How did Shakespeare's works come to be published?

Answer 1

From 1585-1592, at the age of 21, William Shakespeare began his career as an actor and writer. He started off with success and loved the theater which inspired him to write plays. He produced most of his plays from 1589-1613.

Answer 2

Quite a few of Shakespeare's plays were published during his lifetime, though most of these seem to have been pirated, or at least unofficial, versions.

Plays published before the appearance of the First Folio (the first 'complete works' of William Shakespeare - published around nine years after his death) are usually called the Quarto plays.

There is a list of the Quarto plays - and a fuller explanation - at the link.

Answer 3

It's highly unlikely that he did! During the English Renaissance poems would have been circulated discreetly amongst groups of friends. The writers would generally be aiming to show off to their friends their intellect (ability to come up with complex conceits) or brag about sexual conquests. Many were written to seduce or ingratiate the poet with the recipient. Often, after a poet's death, friends, or fans of the poet would collect and collate the work of the writer and publish it. As such it is unlikely that Shakespeare published his own poetry.

Answer 4

Through a number of means:

1. Shakespeare himself arranged for their publication. This is how Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece got published.

2. Someone got hold of them legitimately and published them. His plays belonged to the theatre company, not him, and so the company was perfectly entitled to publish them. That is where the First Folio came from. It is believed that the more extensive Quarto versions were also published by the company.

3. Pirates sometimes published them. This was common and accepted at the time. Jaggard's Passionate Pilgrim and False Folio, as well as the early Quarto editions of Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet are arguably pirate copies, reproduced either from memory or from a stolen copy, or from a previously published copy.

Answer 5

Many of Shakespeare's plays were published after his death by a couple of friends. Some, however, were published in quarto form during his lifetime.