aspley, Smethwick enjoyed a career of unusual longevity: he became a "freeman" (a full member) of the Stationers Company on 17 January 1597, and continued in business for more than four decades. In the earlier phases of his career, Smethwick was repeatedly fined for selling books to which he lacked the rights; but in later years he rose to be successively Junior Warden (1631), Senior Warden (1635), and Master (1639) of the St ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major settlement for two millennia. The City of London, its ancient core and financial centre, was founded by the Romans as '' Londinium'' and retains its medieval boundaries.See also: Independent city § National capitals The City of Westminster, to the west of the City of London, has for centuries hosted the national government and parliament. Since the 19th century, the name "London" has also referred to the metropolis around this core, historically split between the counties of Middlesex, Essex, Surrey, Kent, and Hertfordshire, which largely comprises Greater London, governed by the Greater London Authority.The Greater London Authority consists of the Mayor of London and the London Assembly. The London Mayor is distinguished fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Book Size
The size of a book is generally measured by the height against the width of a leaf, or sometimes the height and width of its cover. A series of terms is commonly used by libraries and publishers for the general sizes of modern books, ranging from ''folio'' (the largest), to ''quarto'' (smaller) and ''octavo'' (still smaller). Historically, these terms referred to the format of the book, a technical term used by printers and bibliographers to indicate the size of a leaf in terms of the size of the original sheet. For example, a quarto (from Latin ''quartō'', ablative form of ''quartus'', fourth) historically was a book printed on sheets of paper folded in half twice, with the first fold at right angles to the second, to produce 4 leaves (or 8 pages), each leaf one fourth the size of the original sheet printed – note that a ''leaf'' refers to the single piece of paper, whereas a ''page'' is one side of a leaf. Because the actual format of many modern books cannot be determined fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Murray (poet)
Sir David Murray of Gorthy (1567–1629) was an officer in the household of Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, in England from 1603 to 1612, and poet. Family background A member of the Scottish Murray family, David's father, Robert Murray, was the Laird of Abercairney, near Crieff; his mother was Katherine Murray, a daughter of William Murray of Tullibardine. David had an older brother, William, and younger brothers, Mungo Murray of Craigie, John Minister of Dunfermline and Leith, Andrew, Quintigern, and James. His two sisters were Nicola(s), who married Robert Douglas of Spott Lord Belhaven, who had been Prince Henry's Stable Master, and Anne, who married William Moncrieff of Moncrieff. William Murray, David's elder brother, was brought up at Stirling Castle with the young James VI of Scotland. Annabell Murray, Countess of Mar, who shared responsibility for the King at Stirling, was the aunt of their father. The London "Water Poet" John Taylor made a point of visiting his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1608 In Literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1608. Events *January 10 – Ben Jonson's ''The Masque of Beauty'' is performed by Queen Anne and her retinue at the Banqueting House, Whitehall, a sequel to ''The Masque of Blackness''. *February 9 – Another masque by Jonson, ''The Hue and Cry After Cupid'', is performed at the Banqueting House, with sets designed by Inigo Jones. *March 31 – ''Hamlet'' is played aboard the East India Company ship ''Red Dragon'', commanded by Capt. William Keeling. *April – Performances of George Chapman's play ''The Conspiracy and Tragedy of Charles, Duke of Byron'' by the Children of the Chapel at the Blackfriars Theatre in London are suppressed after the French Ambassador complains to King James. After June the play is published with the offensive passages suppressed. *May–October – Thomas Coryat makes a walking tour of continental Europe. *June 12–August 19 – Juan Ruiz de Alarcón returns to Mexic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Drayton
Michael Drayton (1563 – 23 December 1631) was an English poet who came to prominence in the Elizabethan era. He died on 23 December 1631 in London. Early life Drayton was born at Hartshill, near Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England. Almost nothing is known about his early life, beyond the fact that in 1580 he was in the service of Thomas Goodere of Collingham, Nottinghamshire. 19th- and 20th-century scholars, on the basis of scattered allusions in his poems and dedications, suggested that Drayton might have studied at the University of Oxford, and been intimate with the Polesworth branch of the Goodere family. More recent work has cast doubt on those speculations. Literary career 1590–1602 In 1590, he produced his first book, ''The Harmony of the Church'', a volume of spiritual poems, dedicated to Lady Devereux. It is notable for a version of the '' Song of Solomon'', executed with considerable richness of expression. However, with the exception of forty copies, seized by the A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1637 In Literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1637. Events *January – Pierre Corneille's tragicomedy ''Le Cid'' first performed at the Théâtre du Marais in Paris. Based on Guillén de Castro's play ''Las mocedades del Cid'' (1618), it is first published later in the year and sparks the debate of the '' Querelle du Cid'' at the '' Académie française'' over its failure to observe all the classical unities of drama and supposed lack of moral purpose, but proves popular with audiences. *January 24 – ''Hamlet'' is performed before King Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria at Hampton Court Palace. *July 10 – Thomas Browne is registered as a physician, following which he settles in Norwich. *August 30 – The King's Men mount a production for the English Court of William Cartwright's ''The Royal Slave'' at Christ Church, Oxford. The company is paid an extra £30 "for their pains in studying and acting" the drama. *October 2 – The London ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1631 In Literature
