The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Short History of English Printing,
1476-1898, by Henry R. Plomer
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: A Short History of English Printing, 1476-1898
Author: Henry R. Plomer
Editor: Alfred Pollard
Release Date: January 18, 2007 [EBook #20393]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGLISH PRINTING ***
Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier, Taavi Kalju and
the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
http://www.pgdp.net
[Illustration: William Morris
Printer 1891-1896.]
EDITED BY
ALFRED POLLARD
A SHORT HISTORY
OF
ENGLISH PRINTING
1476-1898
BY HENRY R. PLOMER
LONDON
KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRÜBNER
AND COMPANY, LIMITED
1900
The English
Bookman's
Library
Edinburgh: T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to Her Majesty
EDITOR'S PREFACE
When Mr. Plomer consented at my request to write a short history of
English printing which should stop neither at the end of the fifteenth
century, nor at the end of the sixteenth century, nor at 1640, but
should come down, as best it could, to our own day, we were not without
apprehensions that the task might prove one of some difficulty. How
difficult it would be we had certainly no idea, or the book would never
have been begun, and now that it is finished I would bespeak the
reader's sympathies, on Mr. Plomer's behalf, that its inevitable
shortcomings may be the more generously forgiven. If we look at what has
already been written on the subject the difficulties will be more easily
appreciated. In England, as in other countries, the period in the
history of the press which is best known to us is, by the perversity of
antiquaries, that which is furthest removed from our own time. Of all
that can be learnt about Caxton the late Mr. William Blades set down in
his monumental work nine-tenths, and the zeal of Henry Bradshaw, of Mr.
Gordon Duff, and of Mr. E. J. L. Scott, has added nearly all that was
lacking in this storehouse. Mr. Duff has extended his labours to the
other English printers of the 15th century, giving in his _Early English
Printing_ (Kegan Paul, 1896) a conspectus, with facsimiles of their
types, and in his privately printed Sandars Lectures presenting a
detailed account of their work, based on the personal examination of
every book or fragment from their presses which his unwearied diligence
has been able to discover. Originality for this period being out of the
question, Mr. Plomer's task was to select, under a constant sense of
obligation, from the mass of details which have been brought together
for this short period, and to preserve due proportion in their
treatment.
Of the work of the printers of the next half-century our knowledge is
much less detailed, and Mr. Plomer might fairly claim that he himself,
by the numerous documents which he has unearthed at the Record Office
and at Somerset House, has made some contributions to it of considerable
value and interest. It is to his credit, if I may say so, that so little
is written here of these discoveries. In a larger book the story of the
brawl in which Pynson's head came so nigh to being broken, or of John
Rastell's suit against the theatrical costumier who impounded the
dresses used in his private theatre, would form pleasant digressions,
but in a sketch of a large subject there is no room for digressions, and
these personal incidents have been sternly ignored by their discoverer.
Even his first love, Robert Wyer, has been allotted not more than six
lines above the space which is due to him, and generally Mr. Plomer has
compressed the story told in the _Typographical Antiquities_ of Ames,
Herbert, and Dibdin with much impartiality.
When we pass beyond the year 1556, which witnessed the incorporation of
the Stationers' Company, Mr. Arber's _Transcripts_ from the Company's
Registers become the chief source of information, and Mr. Plomer's pages
bear ample record of the use he has made of them, and of the numerous
documents printed by Mr. Arber in his prefaces. After 1603, the date at
which Mr. Arber discontinues, to the sorrow of all bibliographers, his
epitome of the annual output of the press, information is far less
abundant. After 1640 it becomes a matter of shreds and patches, with no
other continuous aid than Mr. Talbot Reed's admirable work, _A History
of the Old English Letter Foundries_, written from a different
standpoint, to serve as a guide. His own researches at the Record Office
have enabled Mr. Plomer to enlarge considerably our knowledge of the
printers at work during the second half of the seventeenth century, but
when the State made up its mind to leave the printers alone, even this
source of information lapses, and the pioneer has to gather what he may
from the imprints in books which come under his hand, from notices of a
few individual printers, and stray anecdotes and memoranda. Through this
almost pathless forest Mr. Plomer has threaded his way, and though the
road he has made may be broken and imperfect, the fact that a road
exists, which they can widen and mend, will be of incalculable advantage
to all students of printing.
Besides the indebtedness already stated to the works of Blades, Mr.
Gordon Duff, Mr. Arber, and Mr. Reed, acknowledgments are also due for
the help derived from Mr. Allnutt's papers on English Provincial
Printing (_Bibliographica_, vol. ii.) and Mr. Warren's history of the
Chiswick Press (_The Charles Whittinghams, Printers_; Grolier Club,
1896). Lest Mr. Plomer should be made responsible for borrowed faults,
it must also be stated that the account of the Kelmscott Press is mainly
taken from an article contributed to _The Guardian_ by the present
writer. The hearty thanks of both author and editor are due to Messrs.
Macmillan and Bowes for the use of two devices; to the Clarendon Press
for the three pages of specimens of the types given to the University of
Oxford by Fell and Junius; to the Chiswick Press for the examples of the
devices and ornamental initials which the second Whittingham
reintroduced, and for the type-facsimiles of the title-page of the book
with which he revived the use of old-faced letters; to Messrs. Macmillan
for the specimen of the Macmillan Greek type, and to the Trustees of Mr.
William Morris for their grant of the very exceptional privilege of
reproducing, with the skilful aid of Mr. Emery Walker, two pages of
books printed at the Kelmscott Press.
That the illustrations are profuse at the beginning and end of the book
and scanty in the middle must be laid to the charge of the printers of
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, in whose work good ornament
finds no place. It was due to Caslon and Baskerville to insert their
portraits, though they can hardly be called works of art. That of Roger
L'Estrange, which is also given, may suggest, by its more prosperous
look, that in the evil days of the English press its Censor was the
person who most throve by it.
ALFRED W. POLLARD.
[Illustration: Decorative]
CONTENTS AND LIST OF PLATES
PAGE
EDITOR'S PREFACE, vii
CHAPTER I
Caxton and his Contemporaries, 1
CHAPTER II
From 1500 to the Death of Wynkyn de Worde, 31
CHAPTER III
Thomas Berthelet to John Day, 61
CHAPTER IV
John Day, 79
CHAPTER V
John Day's Contemporaries, 103
CHAPTER VI
Provincial Presses of the Sixteenth Century, 122
CHAPTER VII
The Stuart Period (1603-1640), 154
CHAPTER VIII
From 1640 to 1700, 187
CHAPTER IX
From 1700 to 1750, 228
CHAPTER X
From 1750 to 1800, 261
CHAPTER XI
The Present Century, 282
INDEX, 323
LIST OF PLATES
Portrait of William Morris, _Frontispiece_
Portrait of Roger L'Estrange, _at p._ 203
Portrait of Caslon, " 239
Portrait of Baskerville, " 265
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Device of William Caxton.]
CHAPTER I
CAXTON AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES
The art of printing had been known on the Continent for something over
twenty years, when William Caxton, a citizen and mercer of London,
introduced it into England.
Such facts as are known of the life of England's first printer are few
and simple. He tells us himself that he was born in the Weald of Kent,
and he was probably educated in his native village. When old enough, he
was apprenticed to a well-to-do London mercer, Robert Large, who carried
on business in the Old Jewry. This was in 1438, and in 1441 his master
died, leaving, among other legacies, a sum of twenty marks to William
Caxton.
In all probability Caxton, whose term of apprenticeship had not expired,
was transferred to some other master to serve the remainder of his term;
but all we know is that he shortly afterwards left England for the Low
Countries. In the prologue to the _Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye_
he tells us that, at the time he began the translation, he had been
living on the Continent for thirty years, in various places, Brabant,
Flanders, Holland, and Zealand, but the city of Bruges, one of the
largest centres of trade in Europe at that time, was his headquarters.
Caxton prospered in his business, and rose to be 'Governor to the
English Nation at Bruges,' a position of importance, and one that
brought him into contact with men of high rank.
In the year 1468 Caxton appears to have had some leisure for literary
work, and began to translate a French book he had lately been reading,
Raoul Le Fevre's _Recueil des Histoires de Troyes_; but after writing a
few quires he threw down his pen in disgust at the feebleness of his
version.
Very shortly after this he entered the service of Margaret, Duchess of
Burgundy, sister of Edward IV. of England, either as secretary or
steward. The Duchess used to talk with him on literary matters, and he
told her of his attempt to translate the _Recueil_. She asked him to
show her what he had written, pointed out how he might amend his 'rude
English,' and encouraged him to continue his work. Caxton took up the
task again, and in spite of many interruptions, including journeys to
both Ghent and Cologne, he completed it, in the latter city, on the 19th
September 1471. All this he tells us in the prologue, and at the end of
the second book he says:--
'And for as moche as I suppose the said two bokes ben not had to fore
this tyme in oure English langage | therefore I had the better will to
accomplisshe this said werke | whiche werke was begonne in Brugis | and
contynued in Gaunt, and finyshed in Coleyn, ... the yere of our lord a
thousand four honderd lxxi.' He then goes on to speak of John Lydgate's
translation of the third book, as making it needless to translate it
into English, but continues:--
'But yet for as moche as I am bounde to contemplate my fayd ladyes good
grace and also that his werke is in ryme | and as ferre as I knowe hit
is not had in prose in our tonge ... _and also because that I have now
god leyzer beying in Coleyn, and have none other thing to doo at this
tyme_, I have,' etc.
Then at the end of the third book he says that, having become weary of
writing and yet having promised copies to divers gentlemen and
friends,--
'Therfor I have practysed and lerned at my grete charge and dispense to
ordeyne this said book in prynte after the maner and forme as ye may
here see,' etc.
The book when printed bore neither place of imprint, date of printing,
or name of printer. The late William Blades, in his _Life of Caxton_
(vol. i. chap. v. pp. 45-61), maintained that this book, and all the
others printed with the same type, were printed at Bruges by Colard
Mansion, and that it was at Bruges, and in conjunction with Mansion,
that Caxton learned the art of printing. His principal reasons for
coming to this conclusion were: (1) That Caxton's stay in Cologne was
only for six months, long enough for him to have finished the
translation of the book, but too short a time in which to have printed
it. (2) That the type in which it was printed was Colard Mansion's. (3)
That the typographical features of the books printed in this type (No.
1) point to their having all of them come from the same printing office.
Caxton's own statement in the epilogue to the third book certainly
appears to mean that during the course of the translation, in order to
fulfil his promise of multiplying copies, he had learned to print. He
might easily have done so in the six months during which he remained in
Cologne, or during his stay in Ghent. That it was in Cologne rather than
elsewhere, is confirmed by the oft-quoted stanza added by Wynkyn de
Worde as a colophon to the English edition of _Bartholomæus de
proprietatibus rerum_.
'And also of your charyte call to remembraunce
The soule of William Caxton, the first prynter of this boke,
In laten tongue at Coleyn, hymself to avaunce
That every well-disposed man may thereon loke.'
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Part of Caxton's Preface to the 'Recuyell of the
Histories of Troye.' (Type 1.)]
If any one should have known the true facts of the case it was surely
Caxton's own foreman, who almost certainly came over to England with
him. On the other hand, it cannot be denied that type No. 1 is totally
unlike any type that we know of as used by a Cologne printer, and,
moreover, Caxton's methods of working, and his late adoption of spacing
and signatures, point to his having learnt his art in a school of
printing less advanced than that of Cologne. In the face of the
statements of Caxton himself and Wynkyn de Worde, we seem bound to
believe that Caxton did study printing at Cologne, but the inexpertness
betrayed in his early books proves conclusively that his studies there
did not extend very far. In any case it must have been with the help of
Colard Mansion that he set up and printed the _Recuyell_, probably in
1472 or 1473. In addition to this book several others, printed in the
same type, and having other typographical features in common with it,
were printed in the next few years. These were:--
_The Game and Playe of the Chess Moralised_, translated by Caxton, a
small folio of 74 leaves.
_Le Recueil des Histoires de Troye_, a folio of 120 leaves.
_Les Fais et Prouesses du noble et vaillant chevalier Jason_, a folio of
134 leaves, printed, it is believed, by Mansion, after Caxton's removal
to England. And,
_Meditacions sur le sept Psaulmes Penitenciaulx_, a folio of 34 leaves,
also ascribed to Mansion's press, about the year 1478.
About the latter half of 1476 Caxton must have left Bruges and come to
England, leaving type No. 1 in the hands of Mansion, and bringing with
him that picturesque secretary type, known as type 2. This, as Mr.
Blades has undoubtedly proved, had already been used by Caxton and
Mansion in printing at least two books: _Les quatre derrenieres choses_,
notable from the method of working the red ink, a method found in no
other book of Colard Mansion; and _Propositio Johannis Russell_, a tract
of four leaves, containing Russell's speech at the investiture of the
Duke of Burgundy with the order of the Garter in 1470.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Part of Caxton's Epilogue to the 'Dictes and
Sayinges of the Philosophers.' (Type 2.)]
On his arrival in England, Caxton settled in Westminster, within the
precincts of the Abbey, at the sign of the Red Pale, and from thence, on
November 18th 1477, he issued _The Dictes and Sayinges of the
Philosophers_, the first book printed in England. It was a folio of 76
leaves, without title-page, foliation, catchwords or signatures, in this
respect being identical with the books printed in conjunction with
Mansion. Type 2, in which it was printed, was a very different fount to
that which is seen in the _Recuyell_ and its companion books. It was
undoubtedly modelled on the large Gros Batarde type of Colard Mansion,
and was in all probability cut by Mansion himself. The letters are
bold, and angular, with a close resemblance to the manuscripts of the
time, the most notable being the lowercase 'w,' which is brought into
prominence by large loops over the top. The 'h's' and 'l's' are also
looped letters, the final 'm's' and 'n's' are finished with an angular
stroke, and the only letter at all akin to those in type No. 1 is the
final 'd,' which has the peculiar pump-handle finial seen in that fount.
_The Dictes and Sayinges_ is printed throughout in black ink, in long
lines, twenty-nine to a page, with space left at the beginning of the
chapters for the insertion of initial letters. It has no colophon, but
at the end of the work is an Epilogue, which begins thus:--
'Here endeth the book named the dictes or sayengis | of the
philosophers, enprynted, by me william | Caxton at Westmestre the yere
of our lord ·M· | CCCC·LXXVij.'
Caxton followed _The Dictes and Sayinges_ with an edition of Chaucer's
_Canterbury Tales_, a folio of 372 leaves. The size of the book makes it
probable that it was put in hand simultaneously with its predecessor,
and that the chief work of the poet, to whom Caxton paid more than one
eloquent tribute, engaged his attention as soon as he set up his press
in England. He also printed in the same type a Sarum _Ordinale_, known
only by a fragment in the Bodleian, and a number of small quarto tracts,
such as _The Moral Proverbs of Christyne_, which bears date the 20th of
February; a Latin school-book called _Stans Puer ad Mensam_; two
translations from the Distichs of Dionysius Cato, entitled respectively
_Parvus Catho_ and _Magnus Catho_, of which a second edition was
speedily called for; Lydgate's fable of the _Chorl and the Bird_, a
quarto of 10 leaves, which also soon went to a second edition; Chaucer's
_Anelida and Arcite_, and two editions of Lydgate's _The Horse, the
Sheep, and the Goose_.
During the first three years of Caxton's residence at Westminster he
printed at least thirty books. In 1479 he recast type 2 (cited in its
new form by Blades as type 2*), and this he continued to use until 1481.
But about the same time he cast two other founts, Nos. 3 and 4. The
first of these was a large black letter of Missal character, used
chiefly for printing service books, but appearing in the books printed
with type 2* for headlines. With it he printed _Cordyale, or the Four
Last Things_, a folio of 78 leaves, the work being a translation by Earl
Rivers of _Les Quatre Derrenieres Choses Advenir_, first printed in type
2 in the office of Colard Mansion. A second edition of _The Dictes and
Sayinges_ was also printed in this type, while to the year 1478 or 1479
must be ascribed the _Rhetorica Nova_ of Friar Laurence of Savona, a
folio of 124 leaves, long attributed to the press of Cambridge.
After 1479 Caxton began to space out his lines and to use signatures,
customs that had been in vogue on the Continent for some years before he
left. In 1480 he brought the new type 4 into use. This was modelled on
type 2, but was much smaller, the body being most akin to modern
English. Although its appearance was not so striking as that of the
earlier fount, it was a much neater letter and more adapted to the
printing of Indulgences, and it has been suggested that it was the
arrival of John Lettou in London, and the neat look of his work, that
induced Caxton to cut the fount in question. The most noticeable feature
about it is the absence of the loop to the lowercase 'd,' so conspicuous
a feature of the No. 2 type. With this type No. 4 he printed Kendale's
indulgence and the first edition of _The Chronicles of England_, dated
the 10th June 1480, a folio of 152 leaves. In the same year he printed
with type 3 three service-books. Of one of these, the _Horæ_, William
Blades found a few leaves, all that are known to exist, in the covers of
a copy of _Boethius_, printed also by Caxton, which he discovered in a
deplorable state from damp, in a cupboard of the St. Albans Grammar
School. This was an uncut copy, in the original binding, and the covers
yielded as many as fifty-six half sheets of printed matter, fragments of
other books printed by Caxton. These proved the existence of three
hitherto unknown examples of his press, the _Horæ_ above noted, the
_Ordinale_, and the _Indulgence of Pope Sixtus IV._, the remaining
fragments yielding leaves from the _History of Jason_, printed in type
2, the first edition of the _Chronicles_, the _Description of_
_Britain_; the second edition of the _Dictes and Sayinges_, the _De
Curia Sapientiæ_, Cicero's _De Senectute_, and the _Nativity of Our
Lady_, printed in the recast of type 4, known as type 4*.
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--Caxton's earliest Woodcut. Headline in Type 3.]
The first book printed by Caxton with illustrations was the third
edition of _Parvus_ and _Magnus Chato_, printed without date, but
probably in 1481. It contained two woodcuts, one showing five pupils
kneeling before their tutor. These illustrations were very poor
specimens of the wood-cutter's art.
To this period also belongs _The History of Reynard the Fox_ and the
second edition of _The Game and Play of Chess_, printed with type 2*,
and distinguished from the earlier edition by the eight woodcuts, some
of which, according to the economical fashion of the day, were used more
than once.
In type 4, Caxton printed (finishing it on the 20th November 1481) _The
History of Godfrey of Bologne; or, the Conquest of Jerusalem_, a folio
of 144 leaves. In the following year (1482) appeared the second edition
of the _Chronicles_, and another work of the same kind, the compilation
of Roger of Chester and Ralph Higden, called _Polychronicon_. This work
John of Trevisa had translated into English prose, bringing it down to
the year 1387. Caxton now added a further continuation to the year 1460,
the only original work ever undertaken by him. Another English author
whom Caxton printed at this time was John Gower, an edition in small
folio (222 leaves in double columns) of whose _Confessio Amantis_ was
finished on the 2nd September 1483. In this we see the first use of type
4*, the two founts being found in one instance on the same page. The
first edition of the _Golden Legend_ also belongs to 1483, being
finished at Westminster on the 20th November. This was the largest book
that Caxton printed, there being no less than 449 leaves in double
columns, illustrated with as many as eighteen large and fifty-two small
woodcuts. The text was in type 4*, the headlines, etc., in type 3. For
the performance of this work Caxton received from the Earl of Arundel,
to whom the book was dedicated, the gift of a buck in summer and a doe
in winter, gifts probably exchanged for an annuity in money. Several
copies of this book are still in existence, its large size serving as a
safeguard against complete destruction, but none are perfect, most of
them being made up from copies of the second edition. The insertions may
be recognised by the type of the headlines, those in the second edition
being in type 5. Other books printed in type 4* were Chaucer's _Book of
Fame_, Chaucer's _Troylus_, the _Lyf of Our Ladye_, the _Life of Saint
Winifred_, and the _History of King Arthur_, this last, finished on July
31, 1485, being almost as large a book as the _Golden Legend_.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.--From Caxton's 'Golden Legend.' (Types 4* and
5.)]
No work dated 1486 has been traced to Caxton's press, but in 1487 he
brought into use type 5, a smaller form of the black letter fount known
as No. 3, with which he sometimes used a set of Lombardic capitals. With
this he printed, between 1487 and 1489, several important books, among
them the _Royal Book_, a folio of 162 leaves, illustrated with six small
illustrations, the _Book of Good Manners_, the first edition of the
_Directorium Sacerdotum_, and the _Speculum Vitæ Christi_. During 1487
also he had printed for him at Paris an edition of the _Sarum Missal_,
from the press of George Maynyal, the first book in which he used his
well-known device. The second edition of the _Golden Legend_ is believed
to have been published in 1488, and to about the same time belongs the
Indulgence which Henry Bradshaw discovered in the University Library,
Cambridge, and which seems to have been struck off in a hurry on the
nearest piece of blank paper, which happened to be the last page of a
copy of the _Colloquium peccatoris et Crucifixi J. C._, printed at
Antwerp. This was not the only remarkable find which that master of the
art of bibliography made in connection with Caxton. On a waste sheet of
a copy of the _Fifteen Oes_, he noticed what appeared to be a set off of
another book, and on closer inspection this turned out to be a page of a
Book of Hours, of which no copy has ever been found. It appeared to have
been printed in type 5, was surrounded by borders, and was no doubt the
edition which Wynkyn de Worde reprinted in 1494.
In 1489 Caxton began to use another type known as No. 6, cast from the
matrices of No. 2 and 2*, but a shade smaller, and easily
distinguishable by the lowercase 'w,' which is entirely different in
character from that used in the earlier fount. With this he printed on
the 14th July 1489, the _Faytts of Armes and Chivalry_, and between that
date and the day of his death three romances, the _Foure Sons of Aymon_,
_Blanchardin_, and _Eneydos_; the second editions of _Reynard the Fox_,
the _Book of Courtesy_, the _Mirror of the World_, and the _Directorium
Sacerdotum_, and the third edition of the _Dictes and Sayinges_. To the
same period belong the editions of the _Art and Craft to Know Well to
Die_, the _Ars Moriendi_, and the _Vitas Patrum_.
But in addition to type 6, which Blades believed to be the last used by
Caxton, there is evidence of his having possessed two other founts
during the latter part of his life. With one of them, type No. 7 (see E.
G. Duff, _Early English Printing_), somewhat resembling types Nos. 3 and
5, he printed two editions of the _Indulgence of Johannes de Gigliis_ in
1489, and it was also used for the sidenotes to the _Speculum Vitæ
Christi_, printed in 1494 by Wynkyn de Worde. Type No. 8 was also a
black letter of the same character, smaller than No. 3, and
distinguished from any other of Caxton's founts by the short, rounded,
and tailless letter 'y' and the set of capitals with dots. He used it in
the _Liber Festivalis_, the _Ars Moriendi_, and the _Fifteen Oes_, his
only extant book printed with borders, and it was afterwards used by
Wynkyn de Worde.
Caxton died in the year 1491, after a long, busy, and useful life. His
record is indeed a noble one. After spending the greater part of his
life in following the trade to which he was apprenticed, with all its
active and onerous duties, he, at the time of life when most men begin
to think of rest and quiet, set to work to learn the art of printing
books. Nor was he content with this, but he devoted all the time that he
could spare to editing and translating for his press, and according to
Wynkyn de Worde it was 'at the laste daye of his lyff' that he finished
the version of the _Lives of the Fathers_, which De Worde issued in
1495. His work as an editor and translator shows him to have been a man
of extensive reading, fairly acquainted with the French and Dutch
languages, and to have possessed not only an earnest purpose, but with
it a quiet sense of humour, that crops up like ore in a vein of rock in
many of his prologues.
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--From Caxton's 'Fifteen Oes.' (Type 6.)]
Of his private life we know nothing, but the 'Mawde Caxston' who figures
in the churchwarden's accounts of St. Margaret's is generally believed
to have been his wife. His will has not yet been discovered, though it
very likely exists among the uncalendared documents at Westminster
Abbey, from which Mr. Scott has already gleaned a few records relating
to him, though none of biographical interest. We know, however, from the
parish accounts of St. Margaret's, Westminster, that he left to that
church fifteen copies of the _Golden Legend_, twelve of which were sold
at prices varying between 6s. 8d. and 5s. 4d.
Caxton used only one device, a simple square block with his initials W.
C. cut upon it, and certain hieroglyphics said to stand for the figures
74, with a border at the top and bottom. It was probably of English
workmanship, as those found in the books of foreign printers were much
more finely cut. This block, which Caxton did not begin to use until
1487, afterwards passed to his successor, who made it the basis of
several elaborate variations.
Upon the death of Caxton in 1491, his business came into the hands of
his chief workman, Wynkyn de Worde. From the letters of naturalisation
which this printer took out in 1496, we learn that he was a native of
Lorraine. It was suggested by Herbert that he was one of Caxton's
original workmen, and came with him to England, and this has recently
been confirmed by the discovery of a document among the records at
Westminster, proving that his wife rented a house from the Abbey as
early as 1480. In any case there is little doubt that Wynkyn de Worde
had been in intimate association with Caxton during the greater part of
his career as a printer, and when Caxton died he seems to have taken
over the whole business just as it stood, continuing to live at the Red
Pale until 1500, and to use the types which Caxton had been using in his
latest books. This fact led Blades to ascribe several books to Caxton
which were probably not printed until after his death. These are _The
Chastising of Gods Children_, _The Book of Courtesye_, and the _Treatise
of Love_, printed with type No. 6; but, in addition to these, two other
books, probably in the press at the time of Caxton's death, were issued
from the Westminster office without a printer's name, but printed in a
type resembling type 4*. These are an edition of the _Golden Legend_ and
the _Life of St. Catherine of Sienna_. Wynkyn de Worde's name is found
for the first time in the _Liber Festivalis_, printed in 1493. In the
following year was issued Walter Hylton's _Scala Perfectionis_, and a
reprint of Bonaventura's _Speculum Vite Christi_, the sidenotes to which
were printed in Caxton's type No. 7, which de Worde does not seem to
have used in any other book. Besides this, there was the _Sarum Horæ_,
no doubt a reprint of Caxton's edition now lost. He used for these books
Caxton's type No. 8, with the tailless 'y' and the dotted capitals.
Speaking of this type in his _Early Printed Books_, Mr. E. G. Duff
points out its close resemblance to that used by the Paris printers P.
Levet and Jean Higman in 1490, and argues that it was either obtained
from them or from the type-cutter who cut their founts.[1]
To the year 1495 belongs the _Vitas Patrum_, the book of which Caxton
had finished the translation on the day of his death, and beside this,
there were reprints of the _Polychronicon_ and the _Directorium
Sacerdotum_. The reprint of the _Boke of St. Albans_, which was issued
in 1496, is noticeable as being printed in the type which De Worde
obtained from Godfried van Os, the Gouda printer. This broad square set
letter is not found in any other book of De Worde's, though he continued
to use a set of initial letters which he obtained from the same printer
for many years.
Among other books printed in 1496, were _Dives and Pauper_, a folio, and
several quartos such as the _Abbey of the Holy Ghost_, the _Meditations
of St. Bernard_, and the _Liber Festialis_. In 1497 we find the
_Chronicles of England_, and in 1498 an edition of Chaucer's _Canterbury
Tales_, a second edition of the _Morte d'Arthur_, and another of the
_Golden Legend_, in fact nearly all De Worde's dated books up to 1500
were reprints of works issued by Caxton. But amongst the undated books
we notice many new works, such as Lydgate's _Assembly of Gods_, and
_Sege of Thebes_, Skelton's _Bowghe of Court_, _The Three Kings of
Cologne_, and several school books.
In 1499 De Worde printed the _Liber Equivocorum_ of Joannes de
Garlandia, using for it a very small Black Letter making nine and a half
lines to the inch, probably obtained from Paris. This type was generally
kept for scholastic books, and in addition to the book above noted,
Wynkyn de Worde printed with it, in the same year or the year following,
an _Ortus Vocabulorum_. From the time when he succeeded to Caxton's
business down to the year 1500, in which he left Westminster and settled
in Fleet Street, De Worde printed at least a hundred books, the bulk of
them undated.
As will be seen, several printers from the Low Countries seem to have
come to England soon after Caxton. The year after he settled at
Westminster, a book was printed at Oxford without printer's name, and
with a misprint of the date, that has set bibliographers by the ears
ever since. This book was the _Exposicio sancti Jeromini us simbolum
apostolorum_, and the colophon ran, 'Impressa Oxonie et finita anno
domini M.cccc.lxviij., xvij. die decembris.' The facts that two other
books that are dated 1479 (the _Aegidius de originali peccato_ and
_Sextus ethicorum Aristotelis_) have many points in common with the
_Exposicio_, that the _Exposicio_ has been found bound with other books
of 1478, and that the dropping of an x from the date in a colophon is
not an uncommon misprint, have led to the conclusion that the
_Exposicio_ was printed in 1478 and not 1468. The printer of these first
Oxford books is believed to have been Theodoric Rood of Cologne, whose
name appeared in the colophon to the _De Anima_ of Aristotle, printed at
Oxford in 1481. This was followed in 1482 by a _Commentary on the
Lamentation of Jeremiah_, by John Lattebury, and later editions of these
two books are distinguished by a handsome woodcut border printed round
the first page of the text.
About 1483 Rood took as a partner Thomas Hunt, a stationer of Oxford,
and together they issued John Anwykyll's Latin Grammar, together with
the _Vulgaria Terencii_, Richard Rolle of Hampole's _Explanationes super
lectiones beati Job_, a sermon of Augustine's, of which the only known
copy is in the British Museum, a collection of treatises upon logic, one
of which is by Roger Swyneshede, the first edition of _Lyndewode's
Provincial Constitutions_ (a large folio of 366 leaves with a woodcut,
the earliest example found in any Oxford book), and the _Epistles of
Phalaris_, with a lengthy colophon in Latin verse. The last book to
appear from the press was the _Liber Festivalis_ by John Mirk, a folio
of 174 leaves, containing eleven large woodcuts and five smaller ones,
apparently meant for an edition of the _Golden Legend_, as they were cut
down to fit the _Festial_. After the appearance of this book, printing
at Oxford suddenly ceased, and it has been surmised that Theodoric Rood
returned to Cologne. Altogether the Oxford press lasted for eight years,
and fifteen books remain to testify to its activity. In these, three
founts of type were used, the first two having all the characteristics
of the Cologne printers, while the third shows the influence of Rood's
residence in England. A full account of these will be found in Mr.
Falconer Madan's admirable work _The Early Oxford Press_.
The St. Albans Press started in 1479. Only eight books are known with
this imprint, not all of them perfect, none give the name of the
printer, and only one has a device. Most of them are scholastic books,
printed for the use of the Grammar School. These included the _Augustini
Dati elegancie_, a quarto, dated 1480, the _Rhetorica Nova_, which
Caxton was printing at Westminster at the same time, and Antonius Andreæ
_super Logica Aristotelis_. But in addition to these, two other notable
works came from this press, the _Chronicles of England_ and the _Book of
St. Albans_.
Out of the four types which are found in these books, two at least were
Caxton's type No. 2 and type No. 3. There was plainly some connection
between the two offices, and as it was a frequent custom for monasteries
to subsidize printers to print their service books, it seems possible
that Caxton may have had some hand in establishing this press, and that
it was for St. Albans Abbey that he cast type No. 3, which (putting
aside its subordinate employment for headlines) we find used exclusively
for service books.
Three years after Caxton had settled at Westminster, viz. in 1480, an
_Indulgence_ was issued by John Kendale, asking for aid against the
Turks. Caxton printed some copies of this, and others are found in a
small neat type, and are ascribed to the press of John Lettou. _Lettou_
is an old form of Lithuania, but whether John Lettou came from Lithuania
is not known.
In this same year 1480, Lettou published the _Quæstiones Antonii Andreæ
super duodecim libros metaphysicæ Aristotelis_, a small folio of 106
leaves, printed in double columns, of which only one perfect copy is
known, that in the Library of Sion College. The type is small, and
remarkable from its numerous abbreviations. Mr. E. G. Duff in his _Early
Printed Books_, p. 161, speaks of its great resemblance to those of
Matthias Moravus, a Naples printer, and suggests a common origin for
their types. In his _Early English Printing_, on the other hand, he
writes: 'There are very strong reasons for believing that he [Lettou] is
the same person as the Johannes Bremer, _alias_ Bulle, who is mentioned
by Hain as having printed two books at Rome in 1478 and 1479. The type
which this printer used is identical (with the exception of one of the
capital letters) with that used in the books printed by John Lettou in
London.'
A few years later Lettou was joined by William de Machlinia. They were
chiefly associated in printing law-books, but whether they had any
patent from the king cannot be discovered. Only one of the five books
they are known to have printed, the _Tenores Novelli_, has any colophon,
and none of them has any date. The address they gave was 'juxta
ecclesiam omnium sanctorum,' but as there were several churches so
dedicated, the locality cannot be fixed.
We next find Machlinia working alone, but out of the twenty-two books or
editions that have been traced to his press, only four contain his name,
and none have a date. All we can say is that he printed from two
addresses, 'in Holborn,' and 'By Flete-brigge.' Mr. Duff inclines to the
opinion that the 'Flete-brigge' is the earlier, but it seems almost
hopeless to attempt to place these books in any chronological order from
their typographical peculiarities.
In the Fleet-Bridge type are two books by Albertus Magnus, the _Liber
aggregationis_ and the _De Secretis Mulierum_. The type is of a black
letter character, not unlike that in which the _Nova Statuta_ were
printed, and is distinguishable by the peculiar shape of the capital M.
In the same type we find the _Revelation of St. Nicholas to a Monk of
Evesham_, a reprint of the _Tenores Novelli_, and some fragments of a
_Sarum Horæ_ found in old bindings; a woodcut border was used in some
parts of it. Besides these Machlinia printed an edition of the _Vulgaria
Terentii_.
A larger number of books is found in the Holborn types, the most
important being the _Chronicles of England_, of which only one perfect
copy is known.
The _Speculum Christiani_ is interesting as containing specimens of
early poetry, and _The Treatise on the Pestilence_, of Kamitus or
Canutus, bishop of Aarhus, ran to three editions, one of which contains
a title-page, and was therefore presumably printed late in Machlinia's
career, _i.e._ about 1490.
In addition to these, there were three law-books, the _Statutes of
Richard III._, and several theological and scholastic works. One of the
founts of type used by Machlinia is of peculiar interest, by reason of
its close resemblance to Caxton's type No. 2*, and its still greater
similarity to the type used by Jean Brito of Bruges.
Machlinia's business seems to have been taken over by Richard Pynson.
There is no direct evidence of this, but like Machlinia he took up the
business of printing law-books (being the first printer in this country
to receive a royal patent); he is found using a woodcut border used in
Machlinia's _Horæ_; and, in addition to this, waste from Machlinia books
has been found in Pynson bindings.
Richard Pynson was a native of Normandy. He had business relations with
Le Talleur, a printer of Rouen. His methods also were those of Rouen,
rather than of any English master. Wherever he came from, Richard Pynson
was the finest printer this country had yet seen, and no one, until the
appearance of John Day, approached him in excellence of work.
[Illustration: FIG. 7.--Pynson's Mark.]
The earliest examples of his press appear to be a fragment of a
_Donatus_ in the Bodleian and the _Canterbury Tales_ of Chaucer. The
type he used for these was a bold, unevenly cast fount of black letter,
somewhat resembling that used by Machlinia at Fleet Bridge. The
_Chaucer_, however, contained a second fount of small sloping Gothic.
The first book of Pynson found with a date is a _Doctrinale_, printed in
November 1492, now in the John Rylands Library. This was followed by the
_Dialogue of Dives and Pauper_, printed in 1493 with a new type,
distinguishable by the sharp angular finish to the letter 'h.' Several
quartos without date were printed in the same type.
From this time till 1500, the majority of his books were printed in the
small type of the _Chaucer_.
Another printer who worked at this time was Julian Notary. He was
associated in the production of books with Jean Barbier, and another
whose initials, J. H., are believed to be those of J. Huvin, a printer
of Paris. They established themselves in London at the sign of St.
Thomas the Apostle, and their most important book was the _Questiones
Alberti de modis significandi_, which they followed up in 1497 with an
octavo edition of the _Horæ ad usum Sarum_. In 1498 Barbier and Notary
removed to King Street, Westminster, where they printed in folio a
_Missale ad usum Sarum_. Soon afterwards Notary was printing by himself,
his partner, Barbier, having returned to France. Two quartos, the _Liber
Festivalis_ and _Quattuor Sermones_, are all that can be traced to his
press in 1499, and a small edition of the _Horæ ad usum Sarum_ is the
sole record of this work in 1500.
[Illustration: FIG. 8.--Notary's Mark.]
Notary was also a bookbinder, and some of his stamped bindings are still
met with.
[Footnote 1: E. G. Duff, _Early Printed Books_, pp. 84 and 139.]
CHAPTER II
FROM 1500 TO THE DEATH OF WYNKYN DE WORDE
In the year 1500 Wynkyn de Worde moved from Westminster to the 'Sunne'
in Fleet Street. His business had probably outgrown the limited
accommodation of the 'Red Pale,' and the change brought him nearer the
heart of the bookselling trade then, and for many years after, seated in
St. Paul's Churchyard and Fleet Street. He carried with him the black
letter type with which he had printed the _Liber Festivalis_ in 1496,
and continued to use it until 1508 or 1509, when he seems to have sold
it to a printer in York, Hugo Goes. He brought with him also the
scholastic type in use in 1499.
Besides these, we find, _e.g._ in the 1512 reprint of the _Golden
Legend_, two other founts of black letter. The larger of the two seems
to have been introduced about 1503, to print a Sarum _Horæ_. The smaller
fount came into use a few years later. It was somewhat larger, less
angular, and much more English in character, than that which the
printer had brought with him from Westminster. The bulk of Wynkyn de
Worde's books to the day of his death were printed with these types.
They were, doubtless, recast from time to time, but a close examination
fails to detect any difference in size or form during the whole period.
De Worde first began to use Roman type in 1520 for his scholastic books,
but he does not seem ever to have made any general use of it, remaining
faithful to English black letter to the end of his days. The only
exceptions are the educational books, which he invariably printed, as in
fact did all the other printers of the period, in a miniature fount of
gothic of a kind very popular on the Continent in the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries, being used by the French and Italian printers as
well as those of the Low Countries. De Worde's, however, was an
exceptionally small fount. Those most generally in use averaged eight
full lines of a quarto page, set close, to the inch, whereas De Worde's
averaged nine lines to the inch. But in 1513 he procured another fount
of this type, in which he printed the _Flowers of Ovid_, quarto, and in
this the letters are of English character, as may be seen particularly
in the lowercase 'h.' This fount, which was slightly larger, averaging
only eight lines to the inch, he does not seem to have used very
frequently. As Julian Notary printed the _Sermones Discipuli_ in 1510,
in the same type, it may have been lent by one printer to the other. In
or about 1533 De Worde introduced the italic letter into some of his
scholastic books, and in Colet's _Grammar_, which was amongst the last
books he printed, we find it in combination with English black letter,
the small 'grammar type,' and Roman.
In these various types, between the beginning of the century and his
death in 1534, Wynkyn de Worde printed upwards of five hundred books
which have come down to us, complete or in fragments. Thanks to the
indefatigable energy of Mr. Gordon Duff, we possess now a very full
record of his books, enabling us not only to estimate his merit as a
printer, but to see at a glance how consistently as a publisher he
maintained the entirely popular character which Caxton had given to his
press.
As regards books which required a considerable outlay, he was far less
adventurous than Caxton, his large folios being confined almost entirely
to those in which his master had led the way, such as the _Golden
Legend_, of which he issued several editions, the _Speculum Vitæ
Christi_, the _Morte d'Arthur_, _Canterbury Tales_, _Polychronicon_, and
_Chronicles of England_. The _Vitas Patrum_ of 1495 he could hardly help
printing, as Caxton had laboured on its translation in the last year of
his life, and it may have been respect for Caxton also which led to the
publication of his finest book, the really splendid edition of
Bartholomæus' _De Proprietatibus Rerum_, issued towards the close of the
fifteenth century, from the colophon of which I have already quoted the
lines referring to Caxton's having worked at a Latin edition of it at
Cologne. The _Book of St. Albans_ was another reprint to which the
probable connection of the Westminster and St. Albans presses gave a
Caxton flavour; and when we have enumerated these and the _Dives and
Pauper_, produced apparently out of rivalry with Pynson in 1496, and a
few devotional books such as the _Orcharde of Syon_ and the _Flour of
the Commandments of God_, to which this form was given, very few Wynkyn
de Worde folios remain unmentioned.
But to one book in folio, Wynkyn de Worde printed some five-and-twenty
in quarto, eschewing as a rule smaller forms, though now and again we
find a _Horæ_, or a _Manipulus Curatorum_, or a _Book of Good Manners
for Children_ in eights or twelves.[2]
He was in fact a popular printer who issued small works in a cheap form,
and without, it must be added, greatly concerning himself as to their
appearance. Popular books of devotion or of a moral character figure
most largely among the books he printed; but students of our older
literature owe him gratitude for having preserved in their later forms
many old romances, and also a few plays, and he published every class of
book, including many educational works, for which a ready sale was
assured. The majority of these books were illustrated, if only with a
cut on the title-page of a schoolmaster with a birch-rod, or a knight on
horseback who did duty for many heroes in succession. When the
illustrations were more profuse, they were too often produced from worn
blocks, purchased from French publishers, or rudely copied from French
originals, and used again and again without a thought as to their
relevance to the text. It must also be owned that many of Wynkyn de
Worde's cheap books are badly set up and badly printed, and that
altogether his reputation stands rather higher than his work as a
printer really deserves. But he printed some fine books, and rescued
many popular works from destruction, and we need not grudge him the
honour he has received--an honour amply witnessed by the high prices
fetched by books from his press whenever they come into the market.
[Illustration: FIG. 9.--De Worde's 'Sagittarius' Device.]
There was no originality about Wynkyn de Worde's devices, of which he
used no fewer than sixteen different varieties. The most familiar, as it
was the earliest of these, was Caxton's, and next to this must be placed
what is usually described as the Sagittarius device. There were two
forms of this, a square and an oblong. It consisted of three divisions,
the upper part containing the sun and stars, the centre, the Caxton
device, and the lower part, a ribbon with his name, with a dog on one
side and an archer on the other. There are three distinct stages of
this device, that used between 1506-1518 being replaced in 1519, and
again in 1528. This last is distinguished by having only ten small stars
to the left of the sun and ten to the right, whereas the two preceding
had eleven stars to the left of the sun and nine to the right. The
oblong block had the moon added in the top compartment, and in the
bottom division the sagittarius and dog are reversed. This block
continued in use from 1507 to 1529, and the stages in its dilapidation
are useful in dating the books in which it occurs. Besides these, and
some smaller forms, Wynkyn de Worde used a large architectural device,
sometimes enclosed with a border of four pieces, the upper and lower of
which seem to have afterwards come into the possession of John Skot.
Wynkyn de Worde died in 1534, his will being proved on the 19th January
1535. His executors were John Byddell, who succeeded to his business,
and James Gaver, while three other London stationers, Henry Pepwell,
John Gough, and Robert Copland were made overseers of it, and received
legacies.
Julian Notary remained at Westminster two years after the departure of
Wynkyn de Worde, when he too flitted eastwards, settling at the sign of
the Three Kings without Temple Bar, probably to be nearer De Worde. He
combined with his trade of printer that of bookbinder, and probably
bound as well as printed many books for Wynkyn de Worde. His printing
lay principally in the direction of service books for the church, but he
printed both the _Golden Legend_ and the _Chronicle of England_ in
folio, one or two lives of saints, and a few small tracts of lighter
vein, such as 'How John Splynter made his testament,' and 'How a
serjeaunt wolde lerne to be a frere,' both in quarto without date.
In the _Golden Legend_ of 1503 and the _Chronicles of England_ of 1515,
the black letter type used was identical in character with that of
Wynkyn de Worde.
No book is found printed by Notary between the years 1510 and 1515. In
the former year he appears to have had a house in St. Paul's Churchyard,
as well as the Three Kings without Temple Bar. In 1515 he speaks only of
the sign of St. Mark in St. Paul's Churchyard, and three years later
this is altered to the sign of the Three Kings. It is just conceivable
that this last was a misprint, or that the St. Mark was a temporary
office used only while the Three Kings was under repair.
In 1507 Notary exchanged the simple merchant's mark that had hitherto
served him as a device for one of a more elaborate character. This took
the form of a helmet over a shield with his mark upon it, with
decorative border, and below all his name. From this a still larger
block was made in the same year, and this was strongly French in
character. It showed the smaller block affixed to a tree with bird and
flowers all round it, and two fabulous creatures on either side of the
base. The initials 'J. N.' are seen at the top. This he sometimes used
as a frontispiece, substituting for the centre piece a block of a
different character.
Richard Pynson also changed his address shortly after Wynkyn de Worde,
moving from outside Temple Bar to the George in Fleet Street, next to
St. Dunstan's Church. He also appears to have entirely given up the use
of Gothic type in favour of English black letter about this time. It is
not easy to form a conjecture as to the motive which led to the
abandonment of this type, and it is impossible to regard the step
without regret. Even in its rudest forms it was a striking type; in the
hands of a man like Pynson it was far more effective than the black
letter which took its place. With regard to this latter, there seems
reason to believe, from the great similarity both in size and form of
the fount in use by De Worde, Notary, and Pynson at this time, that it
was obtained by all the printers from one common foundry. Nor is it only
the letters which lead to this conclusion, but the common use of the
same ornaments points in the same direction. The only difference between
the black letter in use by Pynson in the first years of the sixteenth
century and that of his contemporaries, is the occurrence of a lower
case 'w' of a different fount.
In 1509 Pynson is believed to have introduced Roman type into England,
using it with his scholastic type to print the _Sermo Fratris Hieronymi
de Ferraria_. In the same year he also issued a very fine edition of
Alexander Barclay's translation of Brandt's _Shyp of Folys of the
Worlde_. In this, the Latin original and the English translation are set
side by side. The book was printed in folio in two founts, one of Roman
and one of black letter. It was profusely illustrated with woodcuts
copied from those in the German edition.
About 1510 Pynson became the royal printer in the place of W. Faques,
and continued to hold the post until his death. At first he received a
salary of 40s. per annum (_see_ L. and P. H. 8, vol. 1, p. 364), but
this was afterwards increased to £4 per annum (L. and P. H. 8, vol. 2,
p. 875). In this capacity he printed numbers of Proclamations, numerous
Year-books, and all the Statutes, and received large sums of money. In
1513 he printed _The Sege and Dystrucyon of Troye_, of which several
copies (some of them on vellum) are still in existence. Other books of
which he printed copies on vellum are the _Sarum Missal_ of 1520, and
_Assertio Septem Sacramentorum_ of 1521.
Besides these and his official work, Pynson printed numbers of useful
books in all classes of literature. The works of Chaucer and Skelton and
Lydgate, the history of Froissart and the Chronicle of St. Albans; books
such as _Æsop's Fables_ and _Reynard the Fox_, romances such as _Sir
Bevis of Hampton_ are scattered freely amongst works of a more learned
character. On the whole he deserves a much higher place than De Worde.
It is rare, indeed, to find a carelessly printed book of Pynson's,
whilst such books as the Boccaccio of 1494, the Missal printed in 1500
at the expense of Cardinal Morton, and known as the Morton Missal, and
the _Intrationum excellentissimus liber_ of 1510 are certainly the
finest specimens of typographical art which had been produced in this
country.
[Illustration: FIG. 10.--Richard Pynson's Device.]
Pynson's earliest device, as Mr. Duff has noted, resembled in many ways
that of Le Talleur, and consisted of his initials cut on wood. In 1496
he used two new forms. One shows his mark upon a shield surmounted by a
helmet with a bird above it. Beneath is his name upon a ribbon, and the
whole is enclosed in a border of animals, birds, and flowers. The other
was a metal block of much the same character, having the shield with his
mark, and as supporters two naked figures. The border, which was
separate and in one piece, had crowned figures in it and a ribbon. The
bottom portion of this border began to give way about 1500, was very
much out of shape in 1503, and finally broke entirely in 1513. This
border was sometimes placed the wrong way up, as in the British Museum
copy of _Mandeville's Ways to Jerusalem_ (G. 6713). It was succeeded by
a woodcut block of a much larger form, which may be seen in the
_Mirroure of Good Manners_ (s.a., fol.). The block itself measures
5-5/8'' x 3-5/8'' and has no border. The initials print black on a white
ground. The figures supporting the shield have a much better pose, and
those of the king and queen differ materially. The bird on the shield is
much larger, and is more like a stork or heron.
Pynson died in the year 1529, while passing through the press
_L'Esclarcissement de la Langue Francoyse_, which was finished by his
executor John Hawkins, of whom nothing else is definitely known.
Whilst these three printers had been at work, many other stationers,
booksellers, and printers had settled in London. They seem to have
favoured St. Paul's Churchyard and Fleet Street; but they were also
scattered over various parts of the city and outlying districts, even as
far west as the suburb of Charing.
In 1518, Henry Pepwell settled at the sign of the Trinity in St. Paul's
Churchyard, and used the device previously belonging to Jacobi and
Pelgrim, two stationers who imported books printed by Wolfgang and
Hopyl. His books fall into two classes--those printed between 1518-1523,
and those between 1531-1539. The first were printed entirely in a
black-letter fount that appears to have belonged to Pynson. The second
series were printed entirely in Roman letter. A copy of his earliest
book, the _Castle of Pleasure_, 4to, 1518, is in the British Museum, as
well as the _Dietary of Ghostly Helthe_, 4to, 1521; _Exornatorium
Curatorum_, 4to, n.d.; Du Castel's _Citye of Ladyes_, 4to, 1521. His
edition of _Christiani hominis Institutum_, 4to, 1520, is only known
from a fragment in the Bodleian. Several books have been ascribed
wrongly to this printer (Duff, _Bibliographica_, vol. i. pp. 93, 175,
499).
[Illustration: FIG. 11.--William Faques' Device.]
In the year 1504, a printer named William Faques had settled in Abchurch
Lane. He was a Norman by birth, and Ames suggested that he learnt his
art with John Le Bourgeois at Rouen, but this is unconfirmed. He styled
himself the king's printer. Of his books only some eight are in
existence, three with the date 1504, and the remainder undated. His
workmanship was excellent. The _Psalterium_ which he printed in octavo
was in a large well cut English black letter, and each page was
surrounded by a chain border. The Statutes of Henry VII. are also in the
same type with the same ornament, but the _Omelia Origenis_, one of the
undated books, is in the small foreign letter so much in vogue with the
printers of this time. His device has the double merit of beauty and
originality. It consisted of two triangles intersected with his
initials in the centre and the word 'Guillam' beneath. His subsequent
career is totally unknown, but his type, ornaments, etc., passed into
the hands of Richard Fawkes or Faques, who printed at the sign of the
Maiden's Head, in St. Paul's Churchyard, in the year 1509, Guillame de
Saliceto's _Salus corporis Salus anime_, in folio. Not only is the type
used in this identical with that in the _Psalterium_ of William Faques,
but the chain ornament is also found in it. After this we find no other
dated book by Richard Faques until 1523, when he printed Skelton's
_Goodly Garland_ in quarto, in three founts of black letter, and a fount
of Roman, and a great primer for titles. Amongst his undated works is a
copy of the _Liber Festivalis_, believed to have been printed in 1510,
and an _Horœ ad usum Sarum_ printed for him in Paris by J. Bignon.
During the interval he had moved from the Maiden's Head in St. Paul's
Churchyard to another house in the same locality, with the sign of the
A. B. C, and he also had a second printing office in Durham Rents,
without Temple Bar, that is in some house adjacent to Durham House in
the Strand. The earliest extant printed ballad was issued by Richard
Faques, the _Ballad of the Scottish King_, of which the only known copy
is in the British Museum, and amongst his undated books is one which he
printed for Robert Wyer, the Charing Cross printer, under the title of
_De Cursione Lunæ_. It was printed with the Gothic type, and the blocks
were supplied by Wyer. Richard Faques' device was a copy of that of the
Paris bookseller Thielmann Kerver, with an arrow substituted for the
tree, and the design on the shield altered. The custom of adapting other
men's devices was very common, and is one of the many evidences of
dearth of originality on the part of the early English printers.
[Illustration: FIG. 12.--Richard Faques' Device.]
The latest date found in the books of this printer is 1530.
Another prominent figure in the early years of the sixteenth century was
that of Robert Copland. He was a man of considerable ability, a good
French scholar, and a writer of mediocre verse. Apart from this, he was
also, in the truest sense of the word, a book lover, and used his
influence to produce books that were likely to be useful, or such as
were worth reading. In the prologue to the _Kalendar of Shepherdes_,
which Wynkyn de Worde printed in 1508, he described himself as servant
to that printer. This has been taken to mean that he was one of De
Worde's apprentices. But in 1514, if not earlier, he had started in
business for himself as a stationer and printer, at the sign of the Rose
Garland in Fleet Street. Very few of the books that he printed now
exist, and this, taken in conjunction with the fact that he translated
and wrote prologues for so many books printed by De Worde, has led all
writers upon early English printing to conclude that he was an odd man
about De Worde's office, and that he was in fact subsidised by that
printer. There is evidence, however, that many of the books printed by
De Worde, that have prologues by Robert Copland, were first printed by
him, and that in others he had a share in the copies.
[Illustration: FIG. 13.--Robert Copland's Device.]
In the British Museum copy of the _Dyeynge Creature_, printed by De
Worde in 1514, it is noticeable that on the last leaf is the mark or
device of Robert Copland, not that of the printer, while in the copy now
in the University Library, Cambridge, De Worde's device is on the last
leaf.
This would appear to indicate that both printers were associated in the
venture, though the work actually passed through De Worde's press, and
that those copies which Copland took and paid for were distinguished by
his device. Again, in several of these books, found with De Worde's
colophons, Copland speaks of himself as the 'printer,' or 'the buke
printer,' and the inference is that they were reprints of books which
Copland had previously printed. Indeed in one instance the evidence is
still stronger. In 1518, Henry Pepwell printed at the sign of the
Trinity the _Castell of Pleasure_. The prologue to this takes the form
of a dialogue in verse between Copland and the author, of which the
following lines are the most important:--
'Emprynt this boke, Copland, at my request
And put it forth to every maner state.'
To which Copland replies:--
'At your instaunce I shall it gladly impresse
But the utterance, I thynke, will be but small
Bokes be not set by: there tymes is past, I gesse;
The dyse and cardes, in drynkynge wyne and ale,
Tables, cayles, and balles, they be now sette a sale
Men lete theyr chyldren use all such harlotry
That byenge of bokes they utterly deny.'
If this means anything, it is impossible to avoid the inference that
Robert Copland printed the first edition of this book. Amongst others
that he was in some way interested in may be noticed a curious book by
Alexander Barclay, _Of the Introductory to write French_, fol., 1521, of
which there is a copy in the Bodleian; _The Mirrour of the Church_, 4to,
1521, a devotional work, printed by Wynkyn de Worde, with a variety of
curious woodcuts; the _Rutter of the Sea_, the first English book on
navigation, translated from _Le Grande Routier_ of Pierre Garcie;
Chaucer's _Assemble of Foules_ and the _Questionary of Cyrurgyens_,
printed by Robert Wyer in 1541.
Copland was also the author, and without doubt the printer, of two
humorous poems that are amongst the earliest known specimens of this
kind of writing. The one called _The Hye Way to the Spyttell hous_ took
the form of a dialogue between Copland and the porter of St.
Bartholomew's, and turns upon the various kinds of beggars and
impostors, with a running commentary upon the vices and follies that
bring men to poverty. _Iyll of Brentford_, the second of these
compositions, is a somewhat different production. It recounts the
legacies left by a certain lady, but the humour, though to the taste of
the times, was excessively broad.
In 1542 Dr. Andrew Borde spoke of his _Introduction of Knowledge_ as
printing at 'old Robert Copland's, the eldest printer in England.'
Whether he meant the oldest in point of age or in his craft is not
clear; but it may well be that, seeing that De Worde, Pynson, and the
two Faques were dead, this printing house was the oldest then in London.
John Rastell also began to print about the year 1514. He is believed to
have been educated at Oxford, and was trained for the law. In addition
to his legal business, he translated and compiled many law-books, the
most notable being the _Great Abridgement of the Statutes_. This book he
printed himself, and it is certainly one of the finest examples of
sixteenth century printing to be found. The work was divided into three
parts, each of which consisted of more than two hundred large folio
pages. When it is remembered that the method of printing books at this
period was slow, at the most only two folio pages being printed at a
pull, the time and capital employed upon the production of this book
must have been very great. The type was the small secretary in use at
Rouen, and it is just possible the book was printed there and not in
England.
John Rastell's first printing office in London was on the south side of
St. Paul's Churchyard. Williarn Bonham, the stationer with whom Rastell
was afterwards associated, had some premises there, and as late as the
seventeenth century there was a house in Sermon Lane, known as the
Mermaid, and it may be that in one or other of these Rastell printed the
undated edition of Linacre's _Grammar_, which bears the address, 'ye
sowth side of paulys.' But in 1520 he moved to 'the Mermayd at Powlys
gate next to chepe syde.' There he printed _The Pastyme of People_, and
Sir Thomas More's _Supplicacyon of Souls_, besides several interludes
and two remarkable jest-books, _The Twelve mery gestys of one called
Edith_ and _A Hundred Mery Talys_. The last named became one of the most
popular books of the time, but only one perfect copy of it is now known,
and that, alas! is not in this country. Rastell was brother-in-law of
Sir Thomas More, and up to the year 1530 a zealous Roman Catholic. So
strong were his religious opinions that in that year he wrote and
printed a defence of the Roman Catholic doctrine of Purgatory, under the
title of the _New Boke of Purgatory_. This was answered by John Frith,
the Reformer, who is credited with having achieved John Rastell's
conversion. By whatever means the change was brought about, John Rastell
did soon afterwards become a Protestant; but the change in his belief
made him many enemies. He was arrested for his opinions, and if he did
not die in prison, he was in prison just before his death, which took
place in 1536. During the last sixteen years of his life he does not
appear to have paid much attention to his business. A document now in
the Record Office shows that he was in the habit of locking up his
printing office in Cheapside, and going down into the country for months
at a time. But a part of the premises he sublet, and this was occupied
for various periods by several stationers--William Bonham, Thomas Kele,
John Heron, and John Gough, being particularly named. Like all his
predecessors, he dropped the use of the secretary type in favour of
black letter, and his books, as specimens of printing, greatly
deteriorated. Dibdin, in his reprint of _The Pastyme of the People_, was
very severe upon the careless printing of the original, but it is more
than likely that it was the work of one of Rastell's apprentices, rather
than his own. Amongst those whom he employed we find the names of
William Mayhewes, of whom nothing is known; Leonard Andrewe, who may
have been a relative of Laurence Andrewe, another English printer; and
one Guerin, a Norman.
John Rastell left two sons, William and John. The former became a
printer during his father's lifetime and succeeded him in business, but
his work lies outside the scope of the present chapter. The same remark
applies to William Bonham.
John Gough began his career as a bookseller in Fleet Street in 1526. In
1528 he was suspected of dealing in prohibited books (see _Letters and
Papers of Henry VIII._, vol. iv. pt. ii. art. 4004), but managed to
clear himself. In 1532 he moved to the 'Mermaid' in Cheapside, and in
the same year Wynkyn de Worde printed two books for him concerning the
coronation of Anne Boleyn. In 1536, whilst still living there, he issued
a very creditable Salisbury _Primer_. He calls himself the printer of
this, but it is extremely doubtful if this can be taken to mean anything
more than that he found the capital, and, perhaps, the material with
which it was printed. Wynkyn de Worde appointed John Gough one of the
overseers of his will. Of his subsequent career more will be said at a
later period.
Another of the printers who worked for Wynkyn de Worde during the latter
part of his life was John Skot. In 1521, when we first meet with him, he
was living in St. Sepulchre's parish, without Newgate. In that year he
printed the _Body of Policie_ and the _Justyces of Peas_, and in 1522
_The Myrrour of Gold_; amongst his undated books are, _Jacob and his
xii sons_, _Carta Feodi simplicis_, and the _Book of Maid Emlyn_, all
these being in quarto. His next dated book appeared in 1528, with the
colophon 'in Paule's Churchyard,' and here he appears to have remained
for some years. He is next found in Fauster Lane, St. Leonard's parish,
where he printed, amongst other books, the ballad of _The Nut Browne
Maid_. He also appears to have been at George Alley Gate, St. Botolph's
parish, where he printed, but without date, Stanbridge's _Accidence_.
His devices were three in number, and several of his border pieces were
obtained from Wynkyn de Worde.
Richard Bankes began business at the long shop in the Poultry, next to
St. Mildred's church, and six doors from the Stockes or Stocks Market,
which at that time stood on the present site of the Mansion House. In
1523 he printed a very curious tract with the following title:--
'Here begynneth a lytell newe treatyse or mater intytuled and called The
ix. Drunkardes, which tratythe of dyuerse and goodly storyes ryght
plesaunte and frutefull for all parsones to pastyme with.'
It was printed in octavo, black letter, and the only known copy is in
the Douce collection at the Bodleian. Another equally rare piece of
Bankes' printing was the old English romance of _Sir Eglamour_, known
only by a fragment of four leaves in the possession of Mr. Jenkinson of
the University Library, Cambridge. This was also somewhat roughly
printed in black letter. In 1525 he printed a medical tract called the
_Seynge of Uryns_, in quarto, and three years later was associated with
Robert Copland in the production of the _Rutter of the Sea_. He also
issued from this address _A Herball_, and another popular medical work
called the _Treasure of Pore Men_. Bankes is, however, best known as the
printer of the works of Richard Taverner, the Reformer, but this was
later, and will be noticed when we come to them.
Peter Treveris, or Peter of Treves, was working at the sign of the
Wodows, in Southwark, between the years 1521 and 1533. He used as his
device the 'wild men,' first seen in the device of the Paris printer, P.
Pigouchet. The fact of his printing the _Opusculum Insolubilium_, to be
sold at Oxford 'apud J. T.', that is probably for John Thome the
bookseller, points to his being at work about the year 1520. In 1521 he
is believed to have issued an edition of Arnold's _Chronicles_,
translated by Laurence Andrewe. Two other books of his printing were the
_Handy Worke of Surgery_, in folio, 1525, a book notable for the many
anatomical diagrams with which it was illustrated, and as a companion to
that work, _The Great Herball_ Treveris also shared with Wynkyn de
Worde most of the printing of Richard Whittington's scholastic works,
all in quarto, and mostly without date.
Laurence Andrewe, who lived for some years at Calais, translated one or
more books for John van Doesborch, the Antwerp printer, set up a press
in London about 1527, and printed a second edition of the _Handy Worke
of Surgery_, above noticed, a tract called _The Debate and Strife
betwene Somer and Winter_, to be sold by Robert Wyer at Charing Cross;
_The destillacyon of Waters_, in 1527; and a reprint of Caxton's edition
of the _Mirroure of the Worlde_, in folios, 1527. His printing calls for
no special notice, but Mr. Proctor, in his monograph on _Doesborgh_,
surmises that he learnt his art in an English printing house rather than
abroad, and the presence of a Leonarde Andrewe in the service of John
Rastell may mean that the two men were related and were both pupils of
the same master.
Turning now westwards, we find 'in the Bishop of Norwiche's Rentes in
the felde besyde Charynge Cross,' that is near the present Villier
Street, a printer named Robert Wyer, the sign of whose house was that of
St. John the Evangelist. There are several early references to the house
as that of a bookseller's, but without any name mentioned. For instance,
Richard Pynson printed, without date, an edition of the curious tract of
_Solomon and Marcolphus_, to be sold at the sign of St. John the
Evangelist beside Charing Cross; the _Debate between Somer and Winter_,
printed by Laurence Andrewe, has the same colophon, and the _De Cursione
Lune_, from the press of Richard Faques, has the same words, but not
Wyer's name. His first dated book was the _Golden Pystle_, printed in
1531. It was printed in a small secretary of Parisian character. His
great primer, for which he has been especially noted by some
bibliographers, was very probably that used by Richard Faques. He had
also a number of woodcut face initials similar to those used by Wynkyn
de Worde, and many of the small blocks found in his books were copies of
those belonging to Antoine Verard, the famous Paris publisher.
[Illustration: FIG. 14.--Robert Wyer's Device.]
Robert Wyer was essentially a popular printer. Many of his publications
were mere tracts of a few leaves, abridgments of larger works, and the
subjects which they chiefly treated were theology and medicine.
Unfortunately, the great bulk of his work bears no date, but several
circumstances in his career, coupled with internal evidence gathered
from the books themselves, enable us to get very near their date of
issue. Like his contemporaries he abandoned the secretary type in favour
of black letter, but neither so readily nor so entirely as they did. His
first black letter, in use before 1536, was also a very well cut and
beautiful letter; with it he printed the _Epistle_ of Erasmus, in
octavo, and the _Book of Good Works_, of which the only copy known is in
the library of St. John's College, Oxford. But unquestionably the two
most important books known of this printer are William Marshall's
_Defence of Peace_, folio, 1535, printed in secretary, and the
_Questionary of Cyrurgyens_, which he printed for Henry Dabbe and R.
Bankes. In 1536 the house in which he was working changed hands, passing
into the possession of the Duke of Suffolk, consequently all books
which have in the colophon 'in the Duke of Suffolkes Rentes,' or 'Beside
the Duke of Suffolkes Place,' were printed after that year. As Wyer
continued to print until 1555, this circumstance does not help us much;
it may, however, be taken as some further guide that all his later work
was done in black letter.
Robert Wyer appears to have done a great deal of work for his
contemporaries, notably Richard Bankes, Richard Kele, and John Gough.
Most of his books have woodcuts, the most profusely illustrated was his
translation of Christine de Pisan's _Hundred Histories of Troy_. This
book had been printed in Paris by Pigouchet, and the illustrations in
Wyer's edition are rude copies of those in the French edition. They are,
without doubt, wretched specimens of the woodcutter's art; but in this
respect they are no worse than the woodcuts found in other English books
at this date, and the number and variety of them speak well for the
printer's patience. Robert Wyer's device represented the Evangelist on
the Island of Patmos, with an eagle on his right hand holding an
inkhorn. With this he used a separate block with his name and mark. He
had also a smaller block of the Evangelist from which the eagle was
omitted. This is generally found on the title-page or in the front part
of his books.
[Footnote 2: It is rather remarkable that of the eight books dated 1534
six are in octavo. Readers of the works of Erasmus, Colet, and Lily seem
to have shown a preference for this form, which is used most frequently
for the works of these friendly authors.]
CHAPTER III
THOMAS BERTHELET TO JOHN DAY
On the death of Pynson, in 1529, the office of royal printer was
conferred upon Thomas Berthelet, who was in business at the sign of the
Lucretia Romana in Fleet Street. Herbert gives the first book from his
press as an edition of the Statutes, printed in 1529; but there is some
evidence that he was at work two or three years, and perhaps more,
before this. Among the writings of Robert Copland, the printer-author,
was a humorous tract entitled _The Seuen sorowes that women have when
theyr husbandes be dead_ (British Museum, C. 20, c. 42 (5)), which has
at the end this curious passage:--
'Go lytle quayr, god gyve the wel to sayle
To that good sheppe, ycleped Bertelet.
* * * * * *
And from all nacyons, if that it be thy lot
Lest thou be hurt, medle not with a Scot.'
This is, without doubt, an allusion to the two London printers, Thomas
Berthelet and John Skot; and certain references in the prologue seem to
point to the printing of the first edition of the _Seuen Sorowes_, as a
year or two earlier than the date given by Herbert.
[Illustration: FIG. 15.--Thomas Berthelet's Device.]
There also seems to be conclusive evidence that Berthelet, or, as he was
sometimes called, Bartlett, was a native of Wales. He certainly held
land in the county of Hereford, and he was succeeded in business by a
nephew, Thomas Powell, a Welshman. Berthelet was one of the few English
printers of that period whose work is worth looking at. He had a varied
assortment of types, all of them good, and his workmanship was as a rule
excellent; and as very few of his books are illustrated, we may infer
that he was loth to spoil a good book with the rough and often unsightly
woodcuts of that time.
Berthelet was also a bookbinder and bookseller, and some of his fine
bindings for Henry VIII. and his successors are still to be seen. He was
apparently the first English binder to use gold tooling.
Of his official work very little need be said. It consisted in printing
all Acts of Parliament, proclamations, injunctions, and other official
documents. In the second volume of the _Transcript_ (pp. 50-60),
Professor Arber has printed three of Berthelet's yearly accounts, in
which the titles of the various documents are given, with the number of
copies of each that were struck off, and the nature and cost of their
bindings.
In the year 1530 the divorce of Queen Katherine and the King's marriage
to Anne Boleyn filled the public mind, and in connection with this
event he printed, both in Latin and English, a small octavo, with the
title:
_The determinations of the moste famous and moofte excellent
Vniversities of Italy and France that it is so unlefull for a man to
marie his brother's wyfe that the Pope hath no power to despense
therewith._
Berthelet, in 1531, printed Sir Thomas Elyot's _Boke named the
Governour_, an octavo, in a large Gothic type, very bold and clear. This
type, however, is seen to much better advantage in the folio edition of
Gower's _Confessio Amantis_, which came from this press in 1532. In this
instance the title-page is striking, the title being enclosed within a
panel which gives it the appearance of a book cover. The text of the
work was printed in double columns of forty-eight lines each.
In 1533 Berthelet appears to have purchased a new fount of this type,
with which he printed Erasmus's _De Immensa Dei Misericordia_. If
possible this new letter was more beautiful than the other, the
lowercase 'h' finishing in a bold outward curve, which was absent in the
earlier fount. These founts of Gothic closely resemble some in use in
Italy at this time.
To the year 1534 belongs St. Cyprian's _Sermon_ on the mortality of man,
translated by Sir Thomas Elyot, as well as a second edition of _The Boke
named the Governour_.
Berthelet also brought into use during this year a woodcut border of an
architectural character, with the date 1534 cut upon it. It was used
only in octavo books, and he continued to use it for some years without
erasing the date, a fact that has led to much confusion in the
classification of his books.
We meet with the large Gothic type again in 1535, in an edition of the
_De Proprietatibus Rerum_ of Bartholomæus Anglicus, which Berthelet
printed in that year. But his most notable undertaking during the next
few years was the book for regulating and settling nice points of
religious belief, which had been compiled by the bishops, and was issued
under the King's authority, with the title:--
_The Institution of a Christian Man conteyninge the Exposition or
Interpretation of the commune Crede, of the Seven sacraments, of the X
commandments, and of the Pater Noster, and the Ave Maria, Justyfication
& Purgatory._
When the book was finished, Latimer, then Bishop of Worcester, suggested
to Cromwell that the printing should be given to Thomas Gibson. But
Latimer's recommendation was overlooked, and the work was given to
Berthelet. It would be interesting to know how many copies of the first
edition of this book he printed. It was issued both in quarto and octavo
form, the quarto printed in a very beautiful fount of English black
letter, modelled on the lines of De Worde's founts. The opening lines of
the title were, however, printed in Roman of four founts, and the whole
page was enclosed within a woodcut border of children.
The octavo editions of this notable book were printed in a smaller fount
of black letter, and the title-page was enclosed within the 1534 border.
Several editions were issued in 1537, and the book was afterwards
revised and reprinted under a new title.
At the same time Berthelet was passing through the press Sir Thomas
Elyot's _Dictionary_, a work of no small labour, if one may judge from
the number of founts used in printing it. It was finished and issued in
1538.
Berthelet, who, as befitted a royal printer, plainly took some pains to
keep himself clear of all controversies, did not stir in the matter of
Bible translation until the 1538 edition by Grafton and Whitchurch was
already in the market.
In 1539, however, he published, but did not print, Taverner's edition of
the Bible, and in the following year an edition of Cranmer's Bible. That
of 1539 came from the press of John Byddell, and that of 1540 was
printed for him by Robert Redman and Thomas Petit.
Among the Patent Rolls for the year 1543 (P. R. 36 Hen. 8. m. 12) is a
grant to Berthelet of certain crown lands in London and other parts of
the country, in payment of a debt of £220. His office as royal printer
ceased upon the accession of Edward VI., and though many books are found
with the imprint, 'in aedibus Thomas Berthelet,' down to the time of his
death in 1556, he probably took very little active part in business
affairs after that time.
Meanwhile Pynson's premises were taken by Robert Redman, who, from about
the year 1523, had been living just outside Temple Bar. No new facts
have come to light about Redman, and the reasons why he moved into
Pynson's house and continued to use his devices are as puzzling as ever.
He began as a printer of law books, and printed little else. In
conjunction with Petit he printed an edition of the Bible for Berthelet,
and among his other theological books was _A treatise concernynge the
division betwene the Spirytualtie and Temporaltie_, the date of which is
fixed by a note in the Letters and Papers of Henry VIII. (vol. vi., p.
215), from which it appears that, in 1553, Redman entered into a bond of
500 marks not to sell this book or any other licensed by the King.
Redman was also the printer of Leonard Coxe's _Arte and Crafte of
Rhethoryke_, one of the earliest treatises on this subject published in
English. It has recently been republished by Professor Carpenter of
Chicago, with copious notes.
Redman's work fell very much below that of his predecessor. Much of his
type had been in use in Pynson's office for some years, and was badly
worn. He had, however, a good fount of Roman, seen in the _De Judiciis
et Praecognitionibus_ of Edward Edguardus. The title of this book is
enclosed in a border, having at the top a dove, and at the bottom the
initials J. N.
Redman's will was proved on the 4th November 1540. His widow, Elizabeth,
married again, but several books were printed with her name in the
interval. His son-in-law, Henry Smith, lived in St. Clement's parish
without Temple Bar, and printed law books in the years 1545 and 1546.
Redman's successor at the George was William Middleton, who continued
the printing of law books, and brought out a folio edition of
Froissart's _Chronicles_, with Pynson's colophon and the date 1525,
which has led some to assume that this edition was printed by Pynson.
Upon Middleton's death in 1547, his widow married William Powell, who
thereupon succeeded to the business.
Among those for whom Wynkyn de Worde worked shortly before his death was
John Byddell, a stationer living at the sign of 'Our Lady of Pity,' next
Fleet Bridge, who for some reason spoke of himself under the name of
Salisbury. He used as his device a figure of Virtue, copied from one of
those in use by Jacques Sacon, printer at Lyons between 1498 and 1522
(see _Silvestre_, Nos. 548 and 912). The same design, only in a larger
form, was also in use in Italy at this time. In the collection of
title-pages in the British Museum (618, ll. 18, 19) is one enclosed
within a border found in books printed at Venice, on which the figure of
Virtue occurs. The only difference between it and the mark of Byddell
being that the two shields show the lion of St. Mark, and the whole
thing is much larger.
Byddell had probably been established as a stationer some years before
the appearance of Erasmus's _Enchiridion Militis Christiani_ from the
press of De Worde in 1533, with his name in the colophon. Another book
printed for him by De Worde, in the same year, was a quarto edition of
the _Life of Hyldebrand_. Both these works De Worde reprinted in 1534,
in addition to printing for him John Roberts' _A Mustre of scismatyke
Bysshoppes_. Byddell was appointed one of the executors to De Worde's
will, and very shortly after his death, _i.e._ in 1535, moved to De
Worde's premises, the 'Sun,' in Fleet Street.
Most of Byddell's books were of a theological character. He printed a
quarto _Horae ad usum Sarum_ in 1535, a small _Primer in English_ in
1536, and a folio edition of Taverner's Bible in 1539 for Thomas
Berthelet.
Among the miscellaneous books that came through his press, one or two
are especially interesting. In 1538 we find him printing in quarto
Lindsay's _Complaynte and Testament of a Popinjay_, a work that had
first appeared in Scotland eight years before, and created considerable
stir. A quarto edition of William Turner's _Libellus de Re Herbaria_
bears the same date; while among the books of the year 1540 are
editions, in octavo, of _Tully's Offices_ and _De Senectute_.
The latest date found in any book of Byddell's printing is 1544, after
which Edward Whitchurch is found at the 'Sun,' in Fleet Street, whither
he moved after dissolving partnership with Richard Grafton.
The early history of these two men has a powerful interest, not only for
students of early English printing, but for all English-speaking people.
To their enterprise and perseverance the nation was indebted for the
second English Bible.
Some very interesting and highly valuable evidence respecting the
history of these men has been brought to light of recent years, perhaps
the most valuable being Mr. J. A. Kingdon's _Incidents in the Lives of
Thomas Poyntz and Richard Grafton_, privately printed in 1895.
[Illustration: FIG. 16.--Richard Grafton's Device.]
From the affidavit of Emmanuel Demetrius [_i.e._ Van Meteren],
discovered in 1884 at the Dutch Church in Austin Friars,[3] it seems
clear that in 1535 Edward Whitchurch was working with Jacob van Metern
at Antwerp in printing Coverdale's translation of the Bible.
Richard Grafton was the son of Nicholas Grafton of Shrewsbury. The first
record we have of him is his apprenticeship to John Blage, a grocer of
London, in 1526. He was admitted a freeman of the Company in 1534, and
at that time seems to have employed himself chiefly in furthering the
project of an English translation of the whole Bible. On the 13th August
1537, Grafton sent to Archbishop Cranmer a copy of the Bible printed
abroad. The text was a modification of Coverdale's translation
ostensibly by Thomas Mathew, but in reality by John Rogers the editor.
In 1538, Coverdale, Grafton, and Whitchurch were together in Paris, busy
upon a third edition of the Bible. In June of that year they sent two
specimens of the text to Cromwell, with a letter stating that they
followed the Hebrew text with Chaldee or Greek interpretations. The
printing was done at the press of Francis Regnault, but before many
sheets had been struck off, the University of Paris seized the press and
2000 copies of the printed sheets, while the promoters had to make a
hasty escape to this country. The presses and types were afterwards
bought by Cromwell, and the work was subsequently finished and published
in 1539. The work had an engraved title-page, ascribed to Holbein, and
the price was fixed at ten shillings per copy unbound, and twelve
shillings bound.
Before leaving Paris, Grafton and Whitchurch had issued an edition of
Coverdale's translation of the New Testament, giving as their reason
that James Nicholson of Southwark had printed a very imperfect version
of it.
In 1540 Grafton and Whitchurch printed in 'the house late the graye
freers,' _The Prymer both in Englysshe and Latin_, to be sold at the
sign of the Bible in St. Paul's Churchyard. In the same year they
printed with a prologue by Cranmer, a second edition of the Great Bible,
half of which bore the name of Grafton and half of Whitchurch, and in
all probability the subsequent editions were published in the same way.
Two very good initial letters were used in the New Testament, and seem
to have been cut especially for Whitchurch. On the 28th January 1543-44
Grafton and Whitchurch received an exclusive patent for printing church
service books (Rymer, _Fœdera_, xiv. 766), and a few years later they
are found with an exclusive right for printing primers in Latin and
English. Upon the accession of Edward VI. Grafton became the royal
printer, but upon the king's death he printed the proclamation of Lady
Jane Grey, and was for that reason deprived of his office by Queen Mary.
The remainder of his life he spent in the compilation of English
_Chronicles_ in keen rivalry with John Stow.
Richard Grafton died in 1573. He was twice married. By his first wife,
Anne, daughter of ---- Crome of Salisbury, he had four sons and one
daughter, Joan, who married Richard Tottell, the law printer. By his
second wife, Alice, he left one son, Nicholas.
Grafton used as his device a tun with grafted fruit-tree growing through
it.
Among the noted booksellers and printers in St. Paul's Churchyard at
this time must be mentioned William Bonham. As yet it is not clear
whether he belonged to the Essex family of that name, or to another
branch that is found in Kent.
From a series of documents discovered at the Record Office relating to
John Rastell and his house called the Mermaid in Cheapside, it appears
that in the year 1520 William Bonham was working in London as a
bookseller, and on two different occasions was a sub-tenant of Rastell's
at the Mermaid. Yet not a single dated book with his name is found
before 1542, at which time he was living at the sign of the Red Lion in
St. Paul's Churchyard, and issued a folio edition of Fabyan's
_Chronicles_, besides having a share with his neighbour, Robert Toye, in
a folio edition of Chaucer. Even at this time William Bonham held some
sort of office in the Guild or Society of Stationers, for from a curious
letter written by Abbot Stevenage to Cromwell in 1539, about a certain
book printed in St. Albans Abbey, he says he has sent the printer to
London with Harry Pepwell, Toy, and 'Bonere' (_Letters and Papers_, H.
8, vol. xiv. p. 2, No. 315), so that it would look as if they were
commissioned to hunt down popish heretical and seditious books. By the
marriage of his daughter, Joan, to William Norton, the bookseller, who
in turn named his son Bonham Norton, the history of the descendants of
William Bonham can be followed up for quite a century later.
At the Long Shop in the Poultry we can see the press at work almost
without a break from the early years of the sixteenth century till the
close of the first quarter of the seventeenth. Upon the removal of
Richard Bankes into Fleet Street its next occupant seems to have been
one John Mychell, of whose work a solitary fragment, fortunately that
bearing the colophon, of an undated quarto edition of the _Life of St.
Margaret_, is now in the hands of Mr. F. Jenkinson of the University
Library, Cambridge. Whether this John Mychell is the same person as the
John Mychell found a few years later printing at Canterbury there is no
evidence to show. Nor do we know how long he occupied the Long Shop. In
1542 Richard Kele's name is found in a _Primer in Englysh_, which was
issued from this house. He may have been some relation to the Thomas
Kele who, in 1526, had occupied John Rastell's house, the Mermaid, as
stated by Bonham in his evidence. During 1543, in company with Byddell,
Grafton, Middleton, Mayler, Petit, and Lant, Richard Kele was imprisoned
in the Poultry Compter for printing unlawful books (_Acts of Privy
Council_, New Series, vol. i. pp. 107, 117, 125). Most of the books that
bear his name came from the presses of William Seres, Robert Wyer, and
William Copland. Perhaps the most interesting of his publications next
to the edition of Chaucer, which he shared with Toye and Bonham, are the
series of poems by John Skelton, called _Why Come ye not to Courte?_
_Colin Clout_, and _The Boke of Phyllip Sparowe_. They were issued in
octavo form, and were evidently very hastily turned out from the press,
type, woodcuts, and workmanship being of the worst description. At the
end of _Colin Clout_ is a woodcut of a figure at a desk, supposed to
represent the author, but it is doubtful whether it is anything more
than an old block with his name cut upon it.
Looking back over the work done at this time, it is impossible to avoid
the conclusion that the art of printing in England had much deteriorated
since the days of Pynson, while the best of it, even that of Berthelet,
could not be compared with that of the continental presses of the same
period. There was an entire absence of originality among the English
printers. Types, woodcuts, initial letters, ornaments, and devices, were
obtained by the printers from abroad, and had seen some service before
their arrival in this country. But just at this time a printer came to
the front in this country, who for a few years placed the art on a
higher footing than any of his predecessors.
[Footnote 3: The _Registers of the Dutch Church, Austin Friars_, edited
by W. J. C. Moens (Introduction, pp. xiii.-xiv.).]
[Illustration: FIG. 17.--John Day.]
CHAPTER IV
JOHN DAY
John Day, one of the best and most enterprising of printers, was born in
the year 1522 at Dunwich, in Suffolk, a once flourishing town, now
buried beneath the sea.
From the fact that Day was in possession of a device found in the books
of Thomas Gibson, the printer whom Latimer unsuccessfully recommended to
Cromwell, it has been supposed that it was from Gibson he learnt the
art. He may have done so; but whatever he learnt there or elsewhere, in
his 'prentice days, he later on threw aside, and by his own enterprise
and the excellence of his workmanship raised himself to the proud
position of the finest printer England had ever seen.
In John Day's first books there was no sign of the skill he afterwards
manifested. These were published in conjunction with William Seres, of
whom we know little or nothing, outside his connection with Day. These
partners began work in the year 1546 at the sign of the Resurrection on
Snow Hill, a little above Holborn Conduit, that is somewhere in the
neighbourhood of the present viaduct. They had also another shop in
Cheapside. Their first book, so far as we know, was Sir David Lindsay's
poem, '_The Tragical death, of David Beaton, Bishop of St. Andrews in
Scotland; Wherunto is joyned the martyrdom of maister G. Wyseharte ...
for whose sake the aforesayd bishoppe was not long after slayne_' (1546,
8vo).
In the following year (1547) Day and Seres printed several other books
of a religious character, nearly all of them in octavo, including Cope's
_Godly Meditacion upon the psalms_, and Tyndale's _Parable of the Wicked
Mammon_.
Their work in 1548 included a second edition of the _Consultation_ of
Hermann, the bishop of Cologne, Robert Crowley's _Confutation of Myles
Hoggarde_, a sermon of Latimer's, a metrical dialogue aimed at the
priesthood and entitled _John Bon and Mast Person_, and, as a relief to
so much theological literature, the _Herbal_ of William Turner.
The types used in printing these books were not a whit better than
anybody else's, in fact if anything they were a shade worse. There was
the usual fount of large black letter, not by any means new, another
much smaller letter of the same character, and a fount of Roman
capitals, very bad indeed. Whether these types belonged to Day or to
Seres it is impossible to say, but I think the smaller of the two
belonged to Day, as it is sometimes found in his later books.
The workmanship was no better than the types. There was no pagination in
these books, and no devices, and the setting of the letterpress was very
uneven.
In 1548 Seres seems to have joined partnership with another London
printer, Anthony Scoloker, and to have moved to a house in St. Paul's
Churchyard, called Peter College; but his name still continued to appear
with Day's down to the year 1551, when the partnership was dissolved,
Day moving to Aldersgate, but retaining his shop in Cheapside.
[Illustration: FIG. 18.--From a Bible printed by John Day. London, 1551.
4to.]
The most important undertaking of the partnership was a folio edition of
the Bible in 1549. This was printed in the smaller of the two founts of
black letter in double columns, with some good initials and a great
many woodcuts that had evidently been used before, as they extend beyond
the letterpress. Another edition printed by Day alone appeared in 1551,
in which a good initial E, showing Edward VI. on his throne, is found.
On the accession of Queen Mary, Day went abroad and his press was silent
for several years; meanwhile the ancient brotherhood of Stationers was
incorporated by Royal Charter as the 'Worshipful Company of Stationers.'
The existence of the brotherhood has been traced to very early times,
and it is frequently mentioned in the wills of printers and booksellers
in the first half of the sixteenth century. By the Charter of 1556 it
now received the Royal authority to make its own laws for the regulation
of the trade, although, as Mr. Arber has pointed out, the charter
'rather confirmed existing customs than erected fresh powers.' There is
abundant evidence that the Queen's main reason for granting the charter
was the wish to keep the printing trade under closer control.
The newly incorporated company included nearly all the men connected
with the book trade, not only printers, but booksellers, bookbinders,
and typefounders. There were some who, for some unexplained reason, were
not enrolled. On the other hand, two of those whose names appeared in
the charter died the year of its incorporation. These were Thomas
Berthelet, who was dead before the 26th January 1556, and Robert Toy,
who died in February.
In the registers of the Company were recorded the names of the wardens
and masters, the names of all apprentices, with the masters to whom they
were bound, and the names of those who took up their freedom. The titles
of all books were supposed to be entered by the printer or publisher, a
small fee being paid in each case. As a matter of fact many books were
not so entered. Entries of gifts to the Corporation, and of fines levied
on the members, also form part of the annual statements.
Literary men of the eighteenth century were the first to discover and
make use of the wealth of information contained in the Registers of the
Stationers' Company; but it fell to the lot of Mr. Arber to give English
scholars a full transcript of the earlier registers. In order to make it
complete, he has supplemented the work with numerous valuable papers in
the Record Office and other archives, and a bibliographical list down to
the year 1603, which is of such immense value that it is impossible to
be content until it has been continued to the year 1640.
The first master of the Company was Thomas Dockwray, Proctor of the
Court of Arches; and the wardens were John Cawood, the Queen's Printer,
and Henry Cooke.
[Illustration: FIG. 19.--Heraldic Initial containing the Arms of Dudley,
Earl of Leicester.]
It does not follow that because Day's name occurs in the charter that
he was in England in 1556, but he certainly was so in the following
year, for there is a Sarum Missal of that date with his imprint, besides
several other books, including Thomas Tusser's _Hundred Points of Good
Husserye_ (_i.e._ Housewifery); William Bullein's _Government of
Health_, and sundry proclamations. But it was not until 1559 that his
books began to show that excellence of workmanship that laid the
foundation of his fame. In that year he issued in folio _The
Cosmographicall Glasse_ of William Cunningham, a physician of Norwich.
As a specimen of the printer's art this was far in advance of any of
Day's previous work, and, moreover, was in advance of anything seen in
England before that time. The text was printed in a large, flowing
italic letter of great beauty, further enhanced by several well-executed
woodcut initials. Amongst these was a letter 'D,' containing the arms of
the Earl of Leicester, to whom the work was dedicated. There were also
scattered through the book several diagrams and maps, a fine portrait of
the author, and a plan of the city of Norwich. Some of these
illustrations and initials were signed J. B., others J. D. The
title-page was also engraved with allegorical figures of the arts and
sciences. There can be very little doubt that Day had spent his time
abroad in studying the best models in the typographical art.
Students and lovers of good books may well pay a tribute to the memory
of that scholarly churchman, who rescued so many of the books that were
scattered at the dissolution of the monasteries, and enriched Cambridge
University and some of its colleges by his gifts of books and
manuscripts. But Matthew Parker did not stop short at book-collecting.
He believed that good books should be well printed, and on his accession
to power under Elizabeth, he encouraged John Day and others, both with
his authority and his purse, to cut new founts of type and to print
books in a worthy form.
In 1560 Day began to print the collected works of Thomas Becon, the
reformer. The whole impression occupied three large folio volumes, and
was not completed until 1564. The founts chiefly used in this were black
letter of two sizes, supplemented with italic and Roman. The initials
used in the _Cosmographicall Glasse_ appeared again in this, and the
title-page to each part was enclosed in an elaborate architectural
border, having in the bottom panel Day's small device, a block showing a
sleeper awakened, and the words, 'Arise, for it is Day.' At the end was
a fine portrait of the printer.
Another important undertaking of the year 1560 was a folio edition of
the _Commentaries_ of Joannes Philippson, otherwise Sleidanus. This Day
printed for Nicholas England, the fount of large italic being used in
conjunction with black letter.
Sermons of Calvin, Bullinger, and Latimer are all that we have to
illustrate his work during the next two years. But in 1563 appeared a
handsome folio, the editio princeps of _Acts and Monumentes of these
latter and perillous Dayes, touching matters of the Church_, better
known as Foxe's Book of Martyrs.
During Mary's reign Foxe had found a home on the Continent, and may
there have met with Day. In 1554, while at Strasburg, he had published,
through the press of Wendelin Richel, a Latin treatise on the
persecutions of the reformers, under the title of _Commentarii rerum in
Ecclesia gestarum maximarumque persecutionem a Vuiclevi temporibus
descriptio_. From Strasburg he removed to Basle, and from the press of
Oporinus, in 1559, appeared the Latin edition of the _Book of Martyrs_.
He did not return to England until October of that year, when he
settled in Aldgate, and made weekly visits to the printing-house of John
Day, who was then busy on the English edition.
[Illustration: FIG. 20.--From Foxe's 'Actes and Monumentes,' printed by
John Day, 1576.]
Foxe's _Actes and Monumentes_ is a work of 2008 folio pages, printed in
double columns, the type used being a small English black letter, the
same which had been used in Becon's _Works_, supplemented with various
sizes of italic and Roman. It was illustrated throughout with woodcuts,
representing the tortures and deaths of the martyrs. A very handsome
initial letter E, showing Queen Elizabeth and her courtiers, is also
found in it. A Royal proclamation ordered that a copy of it should be
set up in every parish church. From this time Foxe appears to have
worked as translator and editor for John Day, and was for a while living
in the printer's house.
Archbishop Parker meanwhile had induced Day to cast a fount of Saxon
types in metal. The first book in which these were used was Aelfric's
'Saxon Homily,' _i.e._ the Sermon of the Paschal Lamb, appointed by the
Saxon bishop to be read at Easter before the Sacrament, an Epistle of
Aelfric to Wulfsine, the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and the Ten
Commandments, all of which were included in the general title of _A
Testimonye of Antiquity_, 'shewing the auncient fayth in the Church of
England touching the Sacrament of the body and bloude of the Lord here
publykely preached and also receaved in the Saxons tyme, above 600
yeares agoe.'
Speaking of Day's Saxon fount, the late Mr. Talbot Reed, in his _Old
English Letter Foundries_ (p. 96), says:--
'The Saxon fount ... is an English in body, very clear and bold. Of
the capitals eight only, including two diphthongs are distinctively
Saxon, the remaining eighteen letters being ordinary Roman; while
in the lowercase there are twelve Saxon letters, as against fifteen
of the Roman. The accuracy and regularity with which this fount was
cut and cast is highly creditable to Day's excellence as a
founder.'
Although this book (an octavo) bore no date, the names of the
subscribing bishops fix it as 1566 or 1567. In the latter year appeared
the Archbishop's metrical version of the _Psalter_, which he had
compiled during his enforced exile under Mary. In connection with this
it may be well to point out that Day printed many editions of the
_Psalter_ with musical notes. In 1568 he used the Saxon types again to
print William Lambard's _Archaionomia_, a book of Saxon laws. Amongst
his other productions of that year must be mentioned the folio edition
of Peter Martyr's _Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans_; Gildas the
historian's _De excidio et conquestu Britanniæ_, 1568, 8vo; and a French
version of Vandernoot's _Theatre for Worldlings_, 'Le Theatre auquel
sont exposés et monstrés les inconveniens et misères qui suivent les
mondains et vicieux, ensemble les plaisirs et contentements dont les
fidèles jouissent.' There is a copy of this very rare book in the
Grenville collection. The _Theatre for Worldlings_ was translated into
English the following year, and contained verses from the pen of Edmund
Spenser, then a boy of sixteen. But Day's press played little part in
the spread of the romantic literature with which the name of Spenser is
so closely linked. Day's work was with the Reformation and the religious
questions of the time. Nevertheless, that he felt the influence of the
coming change is shown from a publication that issued from his press in
1570. This was the authorised version of a play which had been acted
nine years before by the gentlemen of the Inner Temple before Her
Majesty. It had shortly afterwards been published by William Griffith of
Fleet Street as:--
'The Tragedy of Gorboduc, whereof Three Actes were wrytten by Thomas
Norton and the two last by Thomas Sackvyle. Set forth as the same was
shewed before the Queenes most excellent Maiestie in her highnes Court
of Whitehall, the xviii day of January Anno Domini 1561, By the
gentlemen of Thynner Temple in London.' Day's edition was entitled:--
'The Tragidie of Ferrex and Porrex, set forth without addition or
alteration, but altogether as the same was showed on stage before the
Queens Maiestie about nine yeares past, viz. the xviii day of Januarie
1561, by the gentlemen of the Inner Temple.'
Another important work of this year (1570) was Roger Ascham's
_Scholemaster_, in quarto. In 1571 Day was busy with Church matters.
There was just then much talk of Church discipline, and it shows itself
in the _Reformatio Legum Ecclesiasticarum_, a quarto of some 300 pages,
published by him this year. In this book we find a new device used by
Day. It represents two hands holding a slab upon which is a crucible
with a heart in it, surrounded by flames, the word 'Christus' being on
the slab. From the wrists hangs a chain, and in the centre of this is
suspended a globe, and beneath that again is a representation of the
sun. Round the chain is a ribbon with the words '_Horum Charitas_.' This
device was placed on the title-page, which was surrounded by a neat
border of printers' ornaments.
The _Booke of certaine Canons_, 4to, was another publication of this
year for the due ordering of the Church. This, like most public
documents, was in a large black letter. There were also 'Articles of the
London Synod of 1562.' As a specimen of the religious sermons or
discourses of the time, we have a very good example in another of Day's
publications in 1571, a reprint of _The Poore Mans Librarie_, a
discourse by George Alley, Bishop of Exeter, upon the First Epistle of
St. Peter, which made up a very respectable folio, printed in Day's best
manner, and with a great number of founts.
But Day's prosperity roused the envy of his fellow-stationers, and they
tried their best to hinder the sale of his books and cause him
annoyance. This opposition took a violent form in 1572, when Day, whose
premises at Aldersgate had become too small to carry on his growing
business, his stock being valued at that time between £2000 and £3000,
obtained the leave of the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's to set up a
little shop in St. Paul's Churchyard for the sale of his books. The
booksellers appealed to the Lord Mayor, who was prevailed upon to stop
Day's proceedings, and it required all the power and influence of
Archbishop Parker, backed by an order of the Privy Council, to enable
the printer to carry out his project.[4]
The Archbishop meanwhile had been busy furnishing replies to Nicholas
Sanders' book _De Visibili Monarchia_, and amongst those whom he
selected for the work was Dr. Clerke of Cambridge, who accordingly wrote
a Latin treatise entitled _Fidelis Servi subdito infideli Responsio_.
From a letter written by the Archbishop to Lord Burleigh at this time,
we learn that John Day had cast a special fount of Italian letter for
this book at a cost of forty marks.[5]
By Italian letter is here meant Roman, and not Italic, as Mr. Reed
supposes, for the _Responsio_ was printed in a new fount of that type,
clear, even, and free from abbreviations.
In the same year (1572) Day printed at the Archbishop's private press
at Lambeth his great work _De Antiquitate Britannicae Ecclesiae_ in
folio, in a new fount of Italic, with preface in Roman, and the titles
and sub-titles in the larger Italic of the _Cosmographicall Glasse_. It
was a special feature of Day's letter-founding that he cut the Roman and
Italic letters to the same size. Before his time there was no
uniformity; the separate founts mixed badly, and spoilt the appearance
of many books that would otherwise have been well printed.
The _De Antiquitate_ is believed to have been the first book printed at
a private press in England. The issue was limited to fifty copies, and
the majority of them were in the Archbishop's possession at the time of
his death.
But while he encouraged printing in one direction, Matthew Parker
rigorously persecuted it in another. Just at this time there was much
division among Protestants on matters of doctrine and ceremonial, and
one Thomas Cartwright published, in 1572, a book entitled _A Second
Admonition to the Parliament_, in which he defended those who had been
imprisoned for airing their opinions in the first _Admonition_. This
book, like many others of the time, was printed secretly, and strenuous
search was made by the Wardens of the Stationers' Company, Day being
one, to discover the hidden press. The search was successful, but
unpleasant consequences followed for John Day. One of the printers of
the prohibited book turned out to be an apprentice of his own, named
Asplyn. He was released after examination, and again taken into service
by his late master. But the following year the Archbishop reported to
the Council that this man Asplyn had tried to kill both Day and his
wife.
Day's work in 1573 included a folio edition of the whole works of
William Tyndale, John Frith, and Doctor Barnes, in two volumes. This was
printed in two columns, with type of the same size and character as that
used in the 'Works' of Becon, some of the initial letters closely
resembling those found in books printed by Reginald Wolfe. In the same
year Day issued a life of Bishop Jewel, for which he cut in wood a
number of Hebrew words.
In 1574 we reach the summit of excellence in Day's work. It was in that
year that he printed for Archbishop Parker Asser's Life of Alfred the
Great (_Aelfredi Regis Res Gestæ_) in folio. In this the Saxon type cast
for the Saxon Homily in 1567 was again used in conjunction with the
magnificent founts of double pica Roman and Italic. With it is usually
bound Walsingham's _Ypodigme Neustria_ and _Historia Brevis_, the first
printed by Day, and the second by Bynneman, who unquestionably used the
same types, so that it may be inferred that the fount was at the
disposal of the Archbishop, at whose expense all three books were
issued.
Another series of publications that came from the press of John Day, in
1574, were the writings of John Caius on the history and antiquities of
the two Universities. They are generally found bound together in the
following order:--
1. De Antiquitate Cantabrigiensis Academiæ.
2. Assertio Antiquitatis Oxoniensis Academiæ.
3. Historia Cantabrigiensis Academiæ.
4. Johannis Caii Angli De Pronunciatione Græcæ et Latinæ linguæ cum
scriptione noua libellus.
The 'Antiquities' and 'History' of Cambridge were both books of
considerable size, the first having 268 pages, without counting
prefatory matter and indexes. The other two were little better than
tracts, the one having only 27 and the other 23 pages. Some editions of
the _De Antiquitate_ are found with a map of Cambridge, while the
'History' contained plates showing the arms of the various colleges. All
four were printed in quarto. The type used for the text was in each case
an Italic of English size, with a small Roman for indexes. The
title-page was enclosed in a border of printers' ornaments, and the
printer's device of the Heart was on the last leaf of two out of the
four.
Matthew Parker died in 1575, and the art of printing, as well as every
other art and science, lost a generous patron. But Day's work was not
yet done, though he printed few large books after this date. A very
curious folio, written by John Dee, the famous astronomer, entitled
_General and Rare Memorials concerning Navigation_, came from his press
in 1577. This work had an elaborate allegorical title-page, by no means
a bad specimen of wood-engraving. It was a history in itself, the
central object being a ship with the Queen seated in the after part.
In 1578 Day printed a book in Greek and Latin for the use of scholars,
_Christianæ pietatis prima institutio_, the Greek type being a great
improvement on any that had previously appeared. Indeed, it has been
considered equal to those in use by the Estiennes of Paris.
The year 1580 saw Day Master of the Stationers' Company. Two years later
he was engaged in a series of law-suits about his _A B C and litell
Catechism_, a book for which he had obtained a patent in the days of
Edward VI.
As we have already noted, the aim of the Corporation of the Stationers'
Company was not primarily the promotion of good printing or literature.
Printers were looked upon by the authorities as dangerous persons whom
it was necessary to watch closely. Only six years after coming to the
throne, Elizabeth signed a decree passed by the Star Chamber, requiring
every printer to enter into substantial recognisances for his good
behaviour. No books were to be printed or imported without the sanction
of a Special Commission of Ecclesiastical Authorities, under a penalty
of three months' imprisonment and the forfeiture of all right to carry
on business as a master printer or bookseller in future, while the
officers of the Company were instructed to carry out strict search for
all prohibited books.
On the other hand, while thus retaining a tight rein on the printing
trade, the Queen, no doubt for monetary considerations, granted special
patents for the sole printing of certain classes of books to individual
master printers, and threatened pains and penalties upon any other
member of the craft who should print any such books. In this way all the
best-paying work in the trade became the property of some dozen or so of
printers. Master Tottell was allowed the sole printing of Law Books,
Master Jugge the sole printing of Bibles, James Roberts and Richard
Watkins the sole printing of Almanacs; Thomas Vautrollier, a stranger,
was allowed to print all Latin books except the Grammars, which were
given to Thomas Marsh, and John Day had received the right of printing
and selling the _A B C and Litell Catechism_, a book largely bought for
schools, and which Christopher Barker, in his Complaint, declared was
once 'the onelye reliefe of the porest sort of that Company.' On every
side the best work was seized and monopolised. Nor did the evil cease
there. These patents were invariably granted for life with reversion to
a successor, and they were bought and sold freely. Hence the poorer
members of the Company daily found it harder to live. There was very
little light literature, and what there was had few readers. Their
appeals for redress of grievances, whether addressed to the State or to
the Company, which pretended to look after their welfare, were alike in
vain, and at length they rose in open revolt. Half a dozen of them,
headed by Roger Ward and John Wolf, boldly printed the books owned by
the patentees. Roger Ward seized upon this _A B C_ of Day's, and at a
secret press, with type supplied to him by a workman of Thomas Purfoot,
printed many thousand copies of the work with Day's mark. Hence the
proceedings in the Star Chamber. They did very little good. Ward defied
imprisonment; and the agitators would undoubtedly have gained more than
they did, and might even have saved the art of printing from falling
into the hopeless state it afterwards reached, had it not been for the
desertion of John Wolf, who, after declaring that he would work a
reformation in the printing trade similar to that which Luther had
worked in religion, quietly allowed himself to be bought over, and died
in eminent respectability as Printer to the City of London, leaving
Ward and others to carry on the war. This they did with such effect,
that, forced to find a remedy, the patentees of the Company at length
agreed to relax their grasp of some of the books that they had laid
their hands upon. Day is said to have been most generous, relinquishing
no less than fifty-three, and this number is in itself a commentary on
the magnitude of the monopolies.
[Illustration: FIG. 21.--Day's large Device.]
John Day died at Walden, in Essex, on the 23rd July 1584, at the age of
sixty-two, and was buried at Bradley Parva, where there is a fair tomb
and a lengthy poetical epitaph on his virtues and abilities. He was
twice married, and is said to have had twenty-six children, of whom one
son, Richard, was for a short time a printer, and another, John, took
Orders, and became rector of Little Thurlow, in Suffolk.
John Day had three devices. His earliest, and perhaps his best, was a
large block of a skeleton lying on an elaborately chased bier, with a
tree at the back, and two figures, an old man and a young, standing
beside it. This may have been typical of the Resurrection, the sign of
the house in which he began business. Then we find the device of the
Heart in his later books, and finally there is the block of the Sleeper
Awakened, but this almost always formed part of the title-page.
[Footnote 4: See Strype's _Life of Parker_, p. 541. Arber's Transcript,
vol. ii.]
[Footnote 5: Strype's _Life of Parker_, pp. 382, 541.]
APPENDIX
LIST OF PRINTERS AND STATIONERS ENROLLED IN THE CHARTER
Alday, John.
Baldwyn, Richard.
Baldwyn, William.
Blythe, Robert.
Bonham, John.
Bonham, William.
Bourman, Nicholas.
Boyden, Thomas.
Brodehead, Gregory.
Broke, Robert.
Browne, Edward.
Burtoft, John.
Bylton, Thomas.
Case, John.
Cater, Edward.
Cawood, John.
Clarke, John.
Cleston, Nicholas.
Cooke, Henry.
Cooke, William.
Copland, William.
Cottesford, Hugh.
Coston, Simon.
Croke, Adam.
Crosse, Richard.
Crost, Anthony.
Day, John.
Devell, Thomas.
Dockwray, Thomas.
Duxwell, Thos.
Fayreberne, John.
Fox, John.
Frenche, Peter.
Gamlyn _or_ Gammon, Allen.
Gee, Thomas.
Gonneld, James.
Gough, John.
Greffen _or_ Griffith, William.
Grene, Richard.
Harryson, Richard.
Harvey, Richard.
Hester, Andrew.
Hyll, John.
Hyll, Richard.
Hyll, William.
Holder, Robert.
Holyland, James.
Huke, Gyles.
Ireland, Roger.
Jaques, John.
Judson, John.
Jugge, Richard.
Kele, John.
Keball, John.
Kevall, junior, Richard.
Kevall, Stephen.
Kyng, John.
Lant, Richard.
Lobel, Michael.
Marten, Will.
Marsh, Thos.
Markall, Thomas.
Norton, Henry.
Norton, William.
Paget, Richard.
Parker, Thomas.
Pattinson, Thomas.
Pickering, William.
Powell, Humphrey.
Powell, Thomas.
Powell, William.
Purfoot, Thomas.
Radborne, Robert.
Richardson, Richard.
Rogers, John.
Rogers, Owen.
Ryddall, Will.
Sawyer, Thomas.
Seres, William.
Shereman, John.
Sherewe, Thomas.
Smyth, Anthony.
Spylman, Simon.
Steward, William.
Sutton, Edward.
Sutton, Henry.
Taverner, Nicholas.
Tottle, Richard.
Turke, John.
Tyer, Randolph.
Tysdale, John.
Walley, Charles.
Walley, John.
Wallys, Richard.
Way, Richard.
Whitney, John.
Wolfe, Reginald.
Amongst the men whose names were not included in the charter were:--
Baker, John, made free 24th Oct. 1555.
Caley, Robert.
Chandeler, Giles, made free 24 Oct. 1555.
Charlewood, John.
Hacket, Thomas.
Singleton, Hugh.
Wayland, John
Wyer, Robert.
CHAPTER V
JOHN DAY'S CONTEMPORARIES
Most notable of all the men who lived and worked with Day, was Reginald
or Reyner Wolfe, of the Brazen Serpent in St. Paul's Churchyard. Much as
we have to regret the scantiness of all material for a study of the
lives of the early English printers, it is doubly felt in the case of
Reginald Wolfe. The little that is made known to us is just sufficient
to whet the appetite and kindle the curiosity. It reveals to us an
active business man, evidently with large capital behind him, setting up
as a bookseller, under the shadow of the great Cathedral, and rapidly
becoming known to the learned and the rich. We see him passing backwards
and forwards between this country and the book-fair at Frankfort,
executing commissions for great nobles, and at the same time acting as
the King's courier. Later on we find him adding the trade of printer to
that of bookseller, and I have very little doubt that it was partly to
the advice and influence of Reginald Wolfe that we owe the improvement
that took place in John Day's printing after his return from abroad. As
a printer he stands beside Day in the excellence of his workmanship, and
he was the first in England who possessed any large stock of Greek type.
Reyner Wolfe was a native of Dretunhe(?), in Gelderland, as shown by the
letters of denization which he took out on the 2nd January 1533-4.
(State Papers, Hen. 8. vol. 6. No. 105.) He had been established in
Saint Paul's Churchyard some years before this, however, as in a letter
from Thomas Tebold to the Earl of Wiltshire, dated the 4th April 1530,
he says he has arrived at Frankfort, and hopes to hear from his lordship
through 'Reygnard Wolf, bookseller, of St. Pauls Churchyard, London, who
will be here in two days.'
Again, in 1539, in the same series of _Letters and Papers_ (vol. xiv.
pt. 2. No. 781), is an entry of the payment of 100s. to 'Rayner Wolf'
for conveying the King's letters to Christopher Mounte, his Grace's
agent in 'High Almayne'. But it was not until 1542 that he began to
print. The British Museum fortunately possesses copies of all his early
works as a printer, which began with several of the writings of John
Leland the antiquary. The first was _Naeniae in mortem T. Viati, Equitis
incomparabilis, Joanne Lelando, antiquario, authore_, a quarto, printed
in a well-cut fount of Roman. This was followed in the same year by
_Genethliacon_, a work specially written by Leland for Prince Edward,
with a dedication to Prince Henry, the first part being printed in
Italic and the second in Roman type. On the verso of the last leaf is
the printer's very beautiful device of children throwing at an
apple-tree, certainly one of the most artistic devices in use amongst
the printers of that time.
[Illustration: FIG. 22.--Wolfe's Device.]
To this work succeeded, in 1543, the _Homilies_ of Saint Chrysostom, of
which John Cheke, Professor in Greek at Cambridge University, was
editor. The whole of the first part of the work, with the exception of
the dedication, was in Greek letter, making thirty lines to the quarto
page. The second part, which had a separate title-page, was printed with
the Italic, and the supplementary parts with the Roman types. Some very
fine pictorial initial letters were used throughout the work, and the
larger form of the apple-tree device occurs on the last leaf, with a
Greek and Latin motto.
A very rare specimen of Wolfe's work in 1543 is Robert Recorde's _The
groūd of artes teachyng the worke and practise of Arithmetike moch
necessary for all states of men_, a small octavo printed in black
letter, but of no particular merit. In the same type and form he issued
in the following year a tract entitled _The late expedicion in
Scotlande_, etc. Chrysostom's _De Providentia Dei_ and _Laudatio Pacis_
were printed in the Roman and Italic founts during 1545 and 1546, and
are the only record we have left of Wolfe's work as a printer during
those years. In 1547 he was appointed the king's printer in Latin,
Greek, and Hebrew, and was granted an annuity of twenty-six shillings
and eightpence during his life (Pat. Rol. 19 April 1547).
In 1553 trouble arose between Wolfe and Day as to their respective
rights of printing Edward the Sixth's catechism. The matter was settled
by Wolfe having the privilege for printing the Latin version, and Day
that in English, but neither party reaped much benefit, as upon the
king's death the book was called in, having only been in circulation a
few months. During Mary's reign the only important work that seems to
have come from Wolfe's press was Recorde's _Castle of Knowledge_, a
folio, with an elaborately designed title-page, and a dedication to
Cardinal Pole. In 1560 Wolfe became Master of the Company of Stationers,
a position to which he was elected on three subsequent occasions, in
1564, 1567, and 1572. His patents were renewed to him under Elizabeth,
and he came in for his share of the patronage of Matthew Parker, whose
edition of Jewel's _Apologia_ he printed in quarto form in 1562. In 1563
appeared from his press the _Commonplaces of Scripture_, by Wolfgang
Musculus, a folio, chiefly notable for a very fine pictorial initial
'I,' measuring nearly 3-1/2 inches square, and representing the
Creation, which had obviously formed part of the opening chapter of
Genesis in some early edition of the Bible. It was certainly used again
in the 1577 edition of Holinshed's _Chronicle_.
Almost his last work was Matthew Paris's _Historia Major_, edited by
Matthew Parker, a handsome folio with an engraved title-page, several
good pictorial initials, and his large device of the apple-tree, printed
in 1571. Without doubt the printer was greatly interested in this work.
He had himself collected materials for a chronicle of his adopted
country, which he amused himself with in his spare time. But he did not
live to print it, his death taking place late in the year 1573. His will
was short, and mentioned none of his children by name. His property in
St. Paul's Churchyard, which included the Chapel or Charnel House on the
north side, which he had purchased of King Henry VIII., he left to his
wife, and the witnesses to his will were George Bishop, Raphael
Holinshed, John Hunn, and John Shepparde.[6] His wife, Joan Wolfe, only
survived him a few months, her will, which is also preserved in the
Prerogative Court of Canterbury,[7] being proved on the 20th July 1574.
In it occurs the following passage:
'I will that Raphell Hollingshed shall have and enjoye all such
benefit, proffit, and commoditie as was promised unto him by my
said late husbande Reginald Wolfe, for or concerning the
translating and prynting of a certain crownacle which my said
husband before his decease did prepare and intende to have
prynted.'
She further mentioned in her will a son Robert, a son Henry, and a
daughter Mary, the wife of John Harrison, citizen and stationer, as well
as Luke Harrison, a citizen and stationer, while among the witnesses to
it was Gabriel Cawood, the son of John Cawood, who lived hard by at the
sign of the Holy Ghost, next to 'Powles Gate.'
From a document in the Heralds' College (W. Grafton, vi., A. B. C.,
Lond.), it appears that John Cawood, who began to print about the same
time as Day, came from a Yorkshire family of good standing. He was
apprenticed to John Reynes, a bookseller and bookbinder, who at that
time, about 1542, worked at the George Inn in this locality. Cawood
greatly respected his master, and in aftertimes, when he had become a
prosperous man, placed a window in Stationers' Hall to the memory of
John Reynes. Reynes died in 1543, but there is no mention of Cawood in
his will, perhaps because Cawood was no longer in his service; but in
that of his widow, Lucy Reynes, there was a legacy to John Cawood's
daughter.
Cawood began to print in the year 1546, the first specimen of his press
work being a little octavo, entitled _The Decree for Tythes to be payed
in the Citye of London_.
With few exceptions the printers of this period easily enough conformed
to the religious factions of the day. Thus Cawood prints Protestant
books under Edward VI., Catholic books under Mary, and again Protestant
books under Elizabeth. Upon the accession of Mary he was appointed royal
printer in the place of Grafton, who had dared to print the
proclamation of Lady Jane Grey (Rymer's _Fœdera_, vol. xv., p. 125).
He also received the reversion of Wolfe's patent for printing Latin,
Greek, and Hebrew books, as well as all statute books, acts,
proclamations, and other official documents, with a salary of £6, 13s.
4d. The British Museum possesses a volume (505. g. 14) containing the
statutes of the reign of Queen Mary, printed in small folio by Cawood.
From these it will be seen that he used some very artistic woodcut
borders for his title-pages, notably one with bacchanalian figures in
the lower panel signed 'A. S.' in monogram, evidently the same artist
that cut the woodcut initials seen in these and other books printed by
this printer, and who is believed to have been Anton Sylvius, an Antwerp
engraver. Cawood was one of the first wardens of the Stationers' Company
in 1554, and again served from 1555-7, and continued to take great
interest in its welfare throughout his life. In 1557, Cawood, in company
with John Waley and Richard Tottell, published the Works of Sir Thomas
More in a large and handsome folio. The editor was William Rastell,
Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench, son of John Rastell the printer, and
nephew of the great chancellor.
The book was printed at the Hand and Star in Fleet Street by Tottell,
but the woodcut initials were certainly supplied by Cawood, and perhaps
some of the type. On the accession of Elizabeth, he again received a
patent as royal printer, but jointly with Richard Jugge, whose name is
always found first. Nevertheless, Cawood printed at least two editions
of the Bible in quarto, with his name alone on the title-page. They were
very poor productions, the text being printed in the diminutive
semi-gothic type that had done duty since the days of Caxton, and the
woodcut borders being made up of odds and ends that happened to be
handy. His rapidly increasing business had already compelled him to
lease from the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's a vault under the
churchyard, and two sheds adjoining the church, and in addition to this
he now took a room at Stationers' Hall at a rental of 20s. per year.
In conjunction with Jugge he printed many editions of the _Book of
Common Prayer_ in all sizes. He also reprinted in 1570 Barclay's _Ship
of Fools_ with the original illustrations. Cawood was three times Master
of the Company of Stationers, in 1561, 1562, and 1566. In 1564 he was
appointed by Elizabeth Toye, the widow of Robert Toye, one of the
overseers to her will, and his partner Jugge was one of the witnesses to
the document (P. C. C, 25 Morrison). His death took place in 1572, and
from his epitaph it appeared that he was three times married, and by his
first wife, Joan, had three sons and four daughters. His eldest son,
John, was bachelor of laws and fellow of New College, Oxford, and died
in 1570; Gabriel, the second son, succeeded to his father's business,
and the third son died young. His eldest daughter, Mary, married George
Bishop, one of the deputies to Christopher Barker; a second, Isabel,
married Thomas Woodcock, a stationer; Susannah was the wife of Robert
Bullock, and Barbara married Mark Norton.
Richard Jugge was another of those who owed much to the patronage and
encouragement of Archbishop Parker. He is believed to have been born at
Waterbeach in Cambridgeshire, and was educated, first at Eton, and
afterwards at Cambridge. He set up at the sign of The Bible in 1548, and
used as his device a pelican plucking at her breast to feed her young
who are clamouring around her. In 1550 he obtained a licence to print
the New Testament, and in 1556 books of Common Law. Under Elizabeth in
1560 he was made senior Queen's Printer. When the new edition of the
Bible was about to be issued in 1569, Archbishop Parker wrote to Cecil,
asking that Jugge might be entrusted with the printing, as there were
few men who could do it better. In this way he became the printer of the
first edition of the 'Bishops' Bible,' a second edition coming from his
press the year following. In this work he used several large decorative
initial letters, with the arms of the several patrons of the work, as
well as a finely designed engraved title-page, with a portrait of the
Queen, and other portraits of Burleigh and Leicester. In his edition of
the New Testament were numerous large cuts, evidently of foreign
workmanship, some of them signed with the initials 'E. B.' Richard Jugge
died in 1577.
Another of Day's contemporaries, whose name is remembered by all
students of English literature, was Richard Tottell, who lived at the
Hand and Star in Fleet Street, and printed there the collection of
poetry known as Tottell's Miscellany.
There is reason to believe that Richard Tottell was the third son of
Henry Tottell, a famous citizen of Exeter. The name was spelt in a great
variety of ways, such as Tothill, Tuthill, Tottle, Tathyll, and Tottell.
Richard Tottell at the time of his death held lands in Devon, and some
of the same lands that belonged to the Tothill family of Exeter.
Moreover, his coat of arms was the same as theirs. But before 1552 he
was in London, for in that year he received a patent for the printing of
law books, and was generally known as Richard Tottell of London,
gentleman. He appears to have married Joan, a sister of Richard Grafton,
and in this way became possessed of considerable land in the county of
Bucks. From this we may assume that he had business relations with
Richard Grafton, and it becomes only natural that he should have
printed various editions of Grafton's _Chronicle_, and come into
possession of some of his finest woodcut borders.
[Illustration: FIG. 23.--Richard Tottell's Device.]
It was in June 1557 that he printed his 'Miscellany,' an unpretentious
quarto, with the title: _Songes and Sonnettes, written by the Ryght
Honorable Lorde Henry Hawarde, late Earl of Surrey and other_. Before
the 31st July a second edition became necessary, and several new poems
were added. The third edition appeared in 1559, the fourth in 1565, and
before the end of the sixteenth century, four more editions were called
for. Another of Tottell's works was Gerard Legh's _Accedens of Armory_,
an octavo, printed throughout in italic type, with a curiously engraved
title-page, besides numerous illustrations of coats of arms, and several
full-page illustrations. It was printed in 1562, and again in 1576 and
1591.
The best of Tottell's work as a printer is to be found in the law-books,
for which he was a patentee. In these he used several handsome borders
to title-pages, one of an architectural character with his initials R.
T. at the two lower corners, another, evidently Grafton's, with a view
of the King and Parliament in the top panel, and Grafton's punning
device in the centre of the bottom panel.
In 1573 Richard Tottell tried to establish a paper mill in England. He
wrote to Cecil, pointing out that nearly all paper came from France, and
undertaking to establish a mill in England if the Government would give
him the necessary land and the sole privilege of making paper for thirty
years (Arber, i. 242). But as nothing was ever done in the matter, the
Government evidently did not entertain the proposal. Tottell was Master
of the Company of Stationers in 1579 and 1584. During the latter part of
his life he withdrew from business, and lived at Wiston, in
Pembrokeshire, where he died in 1593. He left several children, of whom
the eldest, William Tottell, succeeded to his estates.
In the precincts of the Blackfriars, Thomas Vautrollier, a foreigner,
was at work as a printer in 1566, having been admitted a 'brother' of
the Company of Stationers on the 2nd October 1564. He soon afterwards
received a patent for the printing of certain Latin books, and
Christopher Barker, in a report to Lord Burghley in 1582, says:--
'He has the printing of Tullie, Ovid, and diverse other great
workes in Latin. He doth yet, neither great good nor great harme
withall.... He hath other small thinges wherewith he keepeth his
presses on work, and also worketh for bookesellers of the Companye,
who kepe no presses.'
In 1580, on the invitation of the General Assembly, Vautrollier visited
Scotland, taking with him a stock of books, but no press, and in 1584 he
again went north, and set up a press at Edinburgh, still keeping on his
business in London. The venture does not seem to have turned out a
success, for Vautrollier returned to London in 1586, taking with him a
MS. of John Knox's _History of the Reformation_, but the work was seized
while it was in the press (_Works of John Knox_, vol. i. p. 32).
As a printer Vautrollier ranks far above most of the men around him,
both for the beauty of his types and the excellence of his presswork.
The bulk of his books were printed in Roman and Italic, of which he had
several well-cut founts. He had also some good initials, ornaments, and
borders. In the folio edition of Plutarch's _Lives_, which he printed in
1579, each life is preceded by a medallion portrait, enclosed in a frame
of geometrical pattern; some of these, notably the first, and also those
shown on a white background, are very effective. His device was an
anchor held by a hand issuing from clouds, with two sprigs of laurel,
and the motto 'Anchora Spei,' the whole enclosed in an oval frame.
Vautrollier was succeeded in business by his son-in-law, Richard Field,
another case of the apprentice marrying his master's daughter. Field was
a native of Stratford-on-Avon, and therefore a fellow-townsman of
Shakespeare's, whose first poem, _Venus and Adonis_, he printed for
Harrison in 1593. But we have no knowledge of any intercourse between
them.
Field succeeded to the stock of his predecessor, and his work is free
from the haste and slovenly appearance so general at that time. Another
work from his press was Puttenham's _Arte of English Poesy_, 1589, 4to.
The first edition, of which there is a copy in the British Museum, had
no author's name, but was dedicated by the printer to Lord Burghley. In
the second book, four pages were suppressed. They are inserted in the
copy under notice, but are not paged. This edition also contained as a
frontispiece a portrait of the Queen. Another notable work of Field's
was Sir John Harington's translation of _Orlando Furioso_ (1591, fol.).
This book had an elaborate frontispiece, with a portrait of the
translator, and thirty-six engraved illustrations, that make up in
vigour of treatment, and breadth of imagination, for shortcomings in the
matter of draughtsmanship. The text was printed in double columns, and
each verse of the Argument was enclosed in a border of printers'
ornaments. A second edition, alike in almost every respect, passed
through the same press in 1607. In 1594 Field printed a second edition
of _Venus and Adonis_, and the first edition of _Lucrece_. His later
work included David Hume's _Daphne-Amaryllis_, 1605, 4to; Chapman's
translation of the _Odyssey_ (1614, folio); and an edition of _Virgil_
in quarto in 1620.
Foremost among the later men of this century stands Christopher Barker,
the Queen's printer, who was born about 1529, and is said to have been
grand-nephew to Sir Christopher Barker, Garter King-at-Arms. Originally
a member of the Drapers' Company, he began to publish books in 1569
(Arber, i. p. 398), and to print in 1576, and purchased from Sir Thomas
Wilkes his patent to print the Old and New Testament in English. Barker
issued in 1578 a circular offering his large Bible to the London
Companies at the rate of 24s. each bound, and 20s. unbound, the clerks
of the various Companies to receive 4d. apiece for every Bible sold, and
the hall of each Company that took £40 worth to receive a presentation
copy (Lemon's _Catal. of Broadsides_).
[Illustration: FIG. 24.--Christopher Barker's Device.]
In 1582 Barker sent to Lord Burghley an account of the various printing
monopolies granted since the beginning of the reign, and expresses
himself freely on them. He also attempted to suppress the printers in
Cambridge University. In and after 1588 he carried on his business by
deputies, George Bishop and Ralph Newbery, and in the following year, on
the disgrace of Sir Thomas Wilkes, he obtained an exclusive patent for
himself and his son to print all official documents, as well as Bibles
and Testaments. At one time Barker had no fewer than five presses, and
between 1575 and 1585 he printed as many as thirty-eight editions of the
Scriptures, an almost equal number being printed by his deputies before
1600. Christopher Barker died in 1599, and was succeeded in his post of
royal printer by Robert Barker, his eldest son.
On the 23rd June 1586 was issued _The Newe Decrees of the Starre Chamber
for orders in Printing_, which is reprinted in full in the second volume
of Arber's _Transcripts_, pp. 807-812. It was the most important
enactment concerning printing of Queen Elizabeth's reign, and formed the
model upon which all subsequent 'whips and scorpions' for the printers
were manufactured. Its chief clauses were these: It restricted all
printing to London and the two Universities. The number of presses then
in London was to be reduced to such proportions as the Archbishop of
Canterbury and the Bishop of London should think sufficient. No books
were to be printed without being licensed, and the wardens were given
the right to search all premises on suspicion. The penalties were
imprisonment and defacement of stock.
[Footnote 6: P. C. C., 1 Martyn.]
[Footnote 7: P. C. C., 32 Martyn.]
CHAPTER VI
PROVINCIAL PRESSES OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY[8]
In the first half of the sixteenth century, before the incorporation of
the Stationers' Company and the subsequent restriction of printing to
London and the Universities, there were ten places in England where the
art was carried on. Taking them chronologically, the earliest was the
city of York. Mr. Davies, in his _Memoirs of the York Press_, claims
that Frederick Freez, a book-printer, was at work there in 1497; but Mr.
Allnutt has clearly shown that there is no evidence in support of this,
no specimen of his printing being in existence. The first printer in the
city of York who can be traced with certainty was Hugo Goez, said to
have been the son of Matthias van der Goez, an Antwerp printer. Two
school-books, a _Donatus Minor_ and an _Accidence_, as well as the
_Directorium Sacerdotum_, dated in the colophon February 18th, 1509,
were printed by him, and it is believed that he was for a time in
partnership in London with a bookseller named Henry Watson (E. G. Duff,
_Early Printed Books_). Ames, in his _Typographical Antiquities_,
mentions a broadside 'containing a wooden cut of a man on horseback with
a spear in his right hand, and a shield of the arms of France in his
left. "Emprynted at Beverley in the Hyegate by me Hewe Goes," with his
mark, or rebus, of a great H and a goose.' But this cannot now be
traced.
Another printer in York, of whom it is possible to speak with certainty,
was Ursyn Milner, who printed a _Festum visitationis Beate Marie
Virginis_, without date, and a Latin syntax by Robert Whitinton,
entitled _Editio de concinnitate grammatices et constructione noviter
impressa_, with the date December 20th, 1516, and a woodcut that had
belonged to Wynkyn de Worde.
The second Oxford press began about 1517. In that year there appeared,
_Tractatus expositorius super libros posteriorum Aristotelis_, by Walter
Burley, bearing the date December 4th, 1517, without printer's name, but
ascribed from the appearance of the types to the press of John Scolar,
whose name is found in some of the similar tracts that appeared the
following year. These included _Questiones moralissime super libros
ethicorum_, by John Dedicus, dated May 15, 1518. On June 5th was issued
_Compendium questionum de luce et lumine_, on June 7th Walter Burley's
_Tractatus perbrevis de materia et forma_, on June 27th Whitinton's _De
Heteroclitis nominibus_. The latest book, dated 5th February 1519,
_Compotus manualis ad usum Oxoniensium_, bore the name of Charles
Kyrfoth, but nothing further is known of any such printer.
No more is heard of a press at Oxford until nearly the close of the
sixteenth century, a gap of nearly seventy years, and a strange and
unaccountable interval. At any rate, the next Oxford printed book, so
far as is at present known, was John Case's _Speculum Moralium
quaestionum in universam ethicen Aristotelis_, with the colophon,
'Oxoniæ ex officina typographica Josephi Barnesii Celeberrimae Academiae
Oxoniensis Typographi. Anno 1585.'
Joseph Barnes, the printer, had been admitted a bookseller in 1573, and
on August 15th, 1584, the University lent him £100 with which to start a
press. During the time that he remained printer to the University, his
press was actively employed, no less than three hundred books, many of
them in Greek and Latin, being traced to it. In 1595 appeared the first
Welsh book printed at the University, a translation into Welsh by Hugh
Lewis of O. Wermueller's _Spiritual and Most Precious Pearl_, and in
1596 two founts of Hebrew letter were used by Barnes, but the stock of
this letter was small.
In 1528, John Scolar, no doubt the same with the Oxford printer, is
found at Abingdon, where he printed a _Breviary_ for the use of the
abbey there; only one copy has survived, and is now at Emmanuel College,
Cambridge.
[Illustration: FIG. 25.--Device of Joseph Barnes.]
The first Cambridge printer was John Siberch, whose history, like that
of so many other early printers, is totally unknown. Nine specimens of
his printing during the years 1521-22 are extant. The first is the
_Oratio_ of Henry Bullock, a tract of eight quarto leaves, with a
dedication dated February 13, 1521, and the date of the imprint February
1521, so that it probably appeared between the 13th and 28th of that
month. The type used was a new fount of Roman. The book had no
ornamentation of any kind, neither device nor initial letters. A
facsimile of this book, with an introduction and bibliographical study
of Siberch's productions, was issued by the late Henry Bradshaw in 1886.
The title-page of the second book, _Cuiusdam fidelis Christiani epistola
ad Christianos omnes_, by Augustine, shows the title between two upright
woodcuts, each containing scenes from the Last Judgment. The third book,
an edition of Lucian, has a very ugly architectural border. The fifth
book from Siberch's press, the _Libellus de Conscribendis epistolis,
autore D. Erasmo_, printed between the 22nd and 31st of October 1521,
contains the privilege which, it is believed, he obtained from Bishop
Fisher.
In the far west of England a press was established in the monastery of
Tavistock, in Devon, of which two curious examples are preserved. The
first is _The Boke of Comfort, called in laten Boetius de Consolatione
philosophie. Translated into English tonge ... Enprented in the exempt
monastery of Tauestock in Den̅shyre, By me Dan Thomas Rycharde, monke
of the sayde monastery, To the instant desyre of the ryght worshypful
esquyer Mayster Robert Langdon. Anno d.' M.Dxxv._, 4to. The Bodleian
Library at Oxford has two imperfect copies of this book, and a third,
also imperfect, is in the library of Exeter College, Oxford. The latter
college is also fortunate in possessing the only known copy of the
second book, which has this title:--
_Here foloweth the confirmation of the Charter perteynynge to all the
tynners wythyn the Coūty of devonshyre, with there Statutes also made
at Crockeryntorre_.
_Imprented at Tavystoke ye xx day of August the yere of the reygne off
our souerayne Lord Kyng Henry ye viii the xxvi yere_, i.e. 1534.
To this same year, 1534, belongs the first dated book of John Herford,
the St. Albans printer. It seems probable that he was established there
some years earlier, but this is the first certain date we have. In that
year appeared a small quarto, with the title, _Here begynnethe ye
glorious lyfe and passion of Seint Albon prothomartyr of Englande, and
also the lyfe and passion of Saint Amphabel, whiche conuerted saint
Albon to the fayth of Christe_, of which John Lydgate was the author. It
was printed at the request of Robert Catton, abbot of the monastery, and
it would seem as if Herford's press was situated within the abbey
precincts. The next book, _The confutacyon of the first parte of Frythes
boke ... put forth by John Gwynneth clerk_, 1536, 8vo, was the work of
one of the monks of the abbey, who in the previous year had signed a
petition to Sir Francis Brian on the state of the monastery (_Letters
and Papers, Henry VIII._, vol. ix. p. 394). Another of the signatories
to that petition was Richard Stevenage, who was at that time chamberer
of the abbey, and was created abbot on the deprivation of Robert Catton
in 1538. Of the three books which Herford printed in that year, two were
expressly printed for Richard Stevenage. These were _A Godly disputation
betweene Justus and Peccator and Senex and Juvenis_, and _An Epistle
agaynste the enemies of poore people_, both octavos, of which no copies
are now known. In some of Herford's books is a curious device with the
letters R. S. intertwined on it, which undoubtedly stand for Richard
Stevenage. His reign as abbot was a short one, for on 5th December 1539
he delivered the abbey over to Henry VIII's commissioners. Just before
that event, on the 12th October, he wrote a letter to Cromwell in which
the following passage occurs:--
'Sent John Pryntare to London with Harry Pepwell, Bonere and Tabbe,
of Powlles churchyard stationers, to order him at your pleasure.
Never heard of the little book of detestable heresies till the
stationers showed it me.'--(_Letters and Papers, Hen. VIII._, Vol.
xiv., Pt. 2, No. 315.)
The 'John Pryntare' can be none other than John Herford. 'Bonere' was a
misreading for _Bonham_, and these three, Pepwell, Tab, and Bonham, all
of them printers or booksellers in St. Paul's Churchyard, were evidently
sent down especially to inquire into the matter.
We next hear of John Herford as in London in 1542, but meanwhile a
modification of Stevenage's device was used by a London printer named
Bourman. From the _Letters and Papers of Henry VIII._, vol. xv. pp. 115,
etc., it appears that after his retirement from the abbey, Richard
Stevenage went by the name of Boreman. He is invariably spoken of as
'Stevenage _alias_ Boreman,' so that the Nicholas Bourman, the London
printer, was perhaps a relative.
The Rev. S. Sayers in his _Memoirs of Bristol_, 1823, vol. ii. p. 228,
states, on the authority of documents in the city archives, that a press
was at work in the castle in the year 1546. Of this press, if it ever
existed, not so much as a leaf remains.
In 1547 Anthony Scoloker was established as a printer at Ipswich. In
that year he printed _The just reckenyng or accompt of the whole nomber
of yeares, from the beginnynge of the world, vnto this present yeare of
1547. Translated out of Germaine tonge by Anthony Scoloker the 6 daye of
July 1547_. He was chiefly concerned with the movements of the
Reformation, and his publications were mostly small octavos, the
writings of Luther, Zwingli, and Ochino, printed in type of a German
character and of no great merit. In 1548 he moved to London, where for a
time he was in partnership with William Seres. The adjoining cut, the
earliest English representation of a printing press, is taken from the
_Ordinarye of Christians_, printed by Scoloker after he had settled in
London.
[Illustration: FIG. 26.--From the _Ordinarye of Christians_, c. 1550.]
A second printer in Ipswich is believed to have been John Overton, who
in 1548 printed there two sheets of Bale's _Illustrium maioris Britanniæ
scriptorum summarium_, the remainder of which was printed at Wesel.
Nothing else of his appears to be known.
The third printer at Ipswich was John Oswen, who was also established
there in 1548. Nine books can be traced to his press there. The first
was _The Mynde of the Godly and excellent lerned man M. Jhon Caluyne
what a Faithful man, whiche is instructe in the Worde of God ought to
do, dwellinge amongest the Papistes. Imprinted at Ippyswiche by me John
Oswen_. 8vo. This was followed by Calvin's _Brief declaration of the
fained sacrament commonly called the extreame unction_. The remainder of
his books were of a theological character. He left Ipswich about
Christmas 1548, and is next found at Worcester, where, on the 30th
January 1549, he printed _A Consultarie for all Christians most godly
and ernestly warnying al people to beware least they beare the name of
Christians in vayne. Now first imprinted the xxx day of Januarie Anno M.
D. xlix. At Worceter by John Oswen. Cum priuilegio Regali ad imprimendum
solum. Per septennium_. The privilege, which was dated January 6th,
1548-9, authorised Oswen to print all sorts of service or prayer-books
and other works relating to the scriptures 'within our Principalitie of
Wales and Marches of the same.'[9]
Oswen followed this by another edition of the _Domestycal or Household
Sermons_ of Christopher Hegendorff, which was printed on the last day
of February 1549.
Then came his first important undertaking, a quarto edition of _The boke
of common praier_. Imprinted the xxiv day of May Anno MDXLIX. The folio
edition appeared in July of the same year. Two months later he printed
an edition of the _Psalter or Psalmes of David_, 4to. On January 12,
1550, appeared a quarto edition of the _New Testament_, of which there
is a copy in Balliol College Library, and this was followed in the same
year by Zwingli's _Short Pathwaye_, translated by John Veron; by a
translation by Edward Aglionby of Mathew Gribalde's _Notable and
marveilous epistle_, and the _Godly sayings of the old auncient
fathers_, compiled by John Veron. Two or three books of the same kind
were issued in 1551, and in 1552 he issued another edition of the Book
of Common Prayer. The last we hear of him is in 1553, when he printed an
edition of the Statutes of 6th Edward VI., and _An Homelye to read in
the tyme of pestylence_. What became of Oswen is not known. He very
likely went abroad on the accession of Queen Mary.
In Kent there was a press at Canterbury, from which eleven books are
known to have been printed between 1549 and 1556.
John Mychell, the printer of these, began work in London at the Long
Shop in the Poultry, some time between the departure of Richard Banckes
in 1539 and the tenancy of Richard Kele in 1542. In 1549 he appears to
have moved to Canterbury, where he printed a quarto edition of the
Psalms, with the colophon, 'Printed at Canterbury in Saynt Paules
paryshe by John Mychell.' In 1552 he issued _A Breuiat Cronicle
contayninge all the Kynges from Brute to this daye_, and in 1556, the
_Articles of Cardinal Pole's Visitation_. He also issued several minor
theological tracts without dates.
The Norwich press began about 1566, when Anthony de Solemne, or
Solempne, set up a press among the refugees who had fled from the
Netherlands and taken refuge in that city. Most of his books were
printed in Dutch, and all of them are excessively rare. The earliest
was:--
_Der Siecken Troost, Onderwijsinghe on gewillichlick te steruen.
Troostinghe | on den siecken totte rechten gheloue ende betrouwen in
Christo te onderwijsen. Ghemeyn bekenisse der sonden | met | scoon
gebeden. Ghedruct in Jaer ons Heeren. Anno 1566_. The only known copy of
the book is in Trinity College Library, Dublin.
The Psalms of David in Dutch appeared in 1568, and the New Testament in
the same year.
He was also the printer of certain Tables concerning God's word, by
Antonius Corranus, pastor of the Spanish Protestant congregation at
Antwerp. It was printed in four languages, Latin, French, Dutch, and
English.
The only known specimen of Solempne's printing in the English language
is a broadside now in the Bodleian:--
_Certayne versis | written by Thomas Brooke Gētleman | in the tyme of
his imprysōment | the daye before his deathe | who sufferyd at
Norwich the 30 of August 1570. Imprynted at Norwiche in the Paryshe of
Saynct Andrewe | by Anthony de Solempne 1570._
In this year Solempne also printed _Eenen Calendier Historiael |
eewelick gheduerende_, 8vo, a tract of eight leaves printed in black and
red, of which there are copies in the library of Trinity College,
Dublin, and the Bodleian.
There is then a gap of eight years in his work, the next book found
being a sermon, printed in 1578, _Het tweede boeck vande sermoenen des
wel vermaerden Predicant B. Cornelis Adriaensen van Dordrecht
minrebroeder tot Brugges_. Of this there are two copies known, one in
the library of Trinity College, Dublin.
The last book traced to Solempne's press is _Chronyc. Historie der
Nederlandtscher Oorlogen. Gedruct tot Norrtwitz na de copie van Basel,
Anno 1579_, 8vo, of which there remain copies in the Bodleian,
University Library, Cambridge, and in the private collection of Lord
Amherst.
In 1583, after an interval similar to that at Oxford, another press was
started at Cambridge, when, on May 3rd of that year, Thomas Thomas was
appointed University printer. His career was marked by many
difficulties. The Company of Stationers at once seized his press as an
infringement of their privileges, and this in the face of the fact that
for many years the University had possessed the royal licence, though
hitherto it had not been used. The Bishop of London, writing to
Burghley, declared on hearsay evidence that Thomas was a man 'vtterlie
ignoraunte in printinge.' The University protested, and as it was
clearly shown that they held the royal privilege, the Company were
obliged to submit, but they did the Cambridge printer all the injury
they could by freely printing books that were his sole copyright
(Arber's _Transcripts_, vol. ii. pp. 782, 813, 819-20). He printed for
the use of scholars small editions of classical works. In 1585 he issued
in octavo the Latin Grammar of Peter Ramus, and in 1587 the Latin
Grammar of James Carmichael in quarto (Hazlitt, _Collections and Notes_,
3rd series, p. 17). He was also the compiler of a Dictionary, first
printed about 1588, of which five editions were called for before the
end of the century.
Thomas died in August 1588, and the University, on the 2nd November,
appointed John Legate his successor, as 'he is reported to be skilful
in the art of printing books.' On the 26th April 1589 he received as an
apprentice Cantrell Legge, who afterwards succeeded him. From 1590 to
1609 he appears in the parish books of St. Mary the Great, Cambridge, as
paying 5s. a year for the rent of a shop. He had the exclusive right of
printing Thomas's Dictionary, and he printed most of the books of
William Perkins. He subsequently left Cambridge and settled in London.
[Illustration: FIG. 27.--Device used by John Legate.]
The books printed by these two Cambridge printers show that they had a
good variety of Roman and Italic, very regularly cast, besides some neat
ornaments and initials. Whether these founts belonged to the
University, or to Thomas in the first place, is not clear. Nor do these
books bear out the Bishop of London's statement as to Thomas being
ignorant of printing; on the contrary, the presswork was such as could
only have been done by a skilled workman.
In addition to the foregoing, there were several secret presses at work
in various parts of the country during the second half of the century.
The Cartwright controversy, which began in 1572 with the publication of
a tract entitled _An Admonition to the Parliament_, was carried out by
means of a secret press at which John Stroud is believed to have worked,
and had as assistants two men named Lacy and Asplyn. The Stationers'
Company employed Toy and Day to hunt it out, with the result that it was
seized at Hempstead, probably Hemel Hempstead, Herts, or Hempstead near
Saffron Walden, Essex. The type was handed over to Bynneman, who used it
in printing an answer to Cartwright's book. It was in consequence of his
action in this matter that John Day was in danger of being killed by
Asplyn.
A few years later books by Jesuit authors were printed from a secret
press which, from some notes written by F. Parsons in 1598, and now
preserved in the library of Stonyhurst College, we know began work at
Greenstreet House, East Ham, but was afterwards removed to Stonor Park.
The overseer of this press was Stephen Brinckley, who had several men
under him, and the most noted book issued from it was Campion's
_Rationes Decem_, with the colophon, 'Cosmopoli 1581.'
Finally, there was the Marprelate press, of which Robert Waldegrave was
the chief printer. He was the son of a Worcestershire yeoman, and put
himself apprentice to William Griffith, from the 24th June 1568, for
eight years. He was therefore out of his time in 1576, and in 1578 there
is entered to him a book entitled _A Castell for the Soul_. His
subsequent publications were of the same character, including, in 1581,
_The Confession and Declaration of John Knox_, _The Confession of the
Protestants of Scotland_, and a sermon of Luther's. It was not, however,
until the 7th April 1588 that he got into trouble. In that year he
printed a tract of John Udall's, entitled _The State of the Church of
England_. His press was seized and his type defaced, but he succeeded in
carrying off some of it to the house of a Mrs. Crane at East Molesey,
where he printed another of Udall's tracts, and the first of the
Marprelate series: _O read over D. John Bridges for it is a worthye
work. Printed oversea in Europe within two furlongs of a Bounsing
Priest, at the cost and charges of M. Marprelate, gentleman_.
From East Molesey the press was afterwards removed to Fawsley, near
Daventry, and from thence to Coventry. But the hue and cry after the
hidden press was so keen that another shift was made to Wolston Priory,
the seat of Sir R. Knightley, and finally Waldegrave fled over sea,
taking with him his black-letter type. He went first to Rochelle, and
thence to Edinburgh, where in 1590 he was appointed King's printer.
The Marprelate press was afterwards carried on by Samuel Hoskins or
Hodgkys, who had as his workmen Valentine Symmes and Arthur Thomlyn. The
last of the Marprelate tracts, _The Protestacyon of Martin Marprelate_,
was printed at Haseley, near Warwick, about September 1589.
[Footnote 8: For the materials of this chapter free use has been made of
Mr. Allnutt's series of papers contributed to the second volume of
_Bibliographica_, to whom my thanks are due.]
[Footnote 9: Forty-second Report of the Worcester Diocesan Arch, and
Archæological Society. Paper by Rev. J. R. Burton on 'Early
Worcestershire Printers and Books.']
PRINTING IN SCOTLAND AND IRELAND DURING THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY[10]
On the 15th September 1507, King James IV. of Scotland granted to his
faithful subjects, Walter Chepman and Androw Myllar, burgesses of
Edinburgh, leave to import a printing-press and letter, and gave them
licence to print law books, breviaries, and so forth, more particularly
the Breviary of William, Bishop of Aberdeen. Walter Chepman was a
general merchant, and probably his chief part in the undertaking at the
outset was of a financial character. Andrew Myllar had for some years
carried on the business of a bookseller in Edinburgh, and books were
printed for him in Rouen by Pierre Violette. There is, moreover,
evidence that Myllar himself learnt the art of printing in that city.
The printing-house of the firm in Edinburgh was in the Southgait (now
the Cowgate), and they lost no time in setting to work, devoting
themselves chiefly to printing some of the popular metrical tales of
England and Scotland. A volume containing eleven such pieces, most of
them printed in 1508, is preserved in the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh.
Among the pieces found in it are--_Sir Eglamoure of Artoys_, _Maying or
desport of Chaucer_, _Buke of Gude Counsale to the Kyng_, _Flytting of
Dunbar & Kennedy_, and _Twa Marrit Wemen and the wedo_.
Three founts of black letter, somewhat resembling in size and shape
those of Wynkyn de Worde, were used in printing these books, and the
devices of both men are found in them. That of Chepman was a copy of the
device of the Paris printer, Pigouchet, while Myllar adopted the punning
device of a windmill with a miller bearing sacks into the mill, with a
small shield charged with three fleur-de-lys in each of the upper
corners.
[Illustration: FIG. 28.--Device of Andrew Miller.]
After printing the above-mentioned works, Myllar disappears, and the
famous _Breviarium Aberdonense_, the work for which the King had mainly
granted the license, was finished in 1509-10 by Chepman alone. It is an
unpretentious little octavo, printed in double columns, in red and
black, as became a breviary, but with no special marks of typographical
beauty. Four copies of it are known to exist, but none of these are
perfect. Chepman then disappears as mysteriously as his partner. In the
Glamis copy of the _Bremarium_, Dr. David Laing discovered a single
sheet of eight leaves of a book with the imprint: _Impressū Edinburgi
per Johane Story nomine & mandato Karoli Stule_. Nothing more, however,
is known of this John Story.
In 1541-2 another printer, Thomas Davidson, is found printing _The New
Actis and Constitutionis of Parliament maid Be the Rycht Excellent
Prince James the Fift King of Scottis_, 1540. Davidson's press, which
was situated 'above the nether bow, on the north syde of the gait,' was
also very short-lived, and very few examples of it are now in existence;
one of these, a quarto of four leaves, with the title _Ad Serenissimum
Scotorum Regem Jacobum Quintum de suscepto Regni Regimine a diis
feliciter ominato Strena_, is the earliest instance of the use of Roman
type in Scotland. His most important undertaking, besides the Acts of
Parliament, was a Scottish history, printed about 1542.
The next printer we hear of is John Scot or Skot. There was a printer of
this name in London between 1521 and 1537, but whether he is to be
identified with this slightly later Scottish printer is not known.
Between 1552 and 1571 Scot printed a great many books, most of them of a
theological character. Among them was Ninian Winziet's _Certane
tractatis for Reformatioune of Doctryne and Maneris_, a quarto, printed
on the 21st May 1562, and the same author's _Last Blast of the Trumpet_.
For these he was arrested and thrown into prison, and his printing
materials were handed over to Thomas Bassandyne. In 1568 he was at
liberty again and printed for Henry Charteris, _The Warkes of the famous
& vorthie Knicht Schir David Lyndesay_; while among his numerous undated
books is found Lyndsay's _Ane Dialog betwix Experience and Ane
Courtier_, of which he printed two editions, the second containing
several other poems by the same author.
Scot was succeeded by Robert Lekpreuik, who began to print, in 1561, his
first dated book, a small black-letter octavo of twenty-four pages,
called _The Confessione of the fayght and doctrin beleued and professed
by the Protestantes of the Realme of Scotland. Imprinted at Edinburgh be
Robert Lekpreuik, Cum privilegio_, 1561.
In the following year the Kirk lent him £200 with which to print the
Psalms. The copy now in the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh, bound with
the _Book of Common Order_ printed by Lekpreuik in the same year,
probably belongs to this edition.
Two years later, in 1564-5, he obtained a license under the Privy Seal
to print the Acts of Parliament of Queen Mary and the Psalms of David in
Scottish metre. Of this edition of the Psalms there is a perfect copy in
the library of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Again, in 1567, Lekpreuik
obtained the royal license as king's printer for twenty years, during
which time he was to have the monopoly of printing _Donatus pro pueris_,
_Rudimentis of Pelisso_, _Acts of Parliament_, _Chronicles of the
Realm_, the book called _Regia Majestas_, the _Psalms_, the _Homelies_,
and _Rudimenta Artis Grammaticae_.
Among his other work of that year may be noticed a ballad entitled _The
testament and tragedie of vmquhile King Henry Stewart of gude memory_, a
broadside of sixteen twelve-line stanzas, from the pen of Robert Sempil.
A copy of this is in the British Museum (Cott. Caligula, C. i. fol. 17).
In 1568 there was danger of plague in Edinburgh, and Lekpreuik printed a
small octavo of twenty-four leaves, in Roman type, with the title, _Ane
breve description of the Pest, Quhair in the Cavsis signes and sum
speciall preservatiovn and cvre thairof ar contenit. Set furth be
Maister Gilbert Skeyne, Doctoure in Medicine_.
In 1570 he printed for Henry Charteris a quarto edition of the _Actis
and Deides of Sir William Wallace_, and in 1571 _The Actis and Lyfe of
Robert Bruce_. This was printed early in the year, as on the 14th April
Secretary Maitland made a raid upon Lekpreuik's premises, under the
belief that he was the printer of Buchanan's _Chameleon_. The printer,
however, had received timely warning and retired to Stirling, where,
before the 6th of August, he printed Buchanan's _Admonition_, and also a
letter from John Knox 'To his loving Brethren.' His sojourn there was
very short, as on the 4th September Stirling was attacked and Lekpreuik
thereupon withdrew to St. Andrews, where his press was active throughout
the year 1572 and part of 1573. In the month of April 1573 Lekpreuik
returned to Edinburgh and printed Sir William Drury's _Regulations_ for
the army under his command. But in January 1573-74 he was thrown into
prison and his press and property confiscated. How long he remained a
prisoner is not clear, but in all probability until after the execution
of the Regent Morton in 1581. In that year he printed the following
books--Patrick Adamson's _Catechismus Latino Carmine Redditus et in
libros quatuor digestus_, a small octavo of forty leaves, printed in
Roman type; Fowler's _Answer to John Hamilton_, a quarto of twenty-eight
leaves; and a _Declaration_ without place or printer's name, but
attributed to his press: after this nothing more is heard of him.
Contemporary with Lekpreuik was Thomas Bassandyne, who is believed to
have worked both in Paris and Leyden before setting up as a printer in
Edinburgh.
His first appearance, in 1568, was not a very creditable one. An order
of the General Assembly, on the 1st July of that year, directs
Bassandyne to call in a book entitled _The Fall of the Roman Kirk_, in
which the king was called 'supreme head of the Primitive Church,' and
also orders him to delete an obscene song called _Welcome Fortune_ which
he had printed at the end of a psalm-book. The Assembly appointed Mr.
Alexander Arbuthnot to revise these things.
In 1574 Bassandyne printed a quarto edition of Sir David Lindsay's
_Works_, of which he had 510 copies in stock at the time of his death.
[Illustration: FIG. 29.--Device of Alexander Arbuthnot.]
On the 7th March 1574-75, in partnership with Alexander Arbuthnot (who
was not the same as the Alexander Arbuthnot who had been appointed to
exercise a supervision of Bassandyne's books in 1568), Bassandyne laid
proposals before the General Assembly for printing an edition of the
Bible, the first ever printed in Scotland. The General Assembly gave him
hearty support, and required every parish to provide itself with one of
the new Bibles as soon as they were printed. On the other hand, the
printers were to deliver a certain number of copies before the last of
March 1576, and the cost of it was to be £5. The terms of this agreement
were not carried out by the printers. The New Testament only was
completed and issued in 1576, with the name of Thomas Bassandyne as the
printer. The whole Bible was not finished until the close of the year
1579, and Bassandyne did not live to see its completion, his death
taking place on the 18th October 1577.
Like most of his predecessors, Bassandyne was a bookseller; and on pp.
292-304 of their work _Annals of Scottish Printing_, Messrs. Dickson and
Edmond have printed the Inventory of the goods he possessed, including
the whole of his stock of books, which is of the greatest interest and
value. Unfortunately such inventories are not to be met with in the case
of English printers.
Bassandyne used as his device a modification of the serpent and anchor
mark of John Crespin of Geneva.
Arbuthnot was now left to carry on the business alone, and was made
King's printer in 1579. But he was a slow, slovenly, and ignorant
workman, and the General Assembly were so disgusted with the delivery of
the Bible and the wretched appearance of his work, that, on the 13th
February 1579-80, they decided to accept the offer of Thomas
Vautrollier, a London printer, to establish a press in Edinburgh.
Arbuthnot died on September 1st, 1585. His device was a copy of that of
Richard Jugge of London, and is believed to have been the work of a
Flemish artist, Assuerus vol Londersel.
Another printer in Edinburgh between 1574-80 was John Ross. He worked
chiefly for Henry Charteris, for whom he printed the _Catechisme_ in
1574, and a metrical version of the Psalms in 1578. For the same
bookseller he also printed a poem, _The seuin Seages, Translatit out of
prois in Scottis meter be Johne Rolland in Dalkeith_, a quarto, now so
rare that only one copy is now known, that in the Britwell Library.
In 1579 Ross printed _Ad virulentum Archbaldi Hamiltonii Apostatæ
dialogum, de confusione Calvinianæ Sectæ apud Scotos, impie conscriptum,
orthodoxa responsio, Thoma Smetonio Scoto anctore_, a quarto, printed in
Roman letter, and followed it up with two editions of Buchanan's _De
Jure Regni apud Scotos dialogus_.
Ross used a device showing Truth with an open book in her right hand, a
lighted candle in her left, surrounded with the motto 'Vincet tandem
veritas.' This device was afterwards used by both Charteris and
Waldegrave. Ross died in 1580, when his stock passed into the hands of
Henry Charteris, who began printing in the following year. As we have
seen, he employed Scot, Lekpreuik, and Ross to print for him. Up to 1581
he confined himself to bookselling. His printing was confined to various
editions of Sir David Lindsay's _Works_ and theological tracts. He used
two devices, that of Ross, and another emblematical of Justice and
Religion, with his initials. He died on the 9th August 1599.
In 1580, at the express invitation of the General Assembly, Thomas
Vautrollier visited Edinburgh, and set up as a bookseller, no doubt with
the view of seeing what scope there was likely to be for a printer with
a good stock of type. The Treasurer's accounts for this period show that
he received royal patronage.
On his second visit, a year or two later, he went armed with a letter to
George Buchanan from Daniel Rodgers, and set up a press in Edinburgh.
But in spite of the support of the Assembly and the patronage that an
introduction to Buchanan must have brought him, he evidently soon found
there was not enough business in Edinburgh to support a printer, for he
remained there little more than a year, when he again returned to
London. During his short career as a printer in Edinburgh he printed at
least eight books, of which the most important were Henry Balnave's
_Confession of Faith_, 1584, 8vo, and King James's _Essayes of a
Prentice in the Divine Art of Poesie_, 4to.
Scotland's next important printer was Robert Waldegrave, who, after his
adventures as a secret printer in England, set up a press in Edinburgh
in 1590, and continued printing there till the close of the century.
One of his first works was a quarto in Roman type entitled _The
Confession of Faith, Subscribed by the Kingis Maiestie and his
householde: Togither with the Copie of the Bande, maid touching the
maintenaunce of the true Religion_. Among his other work, which was
chiefly theological, may be mentioned King James's _Demonologie_, 1597,
4to, and the first edition of the _Basilikon Doron_, in quarto, of which
it is said only seven copies were printed.
Contemporary with him was a Robert Smyth, who married the widow of
Thomas Bassandyne, and who in 1599 received license to print the
following books:--'The double and single catechism, the plane Donet, the
haill four pairtes of grammar according to Sebastian, the Dialauges of
Corderius, the celect and familiar Epistles of Cicero, the buik callit
Sevin Seages, the Ballat buik, the Secund rudimentis of Dunbar, the
Psalmes of Buchanan and Psalme buik.'
The only known copy of Smyth's edition of Holland's _Seven Sages_ is
that in the British Museum.
The last of the Scottish printers of the sixteenth century was Robert
Charteris, the son and successor of Henry Charteris, but he did not
succeed to the business until 1599, and his work lies chiefly in the
succeeding century.
It may safely be said that the earliest press in Ireland of which there
is any authentic notice was that of Humphrey Powell, of which there is
the following note in the _Act Books of the Privy Council_ (New Series,
vol. iii. p. 84), under date 18th July 1550:--
'A warrant to ----, to deliver xxli unto Powell the printer,
given him by the Kinges Majestie towarde his setting up in
Ireland.'
Nothing is known of Humphrey Powell's work in England beyond several
small theological works issued between 1548 and 1549 from a shop in
Holborn above the Conduit.
On his arrival in Ireland he set up his press in Dublin, and printed
there the Prayer Book of Edward VI. with the colophon:--
'Imprinted by Humphrey Powell, printer to the Kynges Maieste, in
his Highnesse realme of Ireland dwellynge in the citie of Dublin in
the great toure by the Crane Cum Privelegio ad imprimendum solum.
Anno Domini, M.D.L.I.'
Timperley, in his _Encyclopædia_ (p. 314), says that Powell continued
printing in Dublin for fifteen years, and removed to the southern side
of the river to St. Nicholas Street.
In 1571 the first fount of Irish type was presented by Queen Elizabeth
to John O'Kearney, treasurer of St. Patrick's, to print the _Catechism_
which appeared in that year from the press of John Franckton. (Reed,
_Old English Letter Foundries_, pp. 75, 186-7.) It was not a Pure Irish
character, but a hybrid fount consisting for the most part of Roman and
Italic letters, with the seven distinctly Irish sorts added. A copy of
the _Catechism_ is exhibited in the King's Library, British Museum, and
in the Library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, is a copy of a
broadside _Poem on the last Judgement_, sent over to the Archbishop of
Canterbury as a specimen.
This type was afterwards used to print William O'Donnell's, or Daniel's,
Irish Testament in 1602.
[Footnote 10: For the material of this chapter I am chiefly indebted to
the valuable work of Messrs. Dickson and Edmond, _Annals of Scottish
Printing_.]
CHAPTER VII
THE STUART PERIOD
1603-1640
One of the first acts of King James on his accession to the English
throne was to strengthen the hands of the already powerful Company of
Stationers. Hitherto all Primers and Psalters had been the exclusive
privilege of the successors of Day and Seres, while Almanacs and
Prognostications, another large and profitable source of revenue, had
been the property of James Roberts and Richard Watkins. But now, by the
royal authority, these two valuable patents were turned over to the
Stationers to form part of their English stock. At the same time, the
privileges of Robert Barker, son and successor to Christopher Barker,
and king's printer by reversion, were increased by grants for printing
all statutes, hitherto the monopoly of other printers. On the other
hand, Robert Barker did not retain the sole possession of the royal
business as men like Berthelet and Pynson had been wont to do, but had
joined with him in the patent John Norton, who had a special grant for
printing all books in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and John Bill, who
probably obtained his share by purchase. These three men were thus the
chief printers during the early part of this reign.
Robert Barker had been made free of the Stationers' Company in 1589,
when he joined his father's assigns, George Bishop and Ralph Newbery, in
the management of the business. He was admitted to the livery of the
Company in 1592, and upon his father's death succeeded to the office of
King's printer by reversion. In 1601-2 he was warden of the Company, and
filled the office of Master in 1605. Some time before 1618 he sold his
moiety of the business to Bonham Norton and John Bill, and this
arrangement was confirmed by Royal Charter in 1627.
Upon the death of Bonham Norton, Barker's name again appears in the
imprint of the firm, and he continued printing until about 1645. It is
said by Ames (vol. ii. p. 1091), and has been repeated by all writers
since his day, that Robert Barker was committed to the King's Bench
Prison in 1635, and that he remained a prisoner there until his death in
1645. No confirmation of this can be found in the State Papers; indeed
the fact that he accompanied Charles I. to Newcastle in 1636, and was
printing in other parts of England until 1640, proves that he could not
have been in prison the whole of the time from 1635 to 1645.
Robert Barker's work was almost entirely of an official character, the
printing of the Scriptures, Book of Common Prayer, Statutes and
Proclamations.
His work was very unequal, and his type, mostly of black letter, was not
of the best.
His most important undertaking was the so-called 'authorised version' of
the Bible in 1611. As a matter of fact it never was authorised in any
official sense. The undertaking was proposed at a conference of divines,
held at Hampton Court in 1604. The King manifested great interest in the
scheme, but did not put his hand in his pocket towards the expenses, and
the divines who undertook the translation obtained little except fame
for their labours, while the whole cost of printing was borne by Robert
Barker. Like all previous editions of the Scriptures in folio, this
Bible of 1611 was printed in great primer black letter. It was preceded
by an elaborately engraved title-page, the work of C. Boel of Richmond,
and had also an engraved map of Canaan, partly the work of John Speed.
The type and ornaments were the same as had been used to print the first
edition of the 'Bishops' Bible,' the initial letter to the Psalms
containing the arms of Whittingham and Cecil.
[Illustration: FIG. 30.--From the Bible of 1611.]
Barker also possessed the handsome pictorial initial letters which had
been used by John Day, and many of the ornaments and initials previously
in the office of Henry Bynneman.
John Norton was the son of Richard Norton, a yeoman of Billingsley,
county Shropshire; he was nephew of William Norton, and cousin of Bonham
Norton, and was thus connected by marriage with the sixteenth century
bookseller, William Bonham. He was three times Master of the Stationers'
Company, in 1607, 1610, and 1612. On his death, in 1612, he left £1000
to the Company of Stationers, not as is generally stated as a legacy of
his own, but rather as trustee of the bequest of his uncle, William
Norton. The bulk of his property he left to his cousin, Bonham Norton
(P. C. C. 5 Capell).
His press will always be remembered for the magnificent edition of the
_Works of St. Chrysostom_, in eight folio volumes, printed at Eton in
1610, at the charge of Sir Henry Savile, the editor. The late T. B.
Reed, in his _History of the Old English Letter Foundries_ (p. 140),
speaks of this edition as 'one of the most splendid examples of Greek
printing in this country,' and further describes the types with which it
was printed as 'a great primer body, very elegantly and regularly cast,
with the usual numerous ligatures and abbreviations which characterised
the Greek typography of that period' (p. 141).
[Illustration: FIG. 31.--Dedication of Savile's _St. Chrysostom_. Eton,
1610.]
The work is said to have cost its promoter £8000.
The title-page to the first volume was handsomely engraved, and a highly
ornamental series of initial letters were used in it.
Another Greek work that Norton completed at Eton in the same year was
the _Sancti Gregorii Nazianzeni in Julianum Invectivae duae_, in quarto.
In addition to his patent for printing Greek and Latin books, Norton
also acquired from Francis Rea his patent for printing grammars, and by
his will he directed a sum of money to be paid out of the profits of
this patent to his wife Joyce.
John Bill was the son of Walter Bill, husbandman, of Wenlock, county
Salop, and on the 25th July 1592 he apprenticed himself to John Norton.
In 1601 he was admitted a freeman of the Company.
He appears to have been a man of shrewd business ability and some
scholarship, as we find him writing in Latin to Dr. Wideman of Augsburg
on the subject of books. He was also looked upon by the Government as an
authority on matters concerning his business. Under his partnership with
Bonham Norton, he secured a large share in the Royal business. John
Norton bequeathed him a legacy of £10, and a similar sum to his wife.
John Bill died in 1632, and on the 26th August of that year the whole of
his stock was assigned to Mistress Joyce Norton, the widow of John
Norton, and Master Whittaker. The list fills upwards of two pages of
Arber's _Transcripts_ (vol. iv. pp. 283-285), and includes the following
notable works:--
Beza's _Testament_ in Latin, Camden's _Britannia_, Comines' _History_,
Cornelius Tacitus, Du Moulin's _Defence of the Catholique Faith_,
Gerard's _Herball_, Goodwin's _History of Henry VIII._, Plutarch's
_Works_, Rider's _Dictionary_, Spalato's _Sermons_, Usher's _Gravissimæ
questiones_, Verstegan's _Restitution of Decayed Intelligence_.
The reversion of John Norton's patent for Greek and Latin books had been
granted in 1604 to Robert Barker (Dom. S. P. 1604), but the year
following Norton's death it was granted to Bonham Norton for thirty
years (Dom. S. P. I., vol. 72, No. 5), and he also seems to have
acquired the patent for printing grammars.
Bonham Norton was the only son of William Norton, stationer of London,
who died in 1593, by his wife Joan, the daughter of William Bonham. He
took up his freedom on the 4th February 1594, and was Master of the
Stationers' Company in the years 1613, 1626, and 1629, and must have
been one of the richest men in the trade. He was joined with Thomas
Wight in a patent for printing _Abridgements of the Statutes_ in 1599,
and later with John Bill in a share of the Royal printing-house. He is
frequently mentioned in wills and other documents of this period. At the
time of John Norton's death Bonham had a family of five sons and four
daughters. He died intestate on the 5th April 1635, and administration
of his estate was granted to his son John on the 28th May 1636 (Admon,
Act Book 1636).
On the 9th May 1615 an order was made by the Court of the Stationers'
Company, upon complaint made by the master printers of the number of
presses then at work, that only nineteen printers, exclusive of the
patentees, _i.e._ Robert Barker, John Bill, and Bonham Norton, should
exercise the craft of printing in the city of London. There is nothing
in the work of these men, judged as specimens of the printer's art, to
interest us, but there were some whose work was of very much better
character than others.
Richard Field, the successor of Thomas Vautrollier, and a
fellow-townsman of Shakespeare, has already been spoken of in an earlier
chapter. He printed many important books between 1601-1624, had two
presses at work in 1615, and was Master of the Company in 1620. He
maintained the high character that Vautrollier had given to the
productions of his press.
Felix Kingston was the son of John Kingston of Paternoster Row, and was
admitted a freeman of the Stationers' Company on the 25th of June 1597,
being translated from the Company of Grocers. Throughout the first half
of the seventeenth century his press was never idle. He was Master of
the Company in 1637.
Edward Aide was the son of John Aide of the Long Shop in the Poultry. He
had two presses, and printed very largely for other men, but his type
and workmanship were poor.
William and Isaac Jaggard are best known as the printers of the works of
Shakespeare. They were associated in the production of the first folio
in 1623, which came from the press of Isaac Jaggard and Edward Blount,
at the charges of William Jaggard, Edward Blount, J. Smethwicke, and
William Aspley; the editors being the poet's friends, J. Heminge and H.
Condell.
In addition to being the first collected edition of Shakespeare's works,
this was in many respects a remarkable volume. The best copies measure
13-1/2 x 8-1/2''. The title-page bears the portrait of the poet by
Droeshout. The dedicatory epistle is in large italic type, and is
followed by a second epistle, 'To the Readers,' in Roman. The verses in
praise of the author, by Ben Jonson and others, are printed in a second
fount of italic, and the Contents in a still smaller fount of the same
letter. The text, printed in double columns, is in Roman and Italic,
each page being enclosed within printer's rules. Of these various
types, the best is the large italic, which somewhat resembles Day's
fount of the same letter. That of the text is exceedingly poor, while
the setting of the type and rules leaves much to be desired. The
arrangement and pagination are erratic. The book, like many other
folios, was made up in sixes, and the first alphabet of signatures is
correct and complete, while the second runs on regularly to the
completion of the Comedies on cc.2. The Histories follow with a fresh
alphabet, which the printer began as 'aa,' and continued as 'a' until he
got to 'g,' when he inserted a 'gg' of eight leaves, and then continued
from 'i' to 'x' in sixes to the end of the Histories. The Tragedies
begin with _Troilus and Cresside_, the insertion of which was evidently
an afterthought, as there is no mention of it in the 'Contents' of the
volume, and the signatures of the sheets are ¶ followed by ¶¶ six leaves
each. Then they start afresh with 'aa' and proceed regularly to 'hh,'
the end of the _Macbeth_, the following signature being 'kk,' thus
omitting the remainder of signature 'hh' and the whole of 'ii.' In a
series of interesting letters communicated to _Notes and Queries_ (8 S.
vol. viii. pp. 306, 353, 429), the make up of this volume is explained
very plausibly. The copyright of _Troilus and Cresside_ belonged to R.
Bonian and H. Walley, who apparently refused at first to give their
sanction to its publication. But by that time it had been printed, and
the sheets signed for it to follow _Macbeth_, so that it had to be taken
out. Arrangements having at last been made for its insertion in the
work, it was reprinted and inserted where it is now found. It is also
surmised that the original intention was to publish the work in three
parts, and to this theory the repetition of the signatures lends colour.
One of the most interesting presses of the early Stuart period, both for
the excellence of its work and the nature of the books that came from
it, was that of William Stansby. This printer took up his freedom on the
7th January 1597, after serving a seven years' apprenticeship with John
Windet. The following April he registered a book entitled _The Polycie
of the Turkishe Empire_. This little quarto was, however, printed for
him by his old master, John Windet, and there is no further entry in the
registers until 1611, or fourteen years after the date at which he took
up his freedom.
It would appear that Stansby began to print in 1609 with an edition of
Greene's _Pandosto_, which was not registered. In 1611 he purchased the
copyright in the books of John Windet for 13s. 40d., but three of them
the Company added to its stock, with the undertaking that Stansby should
always have the printing of them. One of these books was _The Assize of
Bread_. On the 23rd February 1625 the whole of William East's copies,
including music, was assigned over to him. This list of books is the
longest to be found in the registers, and covers every branch of
literature.
About this time Stansby got into trouble with the Company for printing a
seditious book, and his premises were nailed up, but eventually they
were restored to him, and he continued in business until 1639, when his
stock was transferred to Richard Bishop, and eventually came into the
hands of John Haviland and partners.
Among his more important works may be mentioned the second and
subsequent editions of Hooker's _Ecclesiastical Politie_, in folio; the
_Works_ of Ben Jonson, 1616, folio; Eadmer's _Historia Novorum_,1623,
folio; Selden's _Mare Clausum_, 1635, folio; Blundeville's _Exercises_,
1622, quarto; Coryate's _Crudities_,1611, quarto.
He possessed a considerable stock of type, most of it good. Some of the
ornamental headbands and initial letters that he used were of an
artistic character, and were used with good effect. An instance of this
may be seen in his edition of Hooker, 1611, which has an engraved
title-page by William Hole, showing a view of St. Paul's. The page of
Contents is surrounded on three sides by a border made up of odds and
ends of printers' ornaments, yet, in spite of its miscellaneous
character, the effect is by no means bad. The border to the title-page
of the fifth book was one of a series that formed part of the stock of
the Company, and were lent out to any who required them. Stansby's
presswork was uniformly good, and in this respect alone he may be ranked
among the best printers of his time.
Another of the printers referred to in the list was somewhat of a
refractory character, a printer of popular books at the risk of
imprisonment, a class of men who were to figure largely in the events of
the next few years. Nicholas Okes is known best, perhaps, as the printer
of some of the writings of Dekker, Greene, and Heywood; but in 1621 he
printed, without license, _Wither's Motto_, a tract from the pen of
George Wither, which had been published by John Marriot a short time
before. This satire aroused the ire of the Government, and all connected
with it at once made the acquaintance of the nearest jail. In the State
Papers for that year are preserved the examination of the author, the
booksellers, and the printer, Nicholas Okes. One of the witnesses
declared that Okes told him that he had printed the book with the
consent of the Company, and that the Master (Humphrey Lownes) had
declared that if he was committed they would get him discharged. Another
declared that Okes had printed two impressions of 3000 each, using the
same title-page as that to the first edition, and that one of the
wardens of the Company (Matthew Lownes) continued to sell the book, and
called for more copies. The only defence Okes made was that he believed
the book to be duly licensed, and when challenged as to why he printed
Marriot's name on the title-page, declared he simply printed the book as
he found it. (S. P. Dom. James I., vol. cxxii. Nos. 12 _et seq._)
On the 10th December 1623 an end was put for the time to the disputes
that had for so long a period been raised by the Stationers' Company to
the rights of the printers of the University of Cambridge.
The Company's last attempt to suppress Cantrell Legg, and prevent him
from printing grammars and prayer-books, led to an appeal to the King,
who made short work of the matter by ordering the two parties to come to
an agreement. The terms of the settlement were:--
1. That all books should be sold at reasonable prices.
2. That the University should be allowed to print, conjointly with the
London stationers, all books except the Bible, Book of Common Prayer,
grammar, psalms, psalters, primers, etc., but they were only to employ
one press upon privileged books.
3. That the University should print no almanacs then belonging to the
Stationers, but they might print prognostications brought to them
first.
4. That the Stationers should not hinder the sale of University books.
5. That the University printer should be at liberty to sell all grammars
and psalms that he had already printed, and such as had been seized by
the Company were to be restored.
To the last clause a note was added to the effect that Bonham Norton was
prepared to buy them at reasonable prices.
On the accession of Charles I. plague paralysed trade and made gaps in
the ranks of the Stationers' Company. During the autumn of 1624 and the
following year several noted printers died, probably from this cause.
Chief among these were George Eld, Edward Aide, and Thomas Snodham. Eld
was succeeded by his partner, Miles Flessher or Fletcher, and Aide by
his widow, Elizabeth. Thomas Snodham had inherited the business of
Thomas East. The copyright in these passed to William Stansby, one of
his executors; but the materials of the office, that is the types,
woodcut letters, and ornaments, and the presses, were sold to William
Lee for £165, and shortly afterwards passed into the possession of
Thomas Harper. They included a fount of black letter, and several founts
of Roman and Italic of all sizes, and one of Greek letter, all of which
had belonged to Thomas East, and were by this time the worse for wear.
But the plague was at the worst only a temporary hindrance; the
censorship of the press the printers had always with them, and this,
which had been comparatively mildly used during the late reign, was now
in the hands of men who wielded it with severity. During the next
fifteen years the printers, publishers, and booksellers of London were
subjected to a persecution hitherto unknown. During that time there were
few printers who did not know the inside of the Gatehouse or the
Compter, or who were not subjected to heavy fines. For the literature of
that age was chiefly of a religious character, and its tone mainly
antagonistic to Laud and his party. All other subjects, whether
philosophical, scientific, or dramatic, were sorely neglected. The later
works of Bacon, the plays of Shirley and Shakerley Marmion, and a few
classics, most of which came from the University presses, are sparsely
scattered amongst the flood of theological discussion. The history of
the best work in the trade in London is practically the history of three
men--John Haviland, Miles Fletcher, and Robert Young, who joined
partnership and, in addition to a share in the Royal printing-house,
obtained by purchase the right of printing the _Abridgements to the
Statutes_, and bought up several large and old-established
printing-houses, such as those of George Purslowe, Edward Griffin, and
William Stansby. Bernard Alsop and Thomas Fawcett were also among the
large capitalists of this time, while Nathaniel Butter, Nicholas
Bourne, and Thomas Archer were also interested in several businesses
beside their own. From the press of Haviland came editions of Bacon's
_Essays_, in quarto, in 1625, 1629, 1632; of his _Apophthegmes_, in
octavo, in 1625; of his _Miscellanies_, an edition in quarto, in 1629,
and his _Opera Moralia_ in 1638. From the press of Fletcher came the
_Divine Poems_ of Francis Quarles, in 1633, 1634, and 1638, and the
_Hieroglyphikes of the life of Man_, by the same author, in 1638; while
amongst Young's publications, editions of _Hamlet_ and _Romeo and
Juliet_ appeared in 1637. Bernard Alsop and his partner printed the
plays of Beaumont and Fletcher, Decker, Greene, Lodge, and Shirley, the
poems of Brathwait, Breton, and Crashaw, and the writings of Fuller and
More.
But the most notable books of this period were not those enumerated
above, but rather those which brought their authors, printers, and
publishers within the clutches of the law, and the story of the struggle
for freedom of speech is one of the most interesting in the history of
English printing. Three men--Henry Burton, rector of St. Matthews,
Friday Street; William Prynne, barrister of Lincoln's Inn; and John
Bastwick, surgeon, are generally looked upon as the chief of the
opposition to Laud and his party; but there were a number of other
writers on the same subject, whose works brought them into the Court of
High Commission. Thus, on the 15th February 1626, Benjamin Fisher,
bookseller, John Okes, Bernard Alsop, and Thomas Fawcett, printers, were
examined concerning a book which they had caused to be printed and sold,
called _A Short View of the Long Life and reign of Henry the Third_, of
which Sir Robert Cotton was the author. Fisher stated in his evidence
that five sheets of this book were printed by John Okes, and one other
by Alsop and Fawcett, which in itself is an indication of the immense
difficulty that must have attended the discovery of the printers of
forbidden books. The manuscript Fisher declared he had bought from
Alsop, who, in his turn, said that he bought it of one Ferdinando Ely,
'a broker in books,' for the sum of twelvepence, and printed what was
equivalent to a thousand copies of the one sheet delivered to him,
'besides waste.' Nicholas Okes declared that his son John had printed
the book without his knowledge and while he (Nicholas) was a prisoner in
the Compter. Ferdinando Ely was a second-hand bookseller in Little
Britain.
No very serious consequences seem to have followed in this instance; but
in the following year (1628), Henry Burton was charged by the same
authorities with being the author of certain unlicensed books, _The
Baiting of the Pope's Bull_, _Israel's Fast_, _Trial of Private
Devotions_, _Conflicts and Comforts of Conscience_, _A Plea to an
Appeal_, and _Seven Vials_. The first of these was licensed, but the
remainder were not. They were said to have been printed by Michael
Sparke and William Jones; Sparke was a bookseller, carrying on business
at the sign of the Blue Bible, in Green Arbour, in little Old Bayley,
and he employed William Jones to print for him. The parties were then
warned to be careful, but on 2nd April 1629 Sparke was arrested and
thrown into the Fleet, and with him, at the same time, were charged
William Jones, Augustine Mathewes, printers, and Nathaniel Butter,
printer and publisher. Butter's offence was the issuing of a newspaper
or pamphlet called _The Reconciler_; Sparke was charged with causing to
be printed another of Burton's works, entitled _Babel no Bethel_, and
Spencer's _Musquil Unmasked_; while Augustine Mathewes was accused of
printing, for Sparke, William Prynne's _Antithesis of the Church of
England_. Each party put in an answer, and of these, Michael Sparke's is
the most interesting. He declared that the decree of 1586 was contrary
to Magna Charta, and an infringement of the liberties of the subject,
and he refused to say who, beside Mathewes, had printed Prynne's book;
it afterwards turned out to be William Turner of Oxford, who confessed
to printing several other unlicensed books. A short term of imprisonment
appears to have been the punishment inflicted on the parties in this
instance.
Both in 1630 and 1631 several other printers suffered imprisonment from
the same cause, and Michael Sparke, who appears to have given out the
work in most cases, was declared to be more refractory and offensive
than ever.
In 1632 appeared William Prynne's noted book, _The Histrio-Mastix_, _The
Player's Scourge or Actor's Tragedie_, a thick quarto of over one
thousand closely printed pages, which bore on the title-page the
imprint, '_printed by E. A. and W. J. for Michael Sparke_.' This book,
as its title implies, was an attack on stage-plays and acting. There was
nothing in it to alarm the most sensitive Government, and even the
licenser, though he afterwards declared that the book was altered after
it left his hands, could find nothing in it to condemn. But, as it
happened, there was a passage concerning the presence of ladies at
stage-plays, and as the Queen had shortly before attended a masque, the
passage in question was held to allude to her, and accordingly Prynne,
Sparke, and the printers--one of whom was William Jones--were thrown
into prison, and in 1633 were brought to trial before the Star Chamber.
The printers appear to have escaped punishment; but Prynne was condemned
to pay a fine of £1000, to be degraded from his degree, to have both his
ears cropped in the pillory, and to spend the rest of his days in
prison; while Sparke was fined £500, and condemned to stand in the
pillory, but without other degradation.
During this year John Bastwick also issued two books directed against
Episcopacy, both of which are now scarce. One was entitled _Elenchus
Religionis Papisticæ_, and the other _Flagellum Pontificis_. They were
printed abroad, and as a punishment their author was condemned to
undergo a sentence little less severe than that passed upon Prynne, who,
in spite of his captivity, continued to write and publish a great number
of pamphlets. Amongst these was one entitled _Instructions to Church
Wardens_, printed in 1635. In the course of the evidence concerning this
book, mention was made of a special initial letter C, which was said to
represent a pope's head when turned one way, and an army of soldiers
when turned the other, and to be unlike any other letter in use by
London printers at that time.
For printing this and other books, Thomas Purslowe, Gregory Dexter, and
William Taylor of Christchurch were struck from the list of master
printers.[11]
In 1637 appeared Prynne's other notorious tract, _Newes from Ipswich_, a
quarto of six leaves, for which he was fined by the Star Chamber a
further sum of £5000, and condemned to lose the rest of his ears, and to
be branded on the cheek with the letters S. L. (_i.e._ scurrilous
libeller), a sentence that was carried out on the 30th June of this year
with great barbarity. The imprint to this tract ran 'Printed at
Ipswich,' but its real place of printing was London, and perhaps the
name of Robert Raworth, which occurs in the indictment, may stand for
Richard Raworth, the printer whom Sir John Lambe declared to be 'an
arrant knave.' Or the printer may have been William Jones,[12] who about
this time was fined £1000 for printing seditious books.
In 1634 the King wrote to Archbishop Laud to the effect that Doctor
Patrick Young, keeper of the King's library, who had lately published
the _Clementis ad Corinthios Epistola prior_ in Greek and Latin, and in
conjunction with Bishop Lindsell of Peterborough, now proposed to make
ready for the press one or more Greek copies every year, if Greek types,
matrices, and money were forthcoming. The King expressed his desire to
encourage the work, and therefore commanded the Archbishop that the fine
of £300, which had been inflicted upon Robert Barker and Martin Lucas in
the preceding year, for what was described as a base and corrupt
printing of the Bible in 1631 (the omission of the word 'not' from the
seventh commandment, which has earned for the edition the name of the
_Wicked_ Bible), should be converted to the buying of Greek letters. The
King further ordered that Barker and Lucas should print one work every
year at their own cost of ink, paper, and workmanship, and as many
copies as the Archbishop should think fit to authorise. The Archbishop
thereupon wrote to the printers, who expressed their willingness to fall
in with the scheme, and a press, furnished with a very good fount of
Greek letter, was established at Blackfriars. But the result was not
what might have been expected. Partly owing to the political troubles
that followed its foundation, and partly perhaps to delay on the part of
the printers, the only important works that came from this press were
Dr. Patrick Young's translation of the book of Job, from the Codex
Alexandrinus, a folio printed in 1637, and an edition in Greek of the
Epistles of St. Paul, with a commentary by the Bishop of Peterborough,
also a folio, which came from the same press in 1636. The Greek letter
used in this office cannot be compared for beauty or delicacy of outline
with that which Norton had used in the _Chrysostom_ of 1610.
On the 11th July 1637 was published another Star Chamber Decree
concerning printers. Professor Arber, in his fourth volume (p. 528),
states that the appearance of a tract entitled _The Holy Table, Name and
Thing_ must ever be associated with this decree; but it may be doubted
whether it was not rather to general causes, such as the growing power
of the press, the long-continued attack upon the Prelacy by
pamphleteers, which no fear of mutilation or imprisonment could stop,
than any one particular tract, which led to that severe and crushing
edict.
This act, which was published on the 11th July 1637, consisted of
thirty-three clauses, and after reciting former ordinances, and the
number of 'libellous, seditious, and mutinous' books that were then
daily published, decreed that all books were to be licensed: law books
by the Lord Chief Justices and the Lord Chief Baron; books dealing with
history, by the principal Secretaries of State; books on heraldry, by
the Earl Marshal; and on all other subjects, by the Archbishop of
Canterbury, the Bishop of London, or the Chancellors or Vice-Chancellors
of the two Universities. Two copies of every book submitted for
publication were to be handed to the licensee, one of which he was to
keep for future reference. Catalogues of books imported into the country
were to be sent to the Archbishop of Canterbury or Bishop of London, and
no consignments were to be opened until the representatives of one of
these dignitaries and of the Stationers' Company were present. The name
of the printer, the author, and the publisher was to be placed in every
book, and, with a view to encouraging English printing, it was decreed
further that no merchant or bookseller should import any English book
printed abroad. No person was to erect a printing-press, or to let any
premises for the purpose of carrying on printing, without first giving
notice to the Company, and no joiner or carpenter was to make a press
without similar notice.
The number of master printers was limited by this decree to twenty, and
those chosen were:--
Felix Kingston.
Adam Islip.
Thomas Purfoote.
Miles Fletcher.
Thomas Harper.
John Beale.
John Raworth.
John Legate.
Robert Young.
John Haviland.
George Miller.
Richard Badger.
Thomas Cotes.
Marmaduke Parsons.
Bernard Alsop.
Richard Bishop.
Edward Griffin.
Thomas Purslowe.
Rich. Hodgkinsonne.
John Dawson.
Each of these was to be bound in sureties of £300 to good behaviour. No
printer was allowed to have more than two presses unless he were a
Master or Warden of the Company, when he might have three. A Master or
Warden might keep three apprentices but no more, a master printer on the
livery might have two, and the rest one only; but every printer was
expected to give work to journeyman printers when required to do so,
because it was stated that it was they who were mainly responsible for
the publication of the libellous, seditious, and mutinous books referred
to. All reprints of books were to be licensed in the same way as first
editions. The Company were to have the right of search, and four
typefounders, John Grismand, Thomas Wright, Arthur Nichols, and
Alexander Fifield were considered sufficient for the whole trade.
Finally, a copy of every book printed was to be sent to the Bodleian
Library at Oxford. The penalties for breaking this decree included
imprisonment, destruction of stock, and a whipping at the cart's tail.
The twenty printers appointed by this decree were the subject of much
investigation by Sir John Lamb, whose numerous notes and lists
concerning them, as reprinted in the third volume of Professor Arber's
transcripts from documents at the Record Office, are an invaluable
acquisition to the history of the English press. It will be seen that
four of the chief offenders of the previous ten or eleven years, namely
William Jones, Nicholas Okes, Augustine Mathewes, and Robert or Richard
Raworth, were absolutely excluded, their places being taken by Marmaduke
Parsons, Thomas Paine, and a new man, Thomas Purslowe, probably the son
of Widow Purslowe. Conscious perhaps that their positions were in
jeopardy, all four petitioned the Archbishop to be placed among the
number, but in vain, and another man who was excluded at the same time
was John Norton, a descendant of a long family of printers of that name,
and who had served his apprenticeship in the King's printing-house. Only
one of those who had at times come before the High Commission Court was
pardoned, and allowed to retain his place. This was Bernard Alsop.
The clause requiring all reprints to be licensed caused a good deal of
murmuring, as did also that which forbade haberdashers, and others who
were not legitimate booksellers, to sell books.
The small number of type-founders allowed to the trade has also been a
subject of much comment by writers on this subject; but judging from the
evidence of Arthur Nicholls, one of the four appointed, the number was
quite sufficient. Nicholls was the founder of the Greek type used in the
new office of Blackfriars, and his experience was certainly not likely
to encourage other men to set up in the same trade. At the time when he
was appointed one of the four founders under the decree, he could not
make a living by his trade, and though he does not expressly state the
fact, his evidence seems to imply that English printers at that time
obtained most of their type from abroad, and it is beyond question that
they had long since ceased to cast their own letter.
Drastic as this decree was, it practically remained a dead letter, for
the reason that in the troublous times that followed within the next
five years, the Government had their hands full in other directions, and
were obliged to let the printers alone.
Between this date and the year 1640, there was very little either of
interest or value that came from the English press. The memory of rare
Ben Jonson induced Henry Seile, of the Tiger's Head in Fleet Street, to
publish in 1638 a quarto with the title _Jonsonus Virbius: or the Memory
of Ben Jonson. Revived by the friends of the Muses_, and among the
contributors were Lord Falkland, Sir John Beaumont the younger, Sir
Thomas Hawkins, Henry King, Edmund Waller, Shackerley Marmion, and
several others. The printer's initials are given as E. P., but these do
not suit any of those who were authorised under the decree of the year
before, and they may refer to Elizabeth Purslowe. That there was a
considerable number of persons who, in spite of the Puritan tendencies
of the age, loved a good play, is clearly seen from the number turned
out during the years 1638, 1639, and 1640 by Thomas Nabbes, Henry
Glapthorne, James Shirley, and Richard Brome. These of course were
mostly quartos, very poorly printed, and chiefly from the presses of
Richard Oulton, John Okes, and Thomas Cotes. Of collected works, there
came out in small octavo form the _Poems_ of Thomas Carew from the press
of John Dawson in 1640, and a collection of Shakespeare's Poems from the
press of Thomas Cotes in the same year. There were also published in
1640 from the press of Richard Bishop, who had succeeded to the business
of William Stansby, Selden's _De Jure Naturali et Gentium juxta
disciplinam Ebræorum_, in folio, and William Somner's _Antiquities of
Canterbury_, one of the earliest and best of the contributions to county
bibliography.
Having now brought the record of the London press down to the time when
it became engulphed in the chaos of civil war, it is time to turn to the
University presses of Oxford and Cambridge.
Since the year 1585, these were the only provincial presses allowed by
law, and removed as they were from the turmoil of conflicting parties,
and the severity of trade competition, in which the London printers
lived, their work showed more uniformity of excellence, and on the whole
surpassed that of the London printers.
Down to the year 1617 Oxford appears to have had but one printer, John
Barnes; but in that year we find two at work, John Lichfield and William
Wrench, the latter giving place the following year to James Short. In
1624 the two Oxford printers were John Lichfield and William Turner--the
second, as we have seen, being notorious as the printer of unlicensed
pamphlets for Michael Sparke the London publisher; but in spite of this
we find him holding his position until 1640, though in the meantime John
Lichfield had been succeeded in business by his son, Leonard. In the
introduction to his bibliography of the Oxford Press, Mr. Falconer Madan
has given a list of the most important books printed at Oxford between
1585 and 1640, which we venture to reprint here with a few additions:--
1599. Richard de Bury's _Philobiblon_.
1608. Wycliff's _Treatises_.
1612. Captain John Smith's _Map of Virginia_.
1621. Burton's _Anatomy of Melancholy_.
1628. Field _On the Church_.
1633. Sandys' _Ovid_.
1634. _The University Statutes_.
1635. Chaucer's _Troilus and Cressida_ in English and Latin.
1638. Chillingworth's _Religion of Protestants_.
1640. Bacon's _Advancement and Proficience of Learning_.
As we have noted, the University of Cambridge had after a long struggle
established its claim to print editions of the Scriptures and other
works, and like its sister University turned out some of the best work
of that period.
A notable book from this press was Phineas Fletcher's _Purple Island_, a
quarto published in 1633. The title-page was printed in red and black,
in well-cut Roman of four founts, with the lozenge-shaped device of the
University in the centre, the whole being surrounded by a neat border
of printers' ornaments. Each page of the book was enclosed within rules,
which seems to have been the universal fashion of the trade at this
period, and at the end of each canto the device seen on the title-page
was repeated. The Eclogues and Poems had each a separate title-page, and
two well-executed copper-plate engravings occur in the volumes.
We must not close this chapter without noting that in 1639 printing
began in the New England across the sea. The records of Harvard College
tell us that the Rev. Joseph Glover 'gave to the College a font of
printing letters, and some gentlemen of Amsterdam gave towards
furnishing of a printing-press with letters forty-nine pounds, and
something more.' Glover himself died on the voyage out from England, but
Stephen Day, the printer whom he was bringing with him, arrived in
safety and was installed at Harvard College. The first production of his
press was the _Freeman's Oath_, the second an Almanac, the third,
published in 1640, _The Psalms in Metre, Faithfully translated for the
Use, Edification, and Comfort of the Saints in Publick and Private,
especially in New England_. This, the first book printed in North
America, was an octavo of three hundred pages, of passably good
workmanship, and is commonly known as the Bay Psalter--Cambridge, the
home of Harvard College, lying near Massachusetts Bay. Stephen Day
continued to print at Cambridge till 1648 or 1649, when he was succeeded
in the charge of the press by Samuel Green, whose work will be mentioned
at the end of our next chapter.
[Footnote 11: _Domestic State Papers_, vol. 357, No. 172, 173; vol. 371,
No. 102.]
[Footnote 12: _Domestic State Papers_, vol. 354, No. 180.]
CHAPTER VIII
FROM 1640 TO 1700
Having at length reached what is without doubt the darkest and the most
wretched period in the history of English printing, it may be well
before passing a severe condemnation on those who represented the trade
at that time, to remind ourselves of the difficulties against which they
had to contend.
The art of printing in England had never at any time reached such a
point of excellence as in Paris under the Estiennes, in Antwerp under
Plantin, or in Venice under the Aldi. So great was the competition
between the printers, and so heavy the restrictions placed upon them,
that profit rather than beauty or workmanship was their first
consideration; and when to these drawbacks was added the general
disorganisation of trade consequent upon the outbreak of civil war, it
is not surprising that English work failed to maintain its already low
standard of excellence. Literature, other than that which chronicled
the fortunes of the opposing factions, was almost totally neglected.
Writers, even had they found printers willing to support them, would
have found no readers. On the other hand, such was the feverish anxiety
manifested in the struggle, that it was scarcely possible to publish the
Diurnals and Mercuries which contained the latest news fast enough, and
the press was unequal to the strain, although the number of printers in
London during this period was three times larger than that allowed by
the decree of 1637. Professor Arber, in his _Transcript_, says that this
increase in the number of printers was due to the removal of the gag by
the Long Parliament. There is no proof that the Long Parliament ever
intended to remove the gag; but having its hands full with other and
weightier matters it could find no time to deal with the printers, and
doubtless, in the heat of the fight, it was only too thankful to avail
itself of the pens of those who replied to the attacks of the Royalist
press. The best evidence of this is, that as soon as opportunity
offered, and in spite of the warning of the greatest literary man of
that day, who was on their own side, the Long Parliament reimposed the
gag with as much severity as the hierarchy which it had deposed.
For the publication of the news of the day, each party had its own
organs. On the side of the Parliament the principal journals were _The
Kingdoms Weekly Intelligencer_, printed and published by Nathaniel
Butter, and _Mercurius Britannicus_, edited by Marchmont Nedham; while
_Mercurius Aulicus_, edited by clever John Birkenhead, represented the
Royalists, and was ably seconded by the _Perfect Occurrences_, printed
by John Clowes and Robert Ibbitson.
These sheets, which usually consisted of from four to eight quarto
pages, contained news of the movements and actions of the opposing
armies, and the proceedings of the Parliament at Westminster, or of the
King's Council at Oxford or wherever he happened to be. They were
published sometimes twice and even three times a week. The political
pamphlets were bitter and scurrilous attacks by each party against the
other, or the hare-brained prophecies of so-called astrologers, such as
William Lilly, George Wharton, and John Gadbury. These two classes
formed more than half the printed literature of those unhappy times, and
the remainder of the output of the press was pretty well filled up with
sermons, exhortations, and other religious writings. The rapidity with
which the literature was turned out accounts for the wretched and
slipshod appearance it presents. Any old types or blocks were brought
into use, and there is evidence of blocks and initial letters which had
formed part of the stock of the printers of a century earlier being
brought to light again at this time. Unfortunately the evil did not
stop here, for careless workmanship, indifference, and want of
enterprise, are the leading characteristics of the printing trade during
the latter half of the seventeenth century. But as, even in this darkest
hour of the nation's fortunes, the soul of literature was not crushed,
and the voice of the poet could still make itself heard, so it is a
great mistake to suppose that there were no good printers during the
period covered by the Civil Wars and the Commonwealth.
Take as an example the little duodecimo entitled _Instructions for
Forreine Travell_, which came from the pen of James Howell, and was
printed by T. B., no doubt Thomas Brudnell, for Humphrey Moseley. Some
of the founts, especially the larger Roman, are very unevenly and badly
cast, but on the whole the presswork was carefully done. The same may
also be said of the folio edition of Sir R. Baker's _Chronicle_,
published in 1643. In this case we do not know who was the printer; but
the ornaments and initials lead us to suppose that it was the work of
William Stansby's successor. The prose tracts again that Milton wrote
between 1641-45 are certainly far better printed than many of their
contemporaries, and prove that Matthew Simmons, who printed most of
them, and who was one of the Commonwealth men, deserved the position he
afterwards obtained. The first collected edition of Milton's poems was
published by Humphrey Moseley in 1645. This was a small octavo, in two
parts, with separate title-pages, and a portrait of the author by
William Marshall, and came from the press of Ruth Raworth. In 1646 there
appeared _A Collection of all the Incomparable Peeces written by Sir
John Suckling and published by a freend to perpetuate his memory_. This
came from the press of Thomas Walkley, who had issued the first edition
of _Aglaura_ and the later plays of the same writer. Walkley also
printed in small octavo, for Moseley, the _Poems_ of Edmond Waller, but
his work was none of the best.
A printer of considerable note at this time was William Dugard, who in
1644 was chosen headmaster of Merchant Taylors' School, and set up a
printing-press there. In January 1649 he printed the first edition of
the famous book _Eikon Basilike_, and followed it up by a translation of
Salmasius' _Defensio Regia_, for which the Council of State immediately
ordered his arrest, seized his presses, and wrote to the Governors of
the school, ordering them to elect a new schoolmaster, 'Mr. Dugard
having shewn himself an enemy to the state by printing seditious and
scandalous pamphlets, and therefore unfit to have charge of the
education of youths' (_Dom. S. P. Interregnum_, pp. 578-583). Sir James
Harrington, member of the Council of State, and author of _Oceana_, who
seems to have known something about Dugard, interceded with the Council
on his behalf, and at the same time persuaded him to give up the
Royalist cause. So his presses were restored to him, and henceforward he
appears to have devoted himself with equal zeal to his new masters.
He was the printer of Milton's answer to Salmasius, published by the
Council's command, of a book entitled _Mare Clausum_, also published by
authority, of the _Catechesis Ecclesiarum_, a book which the Council
found to contain dangerous opinions and ordered to be burnt, and of a
tract written by Milton's nephew, John Phillips, entitled _Responsio ad
apologiam_. His initials are also met with in many other books of that
time.
His press was furnished with a good assortment of type, and his
press-work was much above the average of that period.
Among other books that came from the London press during this troubled
time, we may single out three which have found a lasting place in
English literature. The first is Robert Herrick's _Hesperides_, printed
in the years 1647-48; the second a volume of verse, by Richard Lovelace,
entitled _Lucasta, Epodes, Odes, Sonnets, Songs_, etc., printed in 1649
by Thomas Harper; the last Izaak Walton's _Complete Angler_, which came
from the press of John Maxey in 1653. All were small octavos,
indifferently printed with poor type, and no pretensions to artistic
workmanship.
In 1649, the year of Charles I.'s execution, the Council of State, in
consequence of the number of 'scandalous and seditious pamphlets' which
were constantly appearing, in spite of all decrees and acts to the
contrary, ordered certain printers to enter into recognizances in two
sureties of £300, and their own bond for a similar amount, not to print
any such books, or allow their presses to be used for that purpose.
Accordingly, in the _Calendar of State Papers_ for the year 1649-50 (pp.
522, 523), we find a list of no less than sixty printers in London and
the two Universities who entered into such sureties. In almost every
case the address is given in full, in itself a gain, at a time when the
printer's name rarely appeared in the imprint of a book. This list has
already been printed in _Bibliographica_ (vol. ii. pp. 225-26), but as
it is of the greatest interest for the history of printing during the
remainder of the century, it is inserted here (see Appendix No. 1.).
While it does not include all the printers having presses at that time,
yet, if we remember that under the Star Chamber decree of 1637 the
number in London was strictly limited to twenty, it shows how rapid the
growth of the trade was in those twelve years. Of the original twenty,
only three seem to have survived the troubles and dangers of the Civil
Wars--Bernard Alsop, Richard Bishop, and Thomas Harper, though the
places of three more were filled by their survivors--Elizabeth Purslowe
standing in the place of her husband, Thomas Purslowe; Gertrude Dawson
succeeding her husband, John Dawson; and James Flesher or Fletcher in
the room of his father, Miles Flesher. John Gresmond and James Moxon
were type-founders, Henry Hills and John Field were appointed printers
to the State under Cromwell, and Thomas Newcomb was also largely
employed, and shared with the other two the privilege of Bible printing.
Roger Norton was the direct descendant of old John Norton, who died in
1590. Of Roycroft and Simmons we shall hear a good deal later on, as
indeed we shall of many others in this list. The only names that hardly
seem to warrant insertion in the list as printers are those of John and
Richard Royston. Although they were for many years stationers to King
Charles II., we cannot hear of any printing-presses in their possession.
With the quieter time of the Commonwealth, several notable works were
produced, though the annual output of books was much below the average
of the seven years preceding. Foremost among the publications of that
time must be placed Sir William Dugdale's _Monasticon Anglicanum_, the
first volume of which appeared in 1655.
As a monument of study and research this book will always remain a
standard work of English topography; and it was not unworthily printed.
The preparation of the numerous plates for the illustrations, and the
setting up of so much intricate letterpress, must have been a very
onerous work. This first volume, a large and handsome folio, came from
the press of Richard Hodgkinson, and was printed in pica Roman in double
columns, with a great deal of italic and black letter intermixed. The
types were as good as any to be found in England at that time, and the
press-work was carefully done. The engravings were chiefly the work of
Hollar, aided by Edward Mascall and Daniel King, and are excellently
reproduced. The whole work occupied eighteen years in publication, the
second volume being printed by Alice Warren, the widow of Thomas Warren,
in 1661, and the third and last by Thomas Newcomb in 1673; but these
later volumes differed very little in appearance from the first, the
same method of setting and the same mixture of founts being adhered to.
Sir William Dugdale followed this up in 1656 by publishing, through the
press of Thomas Warren, his _Antiquities of Warwickshire_, a folio of
826 pages. On the title-page is seen the device of old John Wolfe, the
City printer. The dedication of this book was printed in great primer;
but the look of the text was marred by a bad fount of black letter which
did not print well. Like the _Monasticon_, this work was illustrated
with maps and portraits by Hollar and Vaughan.
Another considerable undertaking was the _Historical Collections_ of
John Rushworth, in eight folio volumes, of which the first was printed
by Newcomb in 1659, the others between 1680 and 1701.
But the great typographical achievement of the century was the Polyglott
Bible, edited by Brian Walton. It was the fourth great Bible of the kind
which had been published. The earliest was the Complutensian, printed at
Alcala in 1517, with Hebrew, Latin, Greek, and Chaldean texts. Next came
the Antwerp Polyglott, printed at the Plantin Press in 1572, which, in
addition to the texts above mentioned, gave the Syriac version. This was
followed in 1645 by the Paris Polyglott, which added Arabic and
Samaritan, was in ten folio volumes, and took seventeen years to
complete.
The London Polyglott of 1657, which exceeded all these in the number of
texts, was mainly due to the enterprise and industry of Brian Walton,
Bishop of Chester. This famous scholar and divine was born at Cleveland,
in Yorkshire, in 1600. He was educated at Cambridge, and after serving
as curate in All Hallows, in Bread Street, became rector of St. Martin's
Orgar and of St. Giles in the Fields. He was sequestered from his
living at St. Martin's during the troubles of the Revolution, and fled
to Oxford, and it was while there that he is said to have formed the
idea of the Polyglott Bible.
The first announcement of the great undertaking was made in 1652, when a
type specimen sheet, believed to be still in existence, was printed by
James Flesher or Fletcher of Little Britain, and issued with the
prospectus, which was printed by Roger Norton of Blackfriars for Timothy
Garthwaite. Walton's Polyglott was the second book printed by
subscription in England, Minsheu's _Dictionary in Eleven Languages_
having been published in this manner in 1617. The terms were £10 per
copy, or £50 for six copies. The estimated cost of the first volume was
£1500, and of succeeding volumes £1200, and such was the spirit with
which the work was taken up that £9000 was subscribed before the first
volume was put to press.
To the texts which had appeared in previous Polyglotts, Persian and
Ethiopic were added, so that in all nine languages were included in the
work--that is, Hebrew, Latin, Greek, Chaldean, Syriac, Arabic,
Samaritan, Persian, and Ethiopic--besides much additional matter in the
form of tables, lexicons, and grammars. No single book was printed in
all of these, only the Greek, Latin, Syriac, and Arabic running
throughout the work, while the Hebrew appears in the Old Testament, the
Psalms in Ethiopic, and the New Testament has, in addition to the four
principal texts, the Ethiopic and Persian.
The whole work occupied six folio volumes, measuring 16 x 10-3/4, and
was printed by Thomas Roycroft from types supplied by the four
recognised typefounders. At the commencement of the first volume is a
portrait of Walton by Bombert, followed by an elaborately engraved
title-page, the work of Wenceslaus Hollar, an architectural design
adorned with scenes from Scripture history. The second title-page was
printed in red ink, and the text was so arranged that each double page,
when open, showed all the versions of the same passage. The types used
in this work have been described in detail by Rowe Mores in his
_Dissertations upon English Founders_, and by Talbot Baines Reed in his
work upon the _Old English Letter Foundries_ (Chap. vii. pp. 164, _et
seqq._). Speaking of the English founts, the last-named writer points
out that the double pica, Roman and italic, seen in the Dedication, is
the same fount that was cut by the sixteenth-century printer, John Day,
and used by him to print the _Life of Alfred the Great_. Mr. Reed adds
that, in spite of a certain want of uniformity in the bodies, the
Ethiopic and Samaritan were especially good, and the Syriac and Arabic
boldly cut.
But it was not only for its typographic excellence that the book was
remarkable. The rapidity with which this great undertaking passed
through the press is no less astonishing. All six volumes were printed
within four years, the first appearing in September 1654, the second in
1655, the third in 1656, and the last three in 1657. Looking at the
labour involved by such an undertaking, it has been rightly described by
Mr. T. B. Reed as a lasting glory to the typography of the seventeenth
century.
Oliver Cromwell, under whose government this noble work was
accomplished, had assisted, as far as lay in his power, by permitting
the importation of the paper free of duty; and in the first editions
this assistance was gracefully acknowledged by the editor, but on the
Restoration those passages were altered or omitted to make room for
compliments to Charles II.
Amongst those who ably assisted Walton in his labours was Dr. Edmund
Castell, who prepared a _Heptaglott Lexicon_ for the better study of the
various languages used in the Polyglott. This work received the support
of all the learned men of the time, but the undertaking was the ruin of
its author, and a great part of the impression perished in the
destruction of Roycroft's premises in the Great Fire of 1666.
The Restoration brought with it little change in the conditions under
which printing was carried on in England, or in the lot of the printers
themselves. There is still preserved in the Public Record Office a
document which throws considerable light on this matter, and is believed
to have been drawn up either in 1660 or in 1661. This is a petition
signed by eleven of the leading London printers, for the incorporation
of the printers into a body distinct from the Company of Stationers, and
appended to it are the 'reasons' for the proposed change, which occupy
four or five closely written folio sheets. The men who put forward this
petition were:--
RICHARD HODGKINSON,
JOHN GRISMOND,
ROBERT IBBOTSON,
THOMAS MABB,
DA[NIEL?] MAXWELL,
THOMAS ROYCROFT,
WILLIAM GODBID,
JO[HN] STREATOR,
JAMES COTTREL,
JOHN HAYES, and
JOHN BRUDENELL;
and it was undoubtedly this band of men, some of them the biggest men in
the trade, who formed the 'Companie of Printers,' for whom in 1663 a
pamphlet was issued, entitled _A Brief Discourse concerning Printers and
Printing_. For the printed pamphlet embodies the same views put forward
in the petition, only backed up with fresh evidence and terse arguments.
The claim of the printers amounted to this, that the Company of
Stationers had become mainly a Company of Booksellers, that in order to
cheapen printing they had admitted a great many more printers than were
necessary, and from this cause arose the great quantity of 'scandalous
and seditious' books that were constantly being published. They go on to
say that the condition of the great body of printers was deplorable,
'they can hardly subsist in credit to maintain their families ... When
an ancient printer died, and his copies were exposed to sale, few or
none of the young ones were of ability to deal for them, nor indeed for
any other, so that the Booksellers have engross'd almost all.' The
petitioners show also that the Company of Stationers was grown so large
that none could be Master or Warden until he was well advanced in life,
and therefore unable to keep a vigilant eye on the trade, while a
printer did not become Master once in ten or twenty years. They argue
that the best expedient for checking these disorders and ensuring lawful
printing, would be to incorporate the printers into a distinct body, and
they advocate the registration of presses, the right of search, and the
enforcement of sureties. Finally, they claim that this plan would also
do much to improve printing as an art, as under the existing conditions
there was no encouragement to the printers to produce good work.
This petition, though it does not seem to have received any official
reply, was noticed by Sir Roger L'Estrange in the Proposals which he
laid before the House of Parliament, and which undoubtedly formed the
basis of the Act of 1662. Sir Roger L'Estrange had been an active
adherent of the Royal cause, and soon after the Restoration, on the 22nd
February 1661-2, he was granted a warrant to search for and seize
unlicensed presses and seditious books (_State Papers_, Charles II. Vol.
li. No. 6). A list is still extant of books which he had seized at the
office of John Hayes, one of the signatories of the above petition. So
that although the office of Surveyor of the Press was not officially
created until 1663, it is clear from the issue of the warrant, and also
from the fact of L'Estrange having been directed to draw up proposals
for the regulation of the Press, that he was acting in that capacity
more than a twelvemonth earlier. His proposals were, in 1663, printed in
pamphlet form with the title, _Considerations and Proposals in order to
the Regulation of the Press_, and were dedicated to the King, and also
to the House of Lords; and they contain much that is interesting. He
states that hundreds of thousands of seditious papers had been allowed
to go abroad since the King's return, and that there had been printed
ten or twelve impressions of _Farewell Sermons_, to the number of thirty
thousand, since the Act of Uniformity, adding that the very persons
who had the care of the Press (_i.e._ the Company of Stationers) had
connived at its abuse. In support of this statement he pointed out that
Presbyterian pamphlets were rarely suppressed, that rich offenders were
passed over, and scarcely any of those who were caught were ever brought
to justice. He gives the number of printers then at work in London as
sixty, the number of apprentices about a hundred and sixty, besides a
large number of journeymen; and he proposed at once to reduce the number
of printers to twenty, with a corresponding reduction of apprentices and
journeymen. As this would throw a large number of men out of work, he
further proposed a scheme for the relief of necessitous and
supernumerary printers. He calculated that the twelve impressions of the
_Farewell Sermons_, allowing a thousand copies to each impression, had
yielded a profit, 'beside the charge of paper and printing,' of £3300,
and he advised that this sum should be levied as a fine upon those
booksellers who had sold the book, and be placed to a fund for the
benefit of the suppressed printers, the balance of the sum required to
be levied on other seditious publications!
[Illustration: SIR ROGER L'ESTRANGE.]
In this pamphlet L'Estrange gave the titles of most of the pamphlets to
which he objected, with brief extracts from them, and the names of the
printers and publishers, amongst whom were Thomas Brewster, Giles
Calvert, Simon Dover, and one other, whose name is not mentioned, but
who is referred to as holding a highly profitable office. The reference
may be to Thomas Newcomb.
At pages 26 and 27 L'Estrange notices the petition of certain of the
printers to be incorporated as a separate body. He says 'that it were a
hard matter to pick out twenty master printers, who are both free of the
trade, of ability to manage it, and of integrity to be entrusted with
it, most of the honester sort being impoverished by the late times, and
the great business of the press being engross'd by Oliver's creatures.'
He admits that the Company of Stationers and Booksellers are largely
responsible for the great increase of presses, being anxious to have
their books printed as cheaply as possible, but thinks that there would
be as much abuse of power among incorporated printers as among the
Company of Stationers.
The Act of 1662, which was mainly based on L'Estrange's report, was in a
large measure a re-enactment of the Star Chamber decree of 1637. The
number of printers in London was limited to twenty, the type-founders to
four, and the other clauses of the earlier decree were reinforced, but
with one notable concession. Hitherto printing outside London had been
restricted to the two Universities, but in the new Act the city of York
was expressly mentioned as a place where printing might be carried on.
This new Act was enforced for a time with greater severity than the old
one, and under it, for the first time in English history, a printer
suffered the penalty of death for the liberty of the press.
The story of the trial and condemnation of John Twyn is told in vol. 6
of Cobbett's _State Trials_, and was also published in pamphlet form
with the title, _An exact narrative of the Tryal and condemnation of
John Twyn, for Printing and Dispersing of a Treasonable Book, With the
Tryals of Thomas Brewster, bookseller, Simon Dover, printer, Nathan
Brooks, bookseller ... in the Old Bayly, London, the 20th and 22nd
February 166-3/4_.
John Twyn was a small printer in Cloth Fair, and his crime was that of
printing a pamphlet entitled _A Treatise of the Execution of Justice_,
in which, as it was alleged, there were several passages aimed at the
King's life and the overthrow of the Government. It was further stated
by the prosecution that the pamphlet was part of a plot for a general
rebellion that was to have taken effect on the 12th October 1662. The
chief witnesses against Twyn were Joseph Walker, his apprentice, Sir
Roger L'Estrange, and Thomas Mabb, a printer. Their evidence went to
show that Twyn had two presses; that he composed part of the book,
printed some of the sheets, and corrected the proofs, the work being
done secretly at night-time. On entering the premises it was found that
the forme of type had been broken up, only one corner of it remaining
standing, and that the printed sheets had been hurriedly thrown down
some stairs. In defence Twyn declared that he had received the copy from
Widow Calvert's maid, and had received 40s. on account, with more to
follow on completion, and he stoutly asserted that he did not know the
nature of the work. The jury, amongst whom were Richard Royston and
Simon Waterson, booksellers, and James Fletcher and Thomas Roycroft,
printers, returned a verdict of Guilty, and Twyn was condemned to death
and executed at Tyburn.
The charge against Simon Dover was of printing the pamphlet entitled
_The Speeches of some of the late King's Justices_, which we have
already seen that Roger L'Estrange had seized in John Hayes' premises,
while Thomas Brewster was accused of causing this and another pamphlet,
entitled _The Phœnix of the Solemn League and Covenant_, to be
printed. In defence, Thomas Brewster declared that booksellers did not
read the books they sold; so long as they could earn a penny they were
satisfied--an argument that had been used more than a century before by
old Robert Copland as an excuse for indifferent printing. Both Dover
and Brewster were condemned to pay a fine of 100 marks, to stand in the
pillory, and to remain prisoners during the King's pleasure. Sir Roger
L'Estrange, as a reward for his services, was appointed Surveyor of the
Press, with permission to publish a news-sheet of his own, and liberty
to harass the printers as much as possible.
But far greater calamities than the malice of Sir Roger L'Estrange could
devise fell upon the printing trade by the outbreak of the Plague in
1665, and the subsequent Fire of London. In a letter written by
L'Estrange to Lord Arlington, and dated 16th October 1665, he stated
that eighty of the printers had died of the Plague (_Cal. of S. P._
1665-6, p. 20), in which total he evidently included workmen as well as
masters. The loss occasioned by the stoppage of trade and flight of the
citizens must have been enormous, and yet it may have been slight in
comparison to that occasioned by the Great Fire. Curiously enough,
however, there are very few records showing the effect of this second
disaster upon the printing trade. We find a petition by Christopher
Barker, the King's printer, to be allowed to import paper free of charge
in consequence of his loss by the Fire, and the same indulgence is
granted to the Stationers' Company as a body and the Universities; but
there are no notes of individual losses, and only one or two references
to MSS. that were destroyed in it. There is, however, one very eloquent
testimony to the ruin it caused in this, as in other trades. The
coercive Act of 1662, which had been renewed with unfailing regularity
from session to session down to the year 1665, was not renewed during
the remainder of the reign of Charles II. On the 24th of July 1668 a
return was made of all the printing-houses in London, which shows at a
glance who had survived and who had suffered by that terrible calamity
(see Appendix II.).
Comparing this list with that of 1649, we find that no inconsiderable
number of the printers there mentioned had survived the thinning-out
process, as well as imprisonment, death, and fire. In fact, only eight
London printers were actually ruined by the Fire, and among them we find
both John Hayes and John Brudenell, and also Alice Warren.
But another paper, written in the same year, and preserved in the same
volume of State Papers,[13] is even more interesting, for it shows the
position of every man in the trade. This is headed--
_A Survey of the Printing Presses with the names and numbers of
Apprentices, Officers, and Workemen belonging to every particular press.
Taken 29 July 1668_. (See Appendix III.).
From this we learn that the largest employer in the trade at that time
was James Fletcher, who kept five presses, and employed thirteen workmen
and two apprentices. Next to him came Thomas Newcomb, with three presses
and a proof press, twelve workmen and one apprentice; John Maycocke,
with three presses, ten workmen and three apprentices; and then
Roycroft, with four presses, ten workmen and two apprentices; while at
the other end of the scale was Thomas Leach, with one press, not his
own, and one workman.
Whether L'Estrange carried out his threat of prosecuting the three men
who had set up since the Act, we do not know, but this is certain, that
one of their number, John Darby, continued to work for many years after
this, and was the printer of Andrew Marvell's _Rehearsal Transposed_,
and a good deal else that galled the Government very much. In fact, the
Act of 1662 was openly ignored, and new men set up presses every year.
But of all this work it is almost impossible to trace what was done by
individual printers. The bulk of the publications of the time bore the
bookseller's name only, and it is very rarely indeed that the printer is
revealed. Newcomb had the printing of the _Gazette_, and also printed
most of Dryden's works that were published by Herringman; while
Roycroft, we know, was employed by all those who wanted the best
possible work, such men as John Ogilby, for instance, for whom he
printed several works. Milton's _Paradise Lost_ came from the press of
Peter Parker; but the printer of Bunyan's _Pilgrim's Progress_ is
unknown to us.
As it happens, there is not much lost by remaining in ignorance on this
point. For no change whatever took place in the character of printing as
a trade during the second half of the seventeenth century. There were
only three foundries of note in London during that time, and none of
them is considered to have produced anything particularly good. Indeed,
one has only to glance at even the best work of that time to see how
wretchedly the majority of the type was cast. The first of the three was
the celebrated Joseph Moxon, who, in 1659, added type-founding to his
other callings of mathematician and hydrographer. Having spent some
years in Holland, he was very much enamoured of the Dutch types, and in
1676 he wrote a book entitled _Regulæ Trium Ordinum Literarum
Typographicarum_, in which he endeavoured to prove that each letter
should be cast in exact mathematical proportion, and illustrated his
theory by several letters cast in that manner. Similar theories had been
propounded in earlier days by Albert Durer and the French printer,
Geoffrey Tory, but no improvement in printing ever resulted from them.
Moxon's foundry was fitted with a large assortment of letter, but his
work, judging from the examples left to us, was certainly not up to the
theory which he put forward, and he is best remembered for his useful
work on printing, which formed the second part of his _Mechanick
Exercises_, and was published in 1683. In this he showed an intimate
knowledge of every branch of printing and type-founding, and his book is
still a standard work on both these subjects. Moxon retired from
business some years before his death, and was succeeded in 1683 by
Joseph and Robert Andrews, who, in addition to Moxon's founts, had a
large assortment of others. Their foundry was particularly rich in Roman
and Italic, and the learned founts, and they also had matrices of
Anglo-Saxon and Irish. But their work was not by any means good.
The third of these letter foundries was that of James and Thomas Grover
in Angel Alley, Aldersgate Street, who after Moxon's retirement shared
with Andrews the whole of the English trade. The most notable founts in
their possession were, a pica and longprimer Roman, from the Royal Press
at Blackfriars, Day's double pica Roman and Italic, and two good founts
of black letter, reputed to have formed part of the stock of Wynkyn de
Worde. They also had the English Samaritan matrices from which the type
for Walton's Polyglott in 1657 had been cast.
Among the types belonging to this foundry was one which, in the
inventory, was returned as New Coptic, but which was in reality a Greek
uncial fount, cut for the specimen of the _Codex Alexandrinus_ which
Patrick Young proposed to print, but did not live to accomplish. The
specimen was printed in 1643 and consisted of the first chapter of
Genesis. It is supposed that this fount remained unknown, under the
title of New Coptic, until 1758, when the Grover foundry passed into the
hands of John James. On the death of Thomas Grover, the foundry remained
in possession of his daughters, who endeavoured to sell it, but without
success, and it remained locked up for many years in the premises of
Richard Nutt, a printer, until 1758 (Reed, _Old English Letter
Foundries_, p. 205).
After a lapse of twenty years, the Act of 1662 was renewed by the first
parliament of James II. (1685) for a period of seven years, and at the
expiration of that time, _i.e._ in 1692, it was renewed for another
twelvemonth, after which we hear no more of it. There is no evidence
that it had been very strictly enforced during its short revival; in
fact it is clear, from the number of presses found in various parts of
the country during the last five and twenty years of the century, that
it had remained practically a dead letter from the time of the Great
Fire.
[Illustration: FIG. 32.--'Fell' Types.]
The troubles of the Civil War had suspended for a time all progress in
printing at Oxford. But on the Restoration it made even greater advances
than it had done at an earlier period of its history. Archbishop Laud
had a worthy successor in Dr. John Fell, who in 1667 enriched the
University by a gift of a complete type-foundry, consisting of punches,
matrices, and founts of Roman, Italic, Orientals, 'Saxons,' and black
letter, besides moulds and other necessary appliances for the production
of type. Dr. Fell also introduced a skilled letter-founder from Holland.
For a couple of years the foundry and printing office were carried on in
private premises hired by Fell, but upon the completion of the
Sheldonian Theatre the printing office was removed to the basement of
that building, the first book bearing the Theatre imprint being _An Ode
in praise of the Theatre and its Founder_, printed in 1669.
Another scholarly benefactor, Francis Junius, presented the University
in 1677 with a splendid collection of type, consisting of Runic, Gothic,
'Saxon,' 'Islandic,' Danish, and 'Swedish,' as well as founts of Roman,
Italic, and other sorts. By the kindness of Mr. Horace Hart, the
Controller of the Clarendon Press, we are able to give here examples of
several of the founts, both of Fell and Junius, in most cases from
surviving specimens of the types themselves.
[Illustration: FIG. 33.--'Fell' Types.]
Very little use seems to have been made of these gifts before the
commencement of the succeeding century. The first Bible printed at
Oxford was that of 1674, and no important editions of the classics
issued from the University press of this period.
It was left to Cambridge to issue the best works of this class, for
which that University borrowed the Oxford types, having no type-foundry
of its own. These editions, chiefly in quarto, came from the press of
Thomas Buck, who had succeeded Roger Daniel as printer to the
University. Buck was in turn succeeded by John Field, who turned out
some very creditable work, notably the folio Bible of 1660. John Hayes,
the next of the Cambridge printers, issued some notable books, such as
Robertson's _Thesaurus_,1676, 4to, and Barnes's _History of Edward
III._, 1688, 4to, but the bulk of the work that came from the Cambridge
press at this date was of a theological character, and was none too well
printed.
The history of other provincial presses of this period is very meagre.
Mr. Allnutt, to whose valuable papers in the second volume of
_Bibliographica_ I am indebted for the following notes, expresses the
belief that in several cases local knowledge would show that presses
were at work some years earlier than the dates he has given.
[Illustration: FIG. 34.--'Junius' Types.]
At the time of the Civil War, Robert Barker, the King's printer, had in
1639 been commanded to attend His Majesty in his march against the
Scots, and printed several proclamations, news-sheets, etc., at
Newcastle-on-Tyne in that year. He is next found at York, where some
thirty-nine different sheets, etc., have been traced from his press, and
in 1642 a second press was at work in the same city, that of Stephen
Bulkeley. When York fell into the hands of the Parliament, Bulkeley's
press was silent for a while, and his place was taken by Thomas Broad,
who printed there from 1644 to 1660, and was succeeded by his widow,
Alice, who disappears in 1667. After the Restoration, Bulkeley again set
up his press at York, where he continued down to 1680. Barker in 1642
had been summoned to attend the King at Nottingham, but no specimen of
his work bearing that imprint is known, and the next heard of him is at
Bristol, some time in 1643, Mr. Allnutt mentioning ten pieces from his
press at this place.
In 1645 Thomas Fuller issued in small duodecimo, a collection of pious
thoughts, which he aptly termed _Good Thoughts in Bad Times_, and in the
Dedication to it expressly stated that it was 'the first fruits of the
Exeter presse.' There was no printer's name in the volume, and no other
work printed in Exeter at that time is known. In 1688, however, another
press was started there, and printed several political broadsides
relative to the Prince of Orange. A new start was made in 1698, when a
small pamphlet was printed in this city.
Stephen Bulkeley, the York printer, appears to have gone from that city
to Newcastle in 1646, and continued printing there until 1652. He then
removed to Gateshead, where he remained until after the Restoration,
subsequently returning to Newcastle, and so back to York. No more is
heard of printing in Newcastle until the opening of the eighteenth
century.
A press was established in Bristol in the year 1695 and in Plymouth and
Shrewsbury in the year 1696.
In America the progress of printing was very slow throughout the
seventeenth century. Until 1660, Samuel Green, at Cambridge,
Massachusetts, remained the only printer in the colony. But in that year
the Corporation for the propagation of the Gospel in New England among
the Indians sent over from London another press, a large supply of good
letter, and a printer named Marmaduke Johnson, for the purpose of
printing an edition of the Bible in the Indian tongue. This press was
set up in the same building as that in which Green was already at work,
and the two printers seem to have worked together at the production of
the Bible, which appeared in quarto form in 1663, the New Testament
having been published two years earlier. Johnson died in the year 1675,
but Samuel Green continued to print until 1702. After his death the
press at Cambridge was silent for some years.
In 1675 a press was established at Boston by John Foster, a graduate of
Harvard College, under a licence from the College. Besides the official
work of the colony and theological literature, he printed several
pamphlets on the war between the English and the Indians. He died in
1681, when he was succeeded by Samuel Green, junior, who continued
printing there until 1690. In the following year three printers' names
are found in the imprints of books: R. Pierce, Benjamin Harris, and John
Allen. Benjamin Harris is afterwards called 'Printer to his Excellency,
the Governor and Council,' but in 1693 Harris removed from 'over against
the Old Meeting House,' to 'the Bible over against the Blew Anchor,' and
another printer, Bartholomew Green, seems to have shared with him the
official work.
Pennsylvania was the next of the colonies to establish a press; its
first printer, William Bradford, setting up there in 1685, in which year
he printed _Kalendarium Pennsilvaniense, or, America's Messinger, Being
an Almanack for the Year of Grace 1686_.
In 1688 Bradford issued proposals for printing a large Bible (Hildeburn,
_Issues of the Pennsylvania Press_, vol. i. p. 9), but they came to
nothing. In 1692 he printed several pamphlets for George Keith, the
leader of the schism among the Quakers, and for this he was imprisoned.
On his release he removed to New York. A press was also set up in
Virginia in 1682, but was suppressed, and no printing allowed there
until 1729. The name of the printer is not known, but is believed to
have been William Nuthead, who set up a press in Maryland in 1689 with a
similar result.
The first printer in New York was William Bradford, who began work there
on the 10th April 1693. Among his most famous publications before the
close of the seventeenth century was Keith's _Truth Advanced_, a quarto
of 224 pages, printed on paper manufactured at his own mill and issued
in 1694; in the same year he also printed _The Laws and Acts of the
General Assembly_.
[Footnote 13: _Dom. S. P., Chas. II._, vol. 243, p. 181.]
APPENDIX No. I
LIST OF ENGLISH PRINTERS 1649-50
NAME OF PRINTER ADDRESS
Alsop, Bernard, Grub Street.
Austin, Robert, Addlehill.
Bell, Jane, Christchurch.
Bentley, William, Finsbury.
Bishop, Richard, St. Peter Paul's Wharf.
Broad, Thomas, City of York.
Brudenell, Thomas, Newgate Market.
Buck, John, Cambridge.
Buck, or Bucks, Thomas, Cambridge.
Clowes, John, Grub Street.
Coe, Andrew, ...
Cole, Peter, ...
Coles, Amos, Ivy Lane.
Constable, Richard, Smithfield.
Cotes, or Coates, Richard, Aldersgate Street.
Cottrell, James, ...
Crouch, Edward, ...
Crouch, John, ...
Dawson, Gertrude, Aldersgate Street.
Dugard, William, Merchant Taylors' School.
Ellis, William, Thames Street.
Field, John, ...
Fletcher, or Flesher, James, Little Britain.
Griffith, or Griffin, Edward, Old Bailey.
Grismond, John, Ivy Lane.
Hall, Henry, Oxford.
Hare, Adam, Red Cross Street.
Harper, Thomas, Little Britain.
Harrison, Martha, ...
Heldersham, Francis, ...
Hills, Henry, Southwark.
Hunscott, Joseph, Stationers' Hall.
Hunt, William, Pie Corner.
Husbands, Edward, Golden Dragon, Fleet Street.
Ibbitson, Robert, Smithfield.
Lee, William, Fleet Street.
Leyborne, Robert, Mugwell Street.
Litchfield, Leonard, Oxford.
Mabb, Thomas, Ivy Lane.
Maxey, Thomas, Bennett Paul's Wharf.
Maycock, John, Addlehill.
Meredith, Christopher, St. Paul's Churchyard.
Miller, Abraham, Blackfriars.
Mottershead, Edward, Doctors' Commons.
Moxon, James, Houndsditch.
Neale, Francis, Aldersgate Street.
Newcombe, Thomas, Bennett Paul's Wharf, near Baynards Castle.
Norton, Roger, Blackfriars.
Partridge, John, Blackfriars.
Payne, or Paine, Thomas, ...
Playford, John, ...
Purslowe, Elizabeth, Little Old Bailey.
Ratcliffe, Thomas, Doctors' Commons.
Raworth, Ruth, ...
Ross, Thomas, ...
Rothwell, John, ...
Royston, John, } ...
Royston, Richard,}
Roycroft, Thomas, ...
Simmons, Matthew, ...
Thompson, George, ...
Tyton, Francis, ...
Walkeley, Thomas ...
Warren, Thomas, ...
Wilson, William, ...
Wright, John, ...
Wright, William, ...
APPENDIX No. II
List of severall printing houses taken ye 24th July 1668:--
The Kings printing office in English.
The Kings printing office in Hebrew, Greek, and Latine. Roger Norton.
The Kings printer in ye Oriental tongues. Thomas Roycroft.
Collonell John Streater by an especial provisoe in ye Act. [The same
who in 1653 had been committed to the Gatehouse for printing seditious
pamphlets.]
The other Masters are
Mr. Evan Tyler.
" Robert White.
" James Flesher.
" Richard Hodgkinson.
" Thomas Ratliffe.
" John Maycocke.
" John Field.
" Thomas Newcomb.
" William Godbid.
" John Redman.
" Thomas Johnson.
" Nath Crouch.
" Thomas Purslowe.
" Peter Lillicrapp.
" Thomas Leach.
" Henry Lloyd.
" Thomas Milbourne.
" James Cottrell.
" Andrew Coe.
" Henry Bridges.
Widdowes of printers:--
Mrs. Sarah Gryffyth.
" Cotes.
" Simmons.
" Anne Maxwell.
Custome house printer.
Printers yt were Masters at ye passeing of ye Act wch are
disabled by ye fire:--
Mr. John Brudenall.
" Hayes.
" Child.
" Warren.
" Leybourne.
" Wood.
" Vaughan.
" Ouseley.
Printers set up since ye Act and contrary to it:--
Mr. William Rawlins.
" John Winter
" John Darby.
" Edward Oakes.
(_Dom. S. P. Chas. II_., vol. 243, No. 126.)
APPENDIX No. III
NUMBER OF PRESSES AND WORKMEN EMPLOYED IN THE PRINTING-HOUSES OF LONDON
IN 1668
At the King's House, 6 Presses.
8 Compositors.
10 Pressmen.
At Mr. Tyler's, 3 Presses and a Proofe Press.
1 Apprentice.
6 Workmen.
At Mr. White's, 3 Presses.
3 Apprentices.
7 Workmen.
At Mr. Flesher's, 5 Presses.
2 Apprentices.
13 Workmen.
At Mr. Norton's, 3 Presses.
1 Apprentice.
7 Workmen.
At Mr. Rycroft's [Roycroft's] 4 Presses.
2 Apprentices.
10 Workmen [three of whom were not free
of the Company.]
At Mr. Ratcliffe's, 2 Presses.
2 Apprentices.
7 Workmen.
At Mr. Maycock's, 3 Presses.
3 Apprentices.
10 Workmen.
At Mr. Newcombe's, 3 Presses and a Proof Press.
1 Apprentice.
7 Compositors.
5 Pressmen.
At Mr. Godbidd's, 3 Presses.
2 Apprentices.
5 Workmen.
At Mr. Streater's, 5 Presses.
6 Compositors.
2 Pressmen.
At Mr. Milbourne's, 2 Presses,
0 Apprentices.
2 Workmen.
At Mr. Catterell's [Cottrell?], 2 Presses.
0 Apprentices.
2 Compositors.
1 Pressman.
At Mrs. Symond's, 2 Presses.
1 Apprentice.
5 Workmen.
At Mrs. Cotes, 3 Presses.
2 Apprentices.
9 Pressmen.
At Mrs. Griffin's, 2 Presses.
1 Apprentice.
6 Workmen.
At Mr. Leach's, 1 Press and no more provided by Mr. Graydon.
1 Workman.
At Mr. Maxwell's, 2 Presses,
0 Apprentice.
3 Compositors.
3 Pressmen.
At Mr. Lillicropp's, 1 Press.
1 Apprentice,
1 Compositor.
1 Pressman.
At Mr. Redman's, 2 Presses.
1 Apprentice.
4 Compositors.
2 Pressmen.
At Mr. Cowes [Coe's?], 1 Press.
At Mr. Lloyd's, 1 Press.
At Mr. Oake's, 2 Presses.
0 Apprentices.
2 Workmen.
At Mr. Purslowe's, 1 Press.
0 Apprentices.
1 Workman.
At Mr. Johnson's, 2 Presses.
0 Apprentices.
3 Workmen.
Mr. Darby, } These three printers are
Mr. Winter, } to be indicted at ye next
Mr. Rawlyns, } session.
At Mr. Crouch's, 1 Press.
0 Apprentices.
1 Workman.
CHAPTER IX
1700-1750
Having to some extent shaken itself free from the cramping influences of
monopolies and State interference, the output of the English printing
press at the commencement of the eighteenth century had almost doubled
that of thirty or forty years before, and presses were now at work in
various parts of the kingdom. But the long period of thraldom had
resulted in completely destroying all originality amongst the printers,
and almost in the destruction of the art of letter-founding. In fact, so
far as printing with English types was concerned, the first twenty years
of the eighteenth century was the worst period in the history of
printing in this country. With the exception of the University of
Oxford, which, owing to the generous bequests of Bishop Fell and others,
was well supplied with good founts, the printers of this country were
compelled to obtain their type from Holland, and all the best and most
important books published in Queen Anne's days were printed with Dutch
letter, as it was called. Jacob Tonson is said to have spent some £300
in obtaining this foreign letter, and one important English foundry,
that of Thomas James, was almost wholly stocked with these foreign
founts. Yet this Dutch letter was by no means easy to get, and the
experience of James, who in 1710 went to Holland for the purpose, bore
out what Moxon had said in his _Mechanick Exercises_, that the art of
letter-cutting was jealously guarded by those who practised it. Some of
the Dutch typefounders refused to sell him types on any terms, and it
was only by getting hold of a man who was more fond of his liquor than
his trade, that James was able to get matrices, for even this individual
refused to sell his punches. Nor was the vendor in any hurry to part
with the matrices, and it cost James much money, time, and patience
before he was able to secure them. Writing from Rotterdam on the 27th
July in that year, he says:--
'The beauty of letters, like that of faces, is as people opine, ...
All the Romans excel what we have in England, in my opinion, and I
hope, being well wrought, I mean cast, will gain the approbation of
very handsome letters. The Italic I do not look upon to be
unhandsome, though the Dutch are never very extraordinary in them.'
James returned to England with 3500 matrices of various founts of Roman
and Italics, as well as sets of Greek and some black letter. He set up
his foundry in a part of the buildings belonging to the Priory of St.
Bartholomew, in Smithfield, and it continued to be the most important in
London until the days of Caslon. The proportion of Dutch to English
types in the printing offices at that time is well illustrated by the
valuable list of the types possessed by John Baskett, the Royal printer
at Oxford, in the year 1718. The Royal printing-house was perhaps the
largest and most lucrative office in the kingdom. For upwards of a
century it had been owned by the descendants of Christopher Barker, the
last of whom, Robert Barker, had died in 1645, after assigning his
business to Messrs. Newcomb, Hill, Mearne, and others. From these the
patent was bought in 1709 by John Baskett, of whose antecedents nothing
whatever is known. In addition to the business at Blackfriars, Baskett,
in conjunction with John Williams and Samuel Ashurst, obtained a lease
from the Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars of Oxford University of their
privilege of printing for twenty-one years. From an indenture in the
possession of Mr. J. H. Round, the substance of which he communicated to
the _Athenæum_ of September 5th, 1885, it appears that on the 24th
December 1718 Baskett gave a bond to James Brooks, stationer of London,
for a loan of £4000, and for security mortgaged his stock, which was
set out in a schedule as follows:--
'An Account of the Letter, Presses, and other Stock and Implements
of and in the Printing house at Oxford, belonging to John Baskett,
citizen and stationer of London.'
1. A large ffount of Perle letter cast by Mr Andrews.
2. A large ffount of Nonpl Letter new cast by ditto.
3. Another ffount of Nonpl Letter, old, the which standing and
sett up in a Com'on prayer in 24mo compleat.
4. A large ffount of Minn Letter new cast by Mr Andrews.
5. Another large ffount of Minn Letter, new cast in Holland.
6. The whole Testament standing in Brevr and Minn Letter,
old.
7. A large ffount of Brevr Letter, new cast in Holland.
8. A very large ffount of Lo: Primer Letter, new cast by Mr
Andrew.
9. A large ffount of pica Letter very good, cast by ditto.
10. Another large ffount of ditto, never used, cast in Holland.
11. A small quantity of English, new cast by Mr Andrews.
12. A small quantity of Great Primr new cast by ditto.
13. A very large ffount of Double Pica, new, the largest in
England.
14. A quantity of two-line English letters.
15. A quantity of French Cannon, two-line letters of all sorts, and
a set of silver initial letters. Cases, stands, etc. Five printing
presses very good.
John Baskett is chiefly remembered for the magnificent edition of the
Bible which he printed in 1716-1717, in two volumes imperial folio, and
which from an error in the headline of the 20th chapter of St. Luke,
where the parable of the Vineyard was rendered as the 'parable of the
Vinegar,' has ever since been known as the 'Vinegar Bible.' This slip
was only one of many faults in the edition, which earned for it the
title of 'A Baskett-full of printer's errors.' But apart from these
errors, the book was a very splendid specimen of the printer's art, and
has been described as the most magnificent of the Oxford Bibles. The
type, double pica Roman and Italic, was beautifully cut, and was that
which is described in the above list as the 'largest in England.' It was
clearly not one of the founts belonging to the University, for, had it
been, Baskett would have had no power to mortgage it. It is also
noticeable that it was not described as 'cast in Holland,' as many of
the others were, so we may infer that it was cast in England, and an
interesting question arises, by whom? Clearly it was not cast by Mr.
Andrews, or Baskett would have said so.
During a great part of his life, Baskett was engaged in litigation over
his monopoly of Bible printing, and in spite of the large profits
attached to it, he became bankrupt in 1732. Further trouble fell upon
him in 1738 by the destruction of his office by fire. He died on June
22nd, 1742. At one period he had been in danger of losing his patent
altogether, for Queen Anne was induced by Lord Bolingbroke and others to
constitute Benjamin Tooke and John Barber to be Royal printers in
reversion, in anticipation of the ending of Baskett's lease in 1739; but
Baskett purchased this reversion from Barber, and afterwards obtained a
renewal of his patent for sixty years, the last thirty of which were
subsequently acquired by Charles Eyre for £10,000.
John Barber, who for a time held the reversion of Baskett's patent, was
the only printer who has ever held the high office of Lord Mayor of
London, and for this reason among others he deserves a brief notice. He
was born of poor parents in 1675, and according to one account was
greatly helped in early life by Nathaniel Settle, the city poet.
He was apprenticed to Mrs. Clark, a printer in Thames Street, and
proving himself a steady and good workman, was able to set up for
himself in 1700. His first printing-house was in Queen's Head Alley,
whence he soon afterwards moved to Lambeth Hill, near Old Fish Street.
Accounts differ as to his first work. Curll, in his _Impartial History
of the Life, Character, etc., of Mr. John Barber_ (London, 1741), says
that the alderman himself admitted that the first fifty pounds he could
call his own were earned by printing a pamphlet written by Charles
D'Avenant; while in the _Life and Character_, another pamphlet printed
in the same year for T. Cooper, it is said that it was Defoe's _Diet of
Poland_ which brought him the first money he laid up. It is also said
that he was greatly indebted to Dean Swift for his rapid advancement.
By whatever means it was accomplished, Barber was introduced to Henry
St. John, afterwards Lord Bolingbroke, and was engaged as printer to the
Ministry, his printing-house becoming the meeting-place of the
statesmen, poets, and wits of the day. Barber was himself a genial
companion and hard drinker, who spent his money freely, and in this way
made many friends. He printed for Dean Swift, for Pope, Matthew Prior,
and Dr. King, and was also the printer of nearly all the writings of the
versatile and unhappy Mrs. Manley. The story of her connection with
Barber is sufficiently well known.
At the time of the South Sea scheme Barber took large shares, and, it is
said, amassed a considerable fortune before the bubble burst. But he was
indebted mainly to the patronage of Lord Bolingbroke for his success as
a printer. Through that statesman he obtained the contract for printing
the votes of the House of Commons, and by the same influence he became
printer of the _London Gazette_, _The Examiner_, and _Mercator_, printer
to the City of London, and finally received from the Queen the reversion
of the office of Royal Printer, which he soon after relinquished to
Baskett for £1500.
Elected as alderman of Baynard Castle ward, Barber filled the office of
Sheriff, and in 1733 became Lord Mayor of the City of London. As Lord
Mayor, he gained great popularity from his opposition to the Excise
Bill, and by permitting persons tried and acquitted at the Old Bailey to
be discharged without any fees. He died on the 22nd January 1740.
Much amusement, not altogether unmixed with uneasiness, was caused in
the printing trade between 1727 and 1740 by a futile attempt to
introduce stereotyping. A Scotch printer having complained to a
goldsmith in Edinburgh of the vexatious delays and inconvenience of
having to send to London or Holland for type, it occurred to William
Ged, the goldsmith in question, that, to use the words of Timperley (p.
584), the transition from founding single letters to founding whole
pages, 'should be no difficult matter.' He made several experiments, and
at length satisfied himself that his scheme was practicable.
Accordingly, in 1727, he entered into a contract with an Edinburgh
printer to carry out the invention, but after two years his partner
withdrew, being alarmed at the probable cost. Ged then entered into
partnership with William Fenner, a stationer in London, by whom he was
introduced to Thomas James, the founder, and a company was formed to
work the scheme. But James, perhaps influenced by the representations of
his 'compositors,' whom the new invention threatened with the loss of
work, instead of helping, did his utmost to ruin the undertaking and its
inventor. Instead of supplying the best and newest type from which the
matrices might be made, he furnished the worst, whilst his workmen
damaged the formes. Much the same happened at Cambridge, where Ged was
for a time installed as printer to the University. He struggled against
the opposition so far as to produce two Prayer Books, but such was the
animosity shown to the new invention, that the books were suppressed by
authority, and the plates broken up. To add further to his troubles,
dissension broke out between James and Fenner, neither of whom had any
cause to be proud of their action towards Ged, who, disheartened and
ruined, returned to Edinburgh. There another attempt was made by the
friends of the inventor to produce a book, but no compositor could be
found to set up the type, and it was only by Ged's son working at night
that the edition of _Sallust_, and a few theological books, were
finished and printed at Newcastle. Ged died in 1749, and his sons
subsequently emigrated to the West Indies.
Next to the King's printing-house, the press of which we have the most
accurate knowledge at this time was that of William Bowyer, the elder
and the younger. The seven volumes of Nichols's _Literary Anecdotes_
give a complete record of the work of this printing-house, and from them
the following brief account has been taken. William Bowyer, the elder,
had been apprentice to Miles Flesher, and was admitted to the freedom
of the Company of Stationers on October 4th, 1686. He started business
on his own account in Little Britain in 1699, with a pamphlet of
ninety-six pages on the _Eikon Basilike_ controversy. He afterwards
moved into White Friars, where, on the night of January 29th, 1712, his
printing office was burnt to the ground; among the works that perished
in the flames being almost the whole impression of Atkyn's _History of
Gloucestershire_, Sir Roger L'Estrange's _Josephus_, 'printed with a
fine Elzevir letter never used before'; the fifteenth volume of Rymer's
_Fœdera_; Thoresby's _Ducatus Leodiensis_, and an old book, _of
Monarchy_, by Sir John Fortescue, in 'Saxon,' with notes upon it,
printed on an 'extraordinary paper' (Nichols's _Literary Anecdotes_,
vol. i. p. 56). This short list of notable works proves that Bowyer had
a flourishing business at the time of the catastrophe. A subscription
was at once raised for his relief, and £1162 subscribed by the
booksellers and printers in a very short time. A royal brief was also
granted to him for the same purposes, and by this he received £1377,
making a grand total of £2539, with which he began business anew. In
remembrance of his misfortune, Bowyer had several tail-pieces and
devices engraved, representing a phoenix rising from the flames.
In 1715 Bowyer the elder printed Miss Elstob's _Anglo-Saxon Grammar_.
The types for this were cut by Robert Andrews from drawings made by
Humphrey Wanley, and were given to the printer by Lord Chief-Justice
Parker. But these types were very indifferently cut. Wanley himself said
'when the alphabet came into the hands of the workman (who was but a
blunderer) he could not imitate the fine and regular stroke of the pen;
so that the letters are not only clumsy, but unlike those that I drew.'
In 1721 Bowyer printed an edition of Bishop Bull's Latin works in folio,
but lost £200 by the impression. The following year his son, William
Bowyer the younger, joined him in the business.
The younger Bowyer had received an University education, though he never
succeeded in taking a degree. He was, however, a highly cultivated man,
and employed his pen in many of the controversies of the time, writing
_Remarks on Mr. Bowman's Visitation Sermon_ in 1731, and on Stephen's
_Thesaurus_ in 1733, and in 1744 a pamphlet on the _Present State of
Europe_. But at the beginning of his connection with the printing-house,
he was mainly concerned in reading the proofs of the learned works
entrusted to his father for printing, and though towards the latter end
of the elder Bowyer's days the son may have taken a more active part in
the practical work, as we read of his appointment as printer of the
votes in the House of Commons in 1729, and as printer to the Society
of Antiquaries in 1736, it was not until his father's death, in 1737,
that the sole management of the business devolved upon him.
[Illustration: WILLIAM CASLON]
One of the earliest works upon which the younger Bowyer was employed as
'reader' was Dr. Wilkins's edