Entries of copies are dated 10 Jul 1620-1 Dec 1645 and fill the volume; information given includes name of property owner, name of person/s under whose hand/s the copy is entered, title of work, often name of author and amount paid (usually 6d per title); there are frequent cross references in the margins to entries elsewhere in the volume and in other volumes; a symbol resembling a pointing hand appears occasionally in the margins (most frequently between pages 312 and 363).
Front cover reads 'A Register Booke of Coppies Begining July 1620 Ending November 1645'.
At the top of the first page is written 'Mr Humphrey Lownes, Master, Mr Mathew Lownes, Mr George Cole, Wardens' (new Masters and Wardens are named periodically through the volume).
Fly leaf reads, handwritten, 'Liber D'.
Pasted in the front of the volume are a printed sheet entitled 'The Oath of a Stock-keeper', beginning 'You shall swear to be true to our Sovereign Lady, Queen Anne, and to be obedient unto the Master and Wardens of this Comapny' [temp Queen Anne, 1702-1714], and a letter from Eleanor Pitcher on headed notepaper of The Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington DC, 6 Apr 1954.
Inserted at pages 178-179 is a contemporary manuscript page listing selected works and dates between 31 Oct 1622 and 29 Apr 1629, some marked with a cross; some dates refer to entries of the work cited in the register.
Significant entries of copies include:
page 21: [William Shakespeare's] Othello, entered for Thomas Walkley, 6 Oct 1621.
page 69: William Shakespeare's The Tempest, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Measure for Measure, The Comedy of Errors, As You Like It, All's Well That Ends Well, Twelfth Night, Winter's Tale, Henry VI part 3, Henry VIII, Coriolanus, Timon of Athens, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Anthony and Cleopatra and Cymbeline, entered for Mr Blount and Isaac Jaggard, 8 Nov 1623.
pages 111-112: William Shakespeare's The Rape of Lucrece, transferred from Roger Jackson's widow to Francis Williams, 16 Jan 1626.
page 122: [William Shakespeare's] Venus and Adonis, transferred from Mr Parker to John Haviland and John Wright, 7 May 1626.
pages 126-128: William Shakespeare's Henry V, Sir John Oldcastle (accredited to Shakespeare) and Titus Andronicus, 'Mr Paviers right in Shakesperes plaies or any of them' transferred from his widow to Edward Brewster and Robert Bird, 4 Aug 1626.
page 140: Francis Bacon's Henry VII, Walter Raleigh's History of the World, Philip Sidney's Arcadia, Edmund Spencer's The Faerie Queene, Francis Bacon's Apology, and Ben Jonson's Poetaster, transferred to Thomas Lownes from his late father, Matthew Lownes, 10 Apr 1627.
page 144: Francis Bacon's Henry VII, Walter Raleigh's History of the World, Philip Sidney's Arcadia, Edmund Spencer's The Faerie Queene and Ben Jonson's Poetaster, transferred from Thomas Lownes to Master Humphrey Lownes and Robert Young, 30 May 1627.
page 171: Francis Bacon's Henry VII, Walter Raleigh's History of the World, Philip Sidney's Arcadia, Edmund Spencer's The Faerie Queene and Ben Jonson's Poetaster, transferred from Master Humphrey Lownes to George Cole and George Latham, 6 Nov 1628.
page 146: Isaac Jaggard's part in Shakespeare's plays, transferred from his widow Dorothy Jaggard to Thomas Cotes and Richard Cotes, 19 Jun 1627.
page 160: [William Shakespeare's] Othello, transferred from Thomas Walkley to Richard Hawkins, 1 Mar 1628.
page 193: [William Shakespeare's] The Merry Wives of Windsor, transferred from Mr Johnson to Mr Meighen, 29 Jan 1630.
page 203: [William Shakespeare's] The Rape of Lucrece transferred from Francis Williams to Mr Harrison, 29 Jun 1630.
page 208: [William Shakespeare's] Henry V, Sir John Oldcastle (accredited to Shakespeare), Titus Andronicus, 'Yorke and Lancaster' (Henry VI parts 2 and 3) and Pericles, Prince of Tyre, transferred from Mr Bird to Richard Cotes, 8 Nov 1630.
page 209: [William Shakespeare's] The Tempest, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Measure for Measure, The Comedy of Errors, As You Like It, All's Well That Ends Well, Twelfth Night, Winter's Tale, Henry VI part 3, Henry VIII, Coriolanus, Timon of Athens, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Anthony and Cleopatra and Cymbeline, transferred from Mr Blount to Mr Allot, 16 Nov 1630.
page 211: [Francis Bacon's] Henry VII, Walter Raleigh's History of the World, [Philip Sidney's] Arcadia, [Edmund Spencer's] The Faerie Queene and [Ben Jonson's] Poetaster, transferred from Mr Cole and Mr Latham to Mr Younge, 6 Dec 1630.
page 226: Ben Jonson's The Staple of News, transferred to Mr Allot, 7 Sep 1631.
page 290: 'A Tragicomedy called the two noble kinsmen by John Fletcher and William Shakespeare', entered for John Waterson, 8 Apr 1634.
page 320: Philip Sidney's Arcadia transferred from Simon Waterson to John Waterson, 19 Aug 1635.
pages 361-362: Robert Allot's part in William Shakespeare's works and in [Ben Jonson's] The Staple of News and Bartholomew Fayre, transferred from Allot's to Mr Legatt and Andrew Crooke, 1 Jul 1637.
page 394: [William Shakespeare's] Othello, transferred from Urusla Hawkins, widow of Richard Hawkins, to Mr Mead and Mr Meredith, 29 May 1638.
page 405: [William Shakespeare's] Venus and Adonis, entered for John Haviland and John Wright, 4 Sep 1638.
page 415: The Tragedy of Chabot, Admiral of France 'by James Shirley' [judged by some to be by George Chapman and revised by Shirley], entered for Mr Crooke and William Crooke, 24 Oct 1638.
page 425: John Fletcher's Monsieur Thomas, entered for Mr Waterson, 22 Jan 1639.
page 426-427: [William Shakespeare's] Othello, transferred from Mr Mead and Mr Meredith to William Leake, 25 Jan 1639.
page 432-434: Ben Jonson's works, transferred from Elizabeth Stansby, widow of William Stansby, to Mr Bishop, 4 Mar 1639.
page 438: [John Fletcher's] Wit Without Money, entered for Mr Crooke and William Cooke, 25 Apr 1639.
page 461: 'An addicion of some excellent poems to Shakespeares poems by other gentlemen viz. His mistris drawne and her mind by Ben: Johnson', entered for John Benson, 4 Nov 1639.
page 474: Ben Jonson's The Masque of the Gypsies, entered for John Benson, 20 Feb 1640.
page 477: Ben Jonson's The Masque of Augurs, Time Vindicated, Neptune's Triumphs, Pan's Anniversary or The Shepherd's Holiday and other elegies and poems, entered for Mr Crooke and Richard Seirger, 20 Mar 1640.
page 774: John Milton's Poems in English and Latin, entered for Master Mozeley, 6 Oct 1645.
