PETER SHORT: AN ELIZABETHAN PRINTER

Mie: Mie University Press, 2002. cloth, dust jacket. large 8vo. cloth, dust jacket. 265+(1) pages. First edition. Peter Short's printing house produced, among other notable works, the first two quartos of Shakespeare's Henry VI Part One (1598), and editions of The Rape of Lucrece and Venus and Adonis. Also from his house came the first editions of Thomas Morley's Canzonets or Little Short Songs to Four Voices (1597) and the first three editions of John Dowland's The First Book of Songs or Airs of Four Parts (1597). This book aims to examine all the books he printed, to make an accurate assessment of his house's productivity and to give the master printer his due place in the history of printing. A brief but fully documented biography of Short is followed by a list of all the books he printed, including several new ascriptions. For each book, the STC number is given, together with date and collation, and the location of all copies consulted in the preparation of the study. On the basis of this list, Short's productivity is discussed, including shared printing, and his extensive stock of decorative blocks and types is catalogued. Nearly half the book is occupied by reproductions of all his title-page borders, decorative initials and factotums, with most of his flowers, woodcuts and other ornamental blocks. These reproductions provide a useful reference tool for studies in the printing business and book trade in contemporary London. Distributed for Akihiro Yamada.