The Spenser Archive Prototype

Headnote

The first of four prefatory materials to the 1579 quarto edition of The Shepheardes Calender, the title page is important as an object in its own right. It divides into four parts, from top to bottom: the title of the book; its dedication; the printer’s ornament; and the printer’s imprint. Distinctly missing is a printer’s border (around the edges), which distinguishes this title page from those in later Calender editions, and which gives the page a striking plainness for a book self-consciously announcing its importance (cf. Luborsky 1980: 32-3). The name of the author is missing as well, for the book remains anonymous, signed on the next page by ‘Immeritô’ (The Unworthy One). Yet two other names do appear: that of Philip Sidney, the book’s dedicatee, marking the first appearance of this figure in Spenser’s biography and canon; and that of Hugh Singleton, the printer.

THE Shepheardes Calender

Conteyning tvveluetweluetwelve Æglogues proportionable to the tweluetwelve monethes.

Entitled TO THE NOBLE AND VERTVousVERTVOUSVERTUOUS Gentleman most worthy of all titles both of learning and cheualriechevalrie M.: MasterMr: MasterM.Mr Philip Sidney. (·.·)

AT LONDON.

Printed by Hugh Singleton, dwelling in Creede Lane neere vntounto Ludgate at the signe of the gylden Tunne, and are there to be solde. 1579.

¶1r

THE Shepheardes Calender: The title of Spenser’s book communicates a double message: on the one hand, the title aligns the book with the tradition of the English almanac; on the other, it aligns the book with the tradition of European pastoral, as signaled by the word ‘Æglogues’ in the subtitle (see Introduction). Early modern punctuation allows for ‘Shepheardes’ to be either possessive singular (shepherd’s) or plural (shepherds’), and arguments can be made for both (Var 7: 235). One recent modernized edition opts for the plural, ‘The Shepherds’ Calendar’ (Brooks-Davies 1995: 7), which emphasizes the poem’s community of shepherds. One of the recognized models for the design of Spenser’s book also uses the plural: The Kalender of Shepherdes (1st edition 1506; reprinted nearly annually throughout the sixteenth century), which E.K. refers to in his Dedicatory Epistle. Yet Januarye begins with reference to ‘A shepeheards boy’ (1), and Immerito recurrently features his own personal possessiveness (e.g., ‘I have made a Calender’ [Envoy 1]), suggesting that the title straddles the divide of individual and communal production: this is a book about a community of shepherds and an individual shepherd’s representation of that community (even as it is a representation of his alienation from that community).

proportionable: Corresponding. Proportion is one of Spenser’s emphases throughout the Calender (L.S. Johnson 1990: 45; see 43, 49-50). Cf. Ded Ep 143-4: ‘these xii. Æglogues, which for that they be proportioned to the state of the xii. Monethes’; and Gen Arg 21-2: ‘These xii. Æclogues every where answering to the seasons of the twelve monthes.’

Entitled: See OED for the word ‘entitle’ meaning ‘To inscribe, dedicate (a book) to a person’ or ‘To ascribe (a literary work) to an author’. The ambiguity is playful given that the author of the book does not appear on the title page. The verb ‘Entitled’ anticipates (and perhaps plays on) the subsequent noun ‘titles’.

NOBLE AND VERTVous Gentleman . . . titles: In 1579, Sidney was a Gentleman (rather than a Knight) and descended from the noble Dudley family on his mother’s side, his uncle being Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester. Spenser may originally have intended to dedicate the Calender to Leicester (see To His Booke 11n and Letters 4.15n). Spenser remembers Sidney often in his poetry, especially in the funeral elegy ‘Ast’ but also in Time and CCCHA. Sidney may also have influenced the figure of Calidore, hero of the Legend of Courtesy, in FQ VI (on the Sidney-Spenser relation, see SpE s.v. ‘Sidney, Philip’).

learning and cheualrie: Two important ideals of Elizabethan humanist culture, embodied in Sidney. Cf. To His Booke 3-4.

[printer’s ornament]: The square image of six standard printer’s flowers was used by Singleton previously in (e.g.) An Exposition upon the Cxxx. Psalm . . . Written by Martin Luther (London, 1574).

Hugh Singleton: A bookseller, printer, and bookbinder who worked in London between 1548 and 1593 at the sign of the Golden Tun in Creede Lane (as the imprint records). Only a few months before publication of the Calender, Singleton had printed John Stubbes’ The Discoverie of a Gaping Gulf whereinto England is likely to be Swallowed, a polemical indictment of the proposed wedding match between Queen Elizabeth and the French Duc d’Alençon, a publication that infamously cost Stubbes his right hand. Singleton was also found guilty and ordered to lose his hand but later was pardoned, almost certainly because a printer had less responsibility than a publisher (in this case, the publisher, William Page, did lose his hand). Singleton’s role as the printer of the Calender has political and religious significance, because he is associated not simply with the Leicester-Sidney faction mounting the attack on the queen’s wedding match but also with the Protestant reform movement circulating around this faction (Norbrook 2002: 63, 67; S.K. Galbraith 2008: 22-5).

Ludgate: The westernmost gate in London Wall, and thus a section of London, popular with printers and booksellers, who had their shops built around St. Paul’s Cathedral, which sat atop Ludgate Hill. Creed Lane, where Singleton’s shop was located, is near the west end of St. Paul’s.

signe of the gylden Tunne: Singleton’s shop bore the sign of a single golden ‘Tunne’ or cask.

Introduction

The toggles above every page allow you to determine both the degree and the kind of editorial intervention present in the text as you read it. They control, as well, the display of secondary materials—collational notes, glosses, and links to commentary.

Textual Changes

The vagaries of early modern printing often required that lines or words be broken. Toggling Modern Lineation on will reunite divided words and set errant words in their lines.

Off: That a large share it hewd out of the rest, (blest.And glauncing downe his shield, from blame him fairely (FQ I.ii.18.8-9)On: That a large share it hewd out of the rest,And glauncing downe his shield, from blame him fairely blest.

Toggling Expansions on will undo certain early modern abbreviations.

Off: Sweet slõbring deaw, the which to sleep them biddes:(FQ I.i.36.4)On: Sweet slombring deaw, the which to sleep them biddes:

Toggling Modern Characters on will convert u, v, i, y, and vv to v, u, j, i, and w. (N.B. the editors have silently replaced ſ with s, expanded most ligatures, and adjusted spacing according contemporary norms.)

Off: And all the world in their subiection held,Till that infernall feend with foule vprore(FQ I.i.5.6-7)On: And all the world in their subjection held,Till that infernall feend with foule uprore

Toggling Lexical Modernizations on will conform certain words to contemporary orthographic standards.

Off: But wander too and fro in waies vnknowne(FQ I.i.10.5)On: But wander to and fro in waies vnknowne.

Toggling Emendations on will correct obvious errors in the edition on which we base our text and modernize its most unfamiliar features.

Most lothsom, filthie, foule, and full of vile disdaine(FQ I.i.14.9)14.9. Most lothsom] this edn.;Mostlothsom 1590

(The text of 1590 reads Mostlothsom, while the editors’ emendation reads Most lothsom.)

Apparatus

Toggling Collation Notes on will highlight words that differ among printings.

And shall thee well rewarde to shew the place,(FQ I.i.31.5)5. thee] 1590; you 1596, 1609

(The text of 1590 reads thee, while the texts of 1596 and 1609 read you.)

Toggling Commentary Links on will show links to the editors’ commentary.

Toggling Line Numbers on will show the number of the line within each stanza.

Toggling Stanza Numbers on will show the number of the stanza within each canto.

Toggling Glosses on will show the definitions of unfamiliar words or phrases.

To my long approoved and singular good frende, Master G.H.(Letters I.1)1. long aprooved: tried and true,found trustworthy over along period