Peter Short (died 1603) was an English printer based in London in the later

Elizabethan era The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personifi ...

. He printed several first editions and early texts of

Shakespeare's William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

works.

Career

Short became a "freeman" (full member) of the Stationers Company on 1 March 1589, and operated his own business from that year until his death; he was partnered with Richard Yardley until 1593. His shop was at the sign of the star on Bread Street Hill. About a third of his titles involved translations from

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

or contemporary European languages. Short began publishing music in 1597; he issued

Thomas Morley Thomas Morley (1557 – early October 1602) was an English composer, theorist, singer and organist of the Renaissance. He was one of the foremost members of the English Madrigal School. Referring to the strong Italian influence on the Englis ...

's ''A Plaine and Easy Introduction'' and both ''Canzonets'', Dowland's '' First Book of Songs'', Holborne's ''Cittharn School'', and Hunnis's '' Seven Sobs''. Short used type which was passed on and used by his successors (Humphrey Lownes, James Young). In an era when the functions of publisher and printer were often largely (though not entirely) separate, Short was primarily a printer and only secondarily a publisher; he printed just over 170 works in his career, and the publishers of about 100 are known. Short likely published a good portion of the others himself.

Works

Apart from Shakespeare's works, Short's most important printing tasks were: the famous 1600 first edition of William Gilbert's ''

De Magnete ''De Magnete, Magneticisque Corporibus, et de Magno Magnete Tellure'' (''On the Magnet and Magnetic Bodies, and on That Great Magnet the Earth'') is a scientific work published in 1600 by the English physician and scientist William Gilbert. A h ...

;'' the

1601 This Epoch (reference date)#Computing, epoch is the beginning of the 400-year Gregorian leap-year cycle within which digital files first existed; the last year of any such cycle is the only leap year whose year number is divisible by 100. Jan ...

edition of the ''Annals'' of

John Stow John Stow (''also'' Stowe; 1524/25 – 5 April 1605) was an English historian and antiquarian. He wrote a series of chronicles of English history, published from 1565 onwards under such titles as ''The Summarie of Englyshe Chronicles'', ''The C ...

; and the completion of the fifth edition (

1597 Events January–June * January 24 – Battle of Turnhout: Maurice of Nassau defeats a Spanish force under Jean de Rie of Varas, in the Netherlands. * February – Bali is discovered, by Dutch explorer Cornelis Houtman. * February 5 � ...

) of the '' Acts and Monuments, or Book of Martyrs'' of

John Foxe John Foxe (1516/1517 – 18 April 1587), an English historian and martyrologist, was the author of '' Actes and Monuments'' (otherwise ''Foxe's Book of Martyrs''), telling of Christian martyrs throughout Western history, but particularly the su ...

. He also printed the first edition (1600) of Marlowe's translation of

Lucan Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (3 November 39 AD – 30 April 65 AD), better known in English as Lucan (), was a Roman poet, born in Corduba (modern-day Córdoba), in Hispania Baetica. He is regarded as one of the outstanding figures of the Imperial ...

's ''

Pharsalia ''De Bello Civili'' (; ''On the Civil War''), more commonly referred to as the ''Pharsalia'', is a Roman epic poem written by the poet Lucan, detailing the civil war between Julius Caesar and the forces of the Roman Senate led by Pompey the Gre ...

'' for

Thomas Thorpe Thomas Thorpe ( 1569 – 1625) was an English publisher, most famous for publishing Shakespeare's sonnets and several works by Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson. His publication of the sonnets has long been controversial. Nineteenth-century ...

. In music publishing, Short was responsible for printing

John Dowland John Dowland (c. 1563 – buried 20 February 1626) was an English Renaissance composer, lutenist, and singer. He is best known today for his melancholy songs such as "Come, heavy sleep", " Come again", "Flow my tears", " I saw my Lady weepe", ...

's '' First Booke of Songes or Ayres'', the most successful music anthologyy of the era, as well as

's important theoretical treatise ''A Plaine and Easie Introduction to Musicke'', both printed in 1597 Regarding Shakespeare, Short printed: * The

first 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 a ...

of ''

Henry VI, Part 3 ''Henry VI, Part 3'' (often written as ''3 Henry VI'') is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1591 and set during the lifetime of King Henry VI of England. Whereas '' 1 Henry VI'' deals with the loss of Eng ...

