A Midsummer Night's Dream Is Published
On October 8th 1600, Thomas Fisher published A Midsummer Night's Dream in quarto format thought to have been printed from Shakespeare’s own handwritten copy.
Thomas Fisher kept a bookshop at the sign of the White Hart on Fleet Street, London, in 1600. On October 8th he entered ‘a booke called A mydsommer nightes Dreame’ in the register of the Stationers’ Company. This was the method of establishing publisher’s copyright, for the Company controlled the publication of all books, plays and pamphlets. The author at this time had no copyright to his work. A dramatist sold his play to the actors’ company staging it, which usually would not want it in print because then other actors could buy a copy and put it on. Sometimes, however, the company needed the money or wanted a play printed to forestall a pirate edition. This may have happened with A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which came out soon after the appearance of a pirated version of Henry V.
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