Peter Short

Who was Peter Short?

Peter Short was a London printer of the later Elizabethan era. He printed several first editions and early texts of Shakespeare's works.

Short became a "freeman" of the Stationers Company on 1 March 1589, and operated his own business from that year until his death; he was partnered with Richard Yardley until 1593. His shop was at the sign of the star on Bread Street Hill. About a third of his titles involved translations from Latin or contemporary European languages. Short began publishing music in 1597; he issued Thomas Morely's A Plaine and Easy Introduction and both Canzonets, Dowland's First book of Songs, Holborne's Cittharn School, and Hunnis's Seven Sobs. Short used type which was passed on and used by his successors.

In an era when the functions of publisher and printer were often largely separate, Short was primarily a printer and only secondarily a publisher; he printed just over 170 works in his career, and the publishers of about 100 are known. Short likely published a good portion of the others himself.

Apart from Shakespeare's works, Short's most important printing tasks were: the famous 1600 first edition of William Gilbert's De Magnete; the 1601 edition of the Annals of John Stow; and the completion of the fifth edition of the Acts and Monuments, or Book of Martyrs of John Foxe. He also printed the first edition of Marlowe's translation of Lucan's Pharsalia for Thomas Thorpe.