"The Apocryphal William Shakespeare"

The following is a list, as complete as seems practicable, of the uncanonical plays which have been ascribed to Shakespeare—arranged roughly according to the date of attribution:
1. The First Part of Sir John Oldcastle, 1600. In this year appeared two editions, one anonymous, the other bearing the words: 'Written by William Shakespeare.'
2. The London Prodigal, 1605.
3. A Yorkshire Tragedy, 1608.
4, 5. The Troublesome Reign of King John, in two parts. The title-page of the edition of 1611 says: 'Written by W. Sh.' The earlier edition of 1591 was anonymous. There can be little doubt that the public was meant to interpret 'W. Sh.' as 'William Shakespeare', and these words indeed appeared in full on the title-page of the third edition (1622).
6, 7. The First Part of the Contention betwixt the Two Famous Houses of Yorke and Lancaster and The True Tragedy of Richard, Duke of Yorke. These old plays were reprinted in 1619 for T. P(avier), the title-page asserting them to be' written by William Shakespeare, Gent.'
8. The Taming of a Shrew. Ascribed to Shakespeare in Smetwick's reprint, 1631. The first edition 1 is anonymous.
9. The Two Noble Kinsmen. Attributed to Fletcher and Shakespeare on title-page of the first edition, 1634.
10. The Merry Devil of Edmonton. Entered by H. Moseley in 1653 as by Shakespeare. All the early editions are anonymous.
11. 12. Henry I and Henry II,' by Wm. Shakespeare and Robert Davenport,' so entered Sept. 9, 1653.
13. The History of Gardenia, 'A Play by Mr. Fletcher and Shakespeare;' 1 1594. entered Sept. 9, 1653. It has been suggested that this play is identical with Double Falsehood (No. 25).
14. The Second Maiden's Tragedy. Entered Sept. 9, 1653, but read in MS. and approved by Sir George Buc as early as Oct. 31, 1611; printed 1824.1 This is one of the three survivors of Warburton's famous collection of fifty-three manuscript plays, the rest of which were sacrificed by his cook to make piecovers; in this way perished the only known copies of Nos. 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, which were likewise in Warburton's possession. The Second Maiden's Tragedy was labelled by Warburton 'A Play by William Shakespeare', but has been attributed also to Th. Gpff and to Chapman.
15, 16, 17. The History of King Stephen; Duke Humphrey, a Tragedy; Iphis and Ianthe, or a Marriage without a Man. All these were entered on June 29, 1660, under Shakespeare's name. No. 16 may be a version of Henry VI, Part 2.
18. The Arraignment of Paris' by Peele; ascribed to Shakespeare in the catalogues of the booksellers Kirkman, Winstanley, and others, 1656-70.
19. The Birth of Merlin. The first edition, 1662, claims William Shakespeare and William Rowley as joint authors.
20. 21. Fair Em and Mucedorus. A volume in Charles the Second's library, which contained these two plays and The Merry Devil of Edmonton, bore on the outside the title, 'Shakespeare. Vol. I."
22, 23, 24. The Puritan, Thomas Lord Cromwell, Locrine. The first edition of each of these plays gives the author merely as ' W. S.' The earliest definite connexion with Shakespeare is their inclusion—together with Oldcastle, The London Prodigal, A Yorkshire Tragedy, and Pericles—in the third Shakespeare folio, 1664.
25. Double Falsehood, or The Distrest Lovers. Assigned to Shakespeare, perhaps fraudulently, by Theobald in the preface to the first edition, 1728.
26, 27, 28. Edward II (1594), Edward III, Edward IV (1600). Casually listed as Shakespeare's in an early bookseller's catalogue. Edward III was first seriously ascribed to Shakespeare by Capell in 1760.
29. Arden of Feversham. Shakespearian authorship was first suggested by Edward Jacob in 1770.
30, 31. King Leir and his Daughters (1605) and George a Greene, the Pinner of Wakefield (1599). First attributed by Tieck ;3 31 is now accepted as Robert Greene's.
32, 33, 34. Wily Beguiled (1606), Satiro-Mastix (1602), A Warning for Fair Women (1599). Ascribed to Shakespeare by W. Bernhardi' in 1856; 33 is probably by Dekker. 35. Sir Thomas More. First printed, 1844; Shakespeare's part authorship suggested by Simpson in 1871.

From Mr. Simpson's list of doubtful plays, 5 may be added for the sake of completeness:

36. The Merry Wives of 1602.
37. 38. The Prodigal Son and Titus and Vespasian);' both preserved only in worthless old German translations.
39. The lost hamlet of 1589 and 'Corambis' Hamlet of 1603.
40. The True Tragedy of Richard HI. First edition, 1594.
41. A Larum for London, or the Siege of Antwerp, 1602.
42. Albumazar; generally accepted as the work of Tomkis. First edition in 1615.
From this catalogue Pericles and Titus Andronicus are designedly omitted because they have established their position in practice, if not in universal opinion, among the genuine works. It is hardly necessary to call attention to the further omission of such transparent and confessed forgeries as Vortigern and Henry the Second,' by W. H. Ireland, and The Fifth of November; or The Gunpowder Plot by George Ambrose Rhodes.

FROM: The Shakespeare Apocrypha: Being a Collection of Fourteen Plays which Have Been Ascribed to Shakespeare Clarendon Press, 1908 - 455 pages.

The Underground Shakespeare podcast: "The Apocryphal William Shakespeare" Episode 4 with Sabrina Feldman on JULY 31, 2012.

Shakespeare Apocrypha at Wikipedia.