The Shakespeare Society was active 1841-52, led by eminent Shakespearean scholars ot the period including John Payne Collier and Alexander Dyce. Its publications endeavoured to investigate Shakespeare in his context, including other contemporary authors and playwrights, and the sources for his plots. The Society published 48 volumes, and the full set was acquired for the Royal Library in December 1864.

Thomas Heywood was an actor and author, writing chiefly for the late Elizabethan and early Jacobean age. He was extremely prolific, though few of his works survive today. The present plays, written c.1599, possibly with one or more collaborators (it is often published as an anonymous work) relate the personal life of Edward IV, particularly his relationship with Jane Shore, the King’s mistress 1476-83.