This article is a summary of the literary events and publications of 1631. Events * January 9 – '' Love's Triumph Through Callipolis'', a masque written by Ben Jonson and designed by Inigo Jones, is staged at Whitehall Palace. *January 11 – The Master of the Revels in England refuses to license Philip Massinger's new play, ''Believe as You List'', because of its seditious content; it is first performed in a revised version on May 7. * February 5 – Puritan minister and theologian Roger Williams emigrates from England to Boston in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. *February 22 – ''Chloridia'', the year's second Jonson/Jones masque, is performed. *June 10 – The King's Men perform ''Pericles, Prince of Tyre'' (c.1607/8) at the Globe Theatre. *The young Blaise Pascal moves with his family to Paris. *Thomas Hobbes is employed as a tutor by the Cavendish family, to teach the future Earl of Devonshire. *Publication of the "Wicked Bible" by Robert Barker and Martin Lucas, the r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Second Quarto
The earliest texts of William Shakespeare's works were published during the 16th and 17th centuries in quarto or folio format. Folios are large, tall volumes; quartos are smaller, roughly half the size. The publications of the latter are usually abbreviated to Q1, Q2, etc., where the letter stands for "quarto" and the number for the first, second, or third edition published. Plays Eighteen of the 36 plays in the First Folio were printed in separate and individual editions prior to 1623. ''Pericles, Prince of Tyre, Pericles'' (1609) and ''The Two Noble Kinsmen'' (1634) also appeared separately before their inclusions in folio collections (the Shakespeare Third Folio and the Beaumont and Fletcher folios, second Beaumont and Fletcher folio, respectively). All of these were book size, quarto editions, with two exceptions: ''The True Tragedy of Richard Duke of York'', the first edition of ''Henry VI, Part 3'', was printed in book size, octavo form in 1595, as was the 1611 edition of ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1632 In Literature
Year 163 ( CLXIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Laelianus and Pastor (or, less frequently, year 916 '' Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 163 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire * Marcus Statius Priscus re-conquers Armenia; the capital city of Artaxata is ruined. Births * Cui Yan (or Jigui), Chinese official and politician (d. 216) * Sun Shao (or Changxu), Chinese chancellor (d. 225) * Tiberius Claudius Severus Proculus, Roman politician * Xun Yu, Chinese politician and adviser (d. 212) Deaths * Kong Zhou, father of Kong Rong (b. 103) * Marcus Annius Libo Marcus Annius Libo was a Roman Senator active in the early second century AD. Life Libo came from the upper ranks of the Roman aristocr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Second Folio
The Second Folio is the 1632 edition of the collected plays of William Shakespeare. It follows the First Folio of 1623. Much language was updated in the Second Folio and there are almost 1,700 changes. The major partners in the First Folio had passed from the publishing scene by the time of the Second Folio: William Jaggard—official printer to the city of London (17 December 1610)—had died in 1623, and his son Isaac died in 1627. Edward Blount, the third major partner, had sold his rights to Shakespearean plays to Robert Allot in 1630, and then died in 1632. Allot thus became the prime mover in the creation of the Second Folio. The two minor partners in the First Folio, William Aspley and John Smethwick, continued as partners in the Second Folio syndicate; Aspley owned the rights to ''Much Ado About Nothing'' and '' Henry IV, Part 2,'' while Smethwick owned the rights to '' Love's Labour's Lost, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet,'' and ''The Taming of the Shrew.'' Allot, Aspley, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Allot
Robert Allot (died 1635) was a London bookseller and publisher of the early Caroline era; his shop was at the sign of the black bear in St. Paul's Churchyard. Though he was in business for a relatively short time – the decade from 1625 to 1635 – Allot had significant connections with the dramatic canons of the two greatest figures of English Renaissance theatre, William Shakespeare and Ben Jonson. Background Robert Allot became a "freeman" of the Stationers Company (a full member of the London guild of booksellers) on 9 November 1625. Allot was a younger son of an Edward Allot of Crigleston in Yorkshire, near Wakefield. Robert's brother, another Edward Allot (died 1636, age 33), was a surgeon and Bachelor of Medicine at the University of Cambridge. Nineteenth-century commentators sometimes confused Robert Allot, the publisher who died in 1635, with an earlier Robert Allot, a minor poet and fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge and Linacre Professor of Physic, who edited ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Blount
Edward Blount (or Blunt) (1562–1632) was a London publisher of the Elizabethan, Jacobean, and Caroline eras, noted for his publication, in conjunction with William and Isaac Jaggard, of the First Folio of Shakespeare's plays in 1623. He was baptised in London on 31 January 1562; the Stationers' Register states that he was the son of Ralph Blount or Blunt, merchant tailor of London, and apprenticed himself in 1578 for ten years to the stationer William Ponsonby. Blount became a "freeman" (a full member) of the Stationers' Company on 25 June 1588. Among the most important of his publications are Giovanni Florio's Italian-English dictionary and his translation of Montaigne, plus Marlowe's ''Hero and Leander'' (1598), and the ''Six Court Comedies'' of John Lyly (1632). He himself translated ''Ars Aulica, or the Courtier's Arte'' (1607) from the Italian of Lorenzo Ducci, and ''Christian Policie'' (1632) from the Spanish of Juan de Santa María. Though best remembered for t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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