THE FOLIO AND QUARTO EDITIONS OF ARTHUR OF LITTLE BRITAIN

In a previous article ('), it has been explained that there is no evidence of the existence of a third sixteenth century edition of Arthur of 'Little Britain, a romance translated from the French by John Bourchier, Lord Berners. In other words, there are extant copies of only two sixteenth century editions. Neither of the editions is dated, however, and the dates assigned by literary historians to the two sixteenth century editions of A rthur of Little Britain, 1 555 to the Folio and 1 582 to the Quarto, are uncertain (2). It would appear on the basis of when the printers of the two sixteenth century editions of Arthur of Little Britain flourished that the Quarto edition was printed at the very least a year later than the Folio edition.

The Folio was printed by Roberte Redborne, which is evident from the colophon : "Imprynted at London in Powles / churche yeard at the sygne of the Cocke / by Roberte Redborne" (3). Redborne was an original member of the Stationers' Company when it was founded in 1 557 and Arthur of Little Britain is, in so far as is known, the only work that he printed. The date of 1555 is usually given as the date of its printing since it has been surmised that Redborne became a member of the Stationers' Company about this time. The date of the founding of the Stationers' Company was inaccurately said to be 1556 by both Herbert and Arber (4). Of course, Redborne could have been a printer before becoming a member of the Stationers' Company though we have no record he was. He is mentioned, however, up to the year 1566 in the Registers (5). He was certified on October 8, 1571, to be a member of the London Stationers' Company then