Excerpt from The Merchant of Venice

The Merchant of Venice was entered on the Register of the Stationer's Company on July 22, 1598. It was entered with the proviso that it should not be published till the Lord Chamberlain and given his consent. As patron of the company of actors called "the Lord Chamberlain's Servants," which were, no doubt, performing this play and to which Shakespeare himself belonged, the Lord Chamberlain probably withheld his consent for some time; and The Merchant of Venice did not appear in print till 1600. Two Quarto editions were issued in that year.

The title-page of one reads thus: The Excellent History of the Merchant of Venice. With the extreme cruelty of Shylocke the Jew towards the saide Merchant, in cutting a just pound of his flesh. And the obtaining of Portia, by the choyse of three Caskets. Written by W. Shakespeare, Printed by J. Roberts, 1600.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works. Это и многое другое вы найдете в книге The Merchant of Venice (Classic Reprint) (William Shakespeare)