'' (1595), for publisher Thomas Millington. This was the "

bad quarto A bad quarto, in Shakespearean scholarship, is a quarto-sized printed edition of one of Shakespeare's plays that is considered to be unauthorised, and is theorised to have been pirated from a theatrical performance without permission by someone in ...

," the early alternative text of Shakespeare's play known as ''The True Tragedy of Richard Duke of York.'' * The first

quarto Quarto (abbreviated Qto, 4to or 4º) is the format of a book or pamphlet produced from full sheets printed with eight pages of text, four to a side, then folded twice to produce four leaves. The leaves are then trimmed along the folds to produc ...

of ''

Henry IV, Part 1 ''Henry IV, Part 1'' (often written as ''1 Henry IV'') is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written no later than 1597. The play dramatises part of the reign of King Henry IV of England, beginning with the battle at ...

'' (1598), for Andrew Wise. * The second edition of ''

The Rape of Lucrece ''The Rape of Lucrece'' (1594) is a narrative poem by William Shakespeare about the legendary Roman noblewoman Lucretia. In his previous narrative poem, '' Venus and Adonis'' (1593), Shakespeare had included a dedicatory letter to his patron, ...

'' (1598), for John Harrison. This was the first edition of that poem in

octavo Octavo, a Latin word meaning "in eighth" or "for the eighth time", (abbreviated 8vo, 8º, or In-8) is a technical term describing the format of a book, which refers to the size of leaves produced from folding a full sheet of paper on which multip ...

rather than quarto format (O1). * The fifth edition of '' Venus and Adonis'' (1599), for William Leake; the third octavo edition (O3). For

Cuthbert Burby Cuthbert Burby (died 1607) was a London bookseller and publisher of the Elizabethan and early Jacobean eras. He is known for publishing a series of significant volumes of English Renaissance drama, including works by William Shakespeare, Rober ...

, Short printed ''Palladis Tamia'' ( 1598) by

Francis Meres Francis Meres (1565/1566 – 29 January 1647) was an English churchman and author. His 1598 commonplace book includes the first critical account of poems and plays by Shakespeare. Career Francis Meres was born in 1565 at Kirton Meres in the par ...

, a book that contains an important early reference to Shakespeare and a list of his plays performed up to 1598. Short printed a few non-Shakespearean play texts as well: * For Burby, Short printed Q1 and Q2 of ''The Taming of a Shrew'' (1594, 1596), the early alternative version of Shakespeare's '' The Shrew.'' * For William Ponsonby, he printed the closet drama ''Antony'' (1595), translated from the French of

Robert Garnier Robert Garnier (1544 – 20 September 1590) was a French poet and dramatist. He published his first work while still a law-student at Toulouse, where he won a prize (1565) in the Académie des Jeux Floraux. It was a collection of lyrical pi ...

by the

Countess of Pembroke {{Use dmy dates, date=April 2022 Countess of Pembroke is a title that has been borne by several women throughout history, including: * Isabel de Clare, 4th Countess of Pembroke (1172–1220), wife of William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, and Count ...

. * For Simon Waterson, he printed the third, 1598 edition of

Samuel Daniel Samuel Daniel (1562–1619) was an English poet, playwright and historian in the late- Elizabethan and early- Jacobean eras. He was an innovator in a wide range of literary genres. His best-known works are the sonnet cycle ''Delia'', the epi ...

's ''Cleopatra.'' * And for William Holme, Short printed one of the three editions of Jonson's ''

Every Man Out of His Humour ''Every Man out of His Humour'' is a satirical comedy written by English playwright Ben Jonson, acted in 1599 by the Lord Chamberlain's Men. The play The play is a conceptual sequel to his 1598 comedy ''Every Man in His Humour''. It was much l ...

'' that appeared in a single year, 1600. Short's connection with the Shakespeare canon has led scholars to study his printed output and learn details of the workings of his shop, including the compositors he employed.Alan E. Craven, "The Compositors of the Shakespeare Quartos Printed by Peter Short," ''Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America,'' 65 (1971), pp. 393–7.

Death

After his 1603 death, Short's widow continued his business; she married Humphrey Lownes, another member of the Stationers Company, in 1604.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Short Peter Year of birth unknown 1603 deaths 16th-century English businesspeople 16th-century births 17th-century English businesspeople Businesspeople from London English printers Music printers