# Venus and Adonis is entered in the Stationers' Register

Date: 1593

## The fact

On 18 April 1593 Richard Field entered Venus and Adonis in the Stationers' Register. The 1593 quarto prints [Shakespeare](/people/william-shakespeare)'s dedication to Southampton. This is a completed Stationers' act plus a signed dedication, not a rumour of courtly authorship.

## Context

The theatres were closed or restricted in the plague years 1592–94. Narrative poetry was a way to keep a name in print and to seek aristocratic patronage while public playing was dangerous and often illegal. Field was a Stratford-born printer in London; the Stratford–London book trade is part of the mechanism. The poem's erotic classicism is not the Fact.

## Evidence and sources

The British Library holds and describes early Venus and Adonis copies. Folger Shakespeare Documented points to the Stationers' Register entry and to the dedication text. Those sources establish date, printer, dedicatee, and Shakespeare's self-identification as author. They do not establish print-run size as a welfare statistic or that every reader was a pupil. Wikipedia is not used as a causal source.

## Significance

Print is a different public than a playhouse yard. A registered English poem is a cultural good that can be owned, lent, and reread. The education-driver path is therefore print access, not a curriculum. Weight is moderate because we lack a contemporary literacy series tied to this title.

## What is established and what is not

Established: 18 April 1593 entry; Shakespeare dedicated the poem to Southampton. Not established: that the poem funded schools; that Southampton paid a documented annuity solely for this poem; that plague closures were caused by Shakespeare. Confidence high on the bibliographical event, low on education funding.

The event remains dated 1593-04-18. Shakespeare's documented role is: Shakespeare authored the narrative poem and dedicated it to Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton. A printed English narrative poem dedicated to a patron widened non-Latin literary goods available to paying readers, a weak education-access path not a school grant. Responsibility is not transferred to later editors, later theatres, or later national myth.

The event remains dated 1593-04-18. Shakespeare's documented role is: Shakespeare authored the narrative poem and dedicated it to Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton. A printed English narrative poem dedicated to a patron widened non-Latin literary goods available to paying readers, a weak education-access path not a school grant. Responsibility is not transferred to later editors, later theatres, or later national myth.

The event remains dated 1593-04-18. Shakespeare's documented role is: Shakespeare authored the narrative poem and dedicated it to Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton. A printed English narrative poem dedicated to a patron widened non-Latin literary goods available to paying readers, a weak education-access path not a school grant. Responsibility is not transferred to later editors, later theatres, or later national myth.

The event remains dated 1593-04-18. Shakespeare's documented role is: Shakespeare authored the narrative poem and dedicated it to Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton. A printed English narrative poem dedicated to a patron widened non-Latin literary goods available to paying readers, a weak education-access path not a school grant. Responsibility is not transferred to later editors, later theatres, or later national myth.

The event remains dated 1593-04-18. Shakespeare's documented role is: Shakespeare authored the narrative poem and dedicated it to Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton. A printed English narrative poem dedicated to a patron widened non-Latin literary goods available to paying readers, a weak education-access path not a school grant. Responsibility is not transferred to later editors, later theatres, or later national myth.

## People

- William Shakespeare: https://factrail.ai/people/william-shakespeare

## Drivers

- Public Education Funding: https://factrail.ai/drivers/edu-public-education-funding

## Sources

- https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/venus-and-adonis-by-william-shakespeare
- https://shakespearedocumented.folger.edu/

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/shakespeare-venus-and-adonis-1593