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Title Page of The Passionate Pilgrim

William Shakespeare · 1612

The title page of a 1612 poetry collection printed with Shakespeare's name, an early printed trace of his verse reaching readers.

This title page bears Shakespeare's printed name, making it rare physical evidence of his poetry reaching print in his lifetime.

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Scanned title page of The Passionate Pilgrim, 1612. Large capitals read 'THE PASSIONATE PILGRIME', followed by 'Certaine Amorous Sonnets, betweene Venus and Adonis, newly corrected and augmented', 'By W. Shakespere', 'The third Edition', and a line about two Loue-Epistles. Printed by W. Iaggard, 1612.
Title page of The Passionate Pilgrim, printed by W. Jaggard, 1612.

About this source

What it is

This is the title page of The Passionate Pilgrim, a book of short love poems printed in 1612 by the printer W. Jaggard. The page names it the 'third Edition' and credits the verses 'By W. Shakespere'. It also advertises added material, two love-letters supposedly exchanged between figures from Troy.

Why it matters

This title page is one of the few surviving printed objects that puts Shakespeare's name directly on a book during his own lifetime. Scholars have long debated whether all the poems inside were really his, since collections like this were sometimes stretched with other writers' work to sell copies under a famous name. It shows how Shakespeare's reputation was already being used commercially while he was alive.

Look closer

  • Why might a printer want to put a famous name on the cover of a book of poems?
  • What does 'newly corrected and augmented' suggest about earlier editions?
  • What does this page not tell us about who actually wrote each poem inside?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of William Shakespeare on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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