Early Texts of Love's Labour's Lost

The first quarto, and only authoritative text, of Love's Labour's Lost appeared in 1598 with the following title page:

A pleasant conceited comedie called, Loues labors lost. As it was presented before her Highnes this last Christmas. Newly corrected and augmented by W. Shakespere.
Imprinted at London: by W. W. [William White] for Cutbert Burby, 1598.

It is the first appearance of one of Shakespeare's plays that bore his name on the title page.

Because of its unusually complete and descriptive stage directions, and because it is full of inside jokes and parodies, a case has been made for Love's Labour's Lost having been written for a private party, probably involving Southampton and his circle, and later adapted for the stage (thus the "newly corrected and augmented').  It does seem to have strong associations with Southampton, though this theory is by no means universally accepted.  Those who advance it usually place the play in about 1593-94, in the period of Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece, with which it has obvious affinities.

It appears in the list of Shakespeare's plays in Francis Meres' Palladis Tamia in 1598.  The play was most likely written between 1593, though may be a revision of a much earlier work.

The illustration above is taken from the Staunton Edition of 1858-1860.  Below are the links to the early editions available on the Internet.

• The 1598 1st quarto of Love's Labour's Lost from the British Library.  Another copy of this work is available for inspection from the Rare Book Room (Octoavo). 
• The 1598 1st quarto of Love's Labour's Lost from the Rare Book Room (Octavo) from a volume held by the University of Edinburgh Library.  "This quarto was donated to the University of Edinburgh in 1627 by James Drummond of Hawthornden (1585–1649), a former student at the university, as well as a poet and man of letters" (Octavo statement of provenance).
• The 1598 1st quarto of Love's Labour's Lost from the Rare Book Room (Octavo) from a volume held by The Bodleian Library, University of Oxford.
• Shakspere's Loves labors lost : the first quarto, 1598 : a facsimile in photo-lithography (1880) with an introduction by Frederick Furnivall, from Internet Archive, in various formats.
• Two examples of the 1631 2nd quarto of Love's Labour's Lost from the British Library, the first originally possessed by Garrick, the second by George III:  1  2.  These volumes are also available for inspection from the Rare Book Room (Octavo):  Garrick   George III.
• The 1631 2nd quarto of Love's Labour's Lost from the Rare Book Room (Octavo) from a volume held by the University of Edinburgh Library.  This volume had been the property of J. O. Halliwell-Phillipps, who gave it to the library.
• The 1631 2nd quarto of Love's Labour's Lost from the Rare Book Room (Octavo) from a volume held by the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford; and another copy held by the same library.
• The 1631 2nd quarto of Love's Labour's Lost from the Rare Book Room (Octavo) from a volume held by the National Library of Scotland.  "This second quarto of Love’s Labours Lost was owned by Dr. Richard Farmer (1735–1797), Shakespeare scholar and collector, and Canon of St. Paul’s, London. It was sold at 1798 Farmer sale to the English book collector Richard Forster and then acquired 1806 by John Stuart, the first Marquis of Bute (1744–1814). Stuart added it to the Bute Collection of early English plays...The Bute Collection is now in the National Library of Scotland, which purchased it from Major Michael Crichton Stuart on 3 April 1956" (Octavo statement of provenance.)
• The 1631 2nd quarto of Loues Labours lost : a vvittie and pleasant comedie : as it was acted by his Maiesties seruants at the Blacke-Friers and the Globe, in Horace Howard Furness Memorial (Shakespeare) Library from the Schoenberg Center for Electronic Text & Image (SCETI), University of Pennsylvania.
• Loves Labour's lost, in the First Folio of 1623 (Jaggard and Blount), from The Rare Book Room (Octavo) from a volume held by the Folger Shakespeare Library.
• Love's Labour's lost, in the First Folio of 1623 (Jaggard and Blount), from a volume held by the Horace Howard Furness Memorial (Shakespeare) Library from the Schoenberg Center for Electronic Text & Image (SCETI), University of Pennsylvania.
• Love's Labour's lost, in the First Folio of 1623 (Jaggard and Blount), from the Perseus Garner, part of the Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University, from a volume held by Brandeis University Library.
• Love's Labour's lost, in the First Folio of 1623 (Jaggard and Blount), from Internet Shakespeare Editions (University of Victoria) from a volume held by Brandeis University Library.
• Love's Labour's lost, in the First Folio of 1623 (Jaggard and Blount), from Internet Shakespeare Editions (University of Victoria) from a volume held by the State Library of New South Wales.
• Loves Labour's lost, in the Second Folio of 1632 (Cotes and Allot) from Internet Shakespeare Editions (University of Victoria) from a volume held by the State Library of New South Wales.
• Facsimile edition of Love's Labour's Lost from the 1632 Second Folio via the Holloway Pages.
• Love's Labour's lost, in the Third Folio of 1663-1664 (Chetwinde) from Internet Shakespeare Editions (University of Victoria) from a volume held by the State Library of New South Wales.
• Love's Labours lost, in the Fourth Folio of 1685 (Herringman) from Internet Shakespeare Editions (University of Victoria) from a volume held by the State Library of New South Wales.