Romeo and Juliet can be plausibly dated to 1595. Shakespeare must have written the play between 1591 and 1596. The earliest date is considered to be too early, because of Shakespeare’s writing style in the play. The later date allows the necessary time for the compilation of the manuscript used to print the first ‘bad’ quarto in early 1597. Romeo and Juliet relates most closely to a group of plays usually dated to the period 1594-1595, Love’s Labor’s Lost, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Richard II. 

The first ‘bad’ quarto was probably printed between late 1596 and March 1597, by the printers John Danter and Edward Allde. Danter was raided by the Stationers’ Company and his presses destroyed in February or March 1597, for printing books without their authority. The second ‘good’ quarto was printed by Thomas Creede for Cuthbert Burby in 1599. Burby transferred his copyright in Romeo and Juliet to Nicholas Ling on 22 January 1607. Ling in his turn transferred the copyright to John Smethwick on 19 November 1607. The third quarto did not appear until 1609, when it was printed by John Windet for John Smethwick. The fourth quarto, printed for Smethwick by William Stansby, appeared in 1622. John Smethwick also published the fifth quarto of 1637, printed by R. Young.