Shepherd's Calendar, the first major work published by Edmund Spencer (1552 or 1553-1599), one of the largest poets of the Elizabethan era, played a decisive role in the final formation of the literary English language. Now, almost four and a half centuries later, it remains not just a literary monument, an acquaintance with which is mandatory for every enlightened reader, but also a lively, fascinating reading. The first publication of the "Calendar" contained lengthy, often purely ironic notes compiled by Spencer on behalf of the fictional "E. K." and reproduced in the proposed Russian translation with all possible available completeness.