the 1662 first edition, a quarto printed by thomas johnson for the booksellers francis kirkman and henry marsh, attributed the play to william shakespeare and william rowley. "the birth of merlin" is thus one of two plays published in the seventeenth century as a shakespearean collaboration, the other being "the two noble kinsmen". most scholars reject the attribution to shakespeare and believe that the play is rowley's, perhaps with a different collaborator. the play has occasionally been revived in the modern era, for example at theatr clwyd.