Title page image courtesy of the British Library
The tragicall historye of Romeus and Iuliet, written first in Italian by Bandell, and nowe in Englishe by Ar. Br.
1562 English Short Title Catalogue Record
1567 English Short Title Catalogue Record
Arthur Brooke’s 3,020 line poem, The tragicall historye of Romeus and Juliet was a major source for Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet (first printed in 1597). The plot is from a folk tale which appeared in many variations in fifteenth and sixteenth century Europe. Tottel printed Brooke’s poem, the first known English translation, in 1562. On the title page Brooke claimed to have based his work on Matteo Bandello’s Italian Novelle (1554), although more than likely he used a French translation of this text by Pierre Boaistuau (1559). Bandello’s work was inspired by another earlier book, Luigi da Porto’s Novella novamente ritrovatta (c. 1530) which was itself an adaptation of a tale titled Mariotto and Ganozza which appeared in Masuccio Salernitano’s collection of short stories Il novellino (1525). In 1566, a prose version of Romeo and Juliet was printed in the second volume of The Palace of Pleasure, a collection of tales by William Painter. Richard Tottel was also involved with printing this book and the colophon reads ‘Imprinted at London, by [John Kingston and] Henry Denham, for Richard Tottell and William Iones’.
Little is known about Arthur Brooke (d. 1563). He was admitted to Inner Temple, which may be how he was connected with Tottel, and drowned just a year after Romeus and Juliet was published. In 1567, George Turberville published a collection of poetry entitled, Epitaphs, epigrams, Songs and Sonnets, which included An Epitaph on the Death of Master Arthur Brooke Drownde in Passing to New Haven.
The full text of The tragicall historye of Romeus and Juliet can be found here.
The British Library has digitised 14 pages of their copy of Tottel’s printing of Brooke’s poem. This includes a sombre moralistic preface written by Brooke where he warns the reader that you if you give in to lust, and neglect the advice of your parents, you will hasten to an unhappy death like the unfortunate lovers.
The poem itself is not as moralistic as Brooke’s preface would suggest, but it has often been described as dull and compared unfavourably with Shakespeare’s play.
First edition of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet printed in 1597.
Two key changes Shakespeare made to intensify the drama were to squeeze Brooke’s nine-month story into only five days and to reduce Juliet’s age from 16 to not yet 14. He also developed the roles of Paris, Mercutio and the Nurse as well as that of Tybalt, inserting a sword fight with Benvolio in the first scene which foreshadows the fatal fights later.
The only known surviving copy of the second edition Tottel printed of Brooke’s poem in 1567 is held in the Huntington Library. Another printer, R.Robinson printed an edition in 1587.
Richard Tottel 