Stationers Register
Lead Needs Review lead packet
Topic: Stationers Register
1. Verified Sourced Facts
- Shakespeare Documented states that on
4 August 1600, Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing, and As You Like It were noted on the flyleaf of Liber C of the Stationers' Company. - Shakespeare Documented describes the entry as a Stationers' Register note for those plays "to be staied."
- The local Neville timeline gives Neville's return from France as:
"2 Aug -- Henry Neville, his wife and children arrive in Dover from France"
- The local Neville timeline gives the adjacent Stationers' Register date as:
"4 Aug -- Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing, and As You Like It were noted on the flyleaf of Liber C of the Stationer's Company"
- These are verified date anchors as separate facts. The claim that the timing implies Neville's approval, revision, or manuscript control remains interpretive.
2. Ken Feinstein Twitter and Blog Information
1 Mar. 2021
- “Here is Neville in June 1605 complaining of having no official duties.”
- “Henry Neville arrived in France on May 2, 1599. He returned on August 2, 1600.”
- “Neville gets back August 2 and August 4 this is entered into the Stationers Register.”
- “This is one hell of a coincidence.”
- The related
TWITTER_BOOK_ADDITIONS.mdsynthesis argues that no Shakespeare plays were entered during Neville's 15-month ambassadorial absence and that three plays cluster at the moment of his return.
3. Citations
- "Stationers' Register entry for As You Like It, Henry V, and Much Ado About Nothing 'to be staied'." Shakespeare Documented, Folger Shakespeare Library, https://shakespearedocumented.folger.edu/resource/document/stationers-register-entry-you-it-henry-v-and-much-ado-about-nothing-be-staied.
- "Henry Neville Timeline." Henry Neville Research Wiki. Local preservation: wiki_timeline.md.
- Feinstein, Ken. Tweet, 1 Mar. 2021, https://twitter.com/user/status/1366420682234494977. Local preservation: twitter_Stationers_Register.md.
- TWITTER_BOOK_ADDITIONS.md, Finding 11.
- ambassador_to_france.md, related packet.
4. Notes on Access
- This is now a dated-alignment packet. It is strong on the external Stationers' Register date and local Neville-return chronology, but still weaker on the inference from timing to authorial involvement.
- Future work should capture the Stationers' Company flyleaf witness directly if the book leans on the visual/documentary form of the entry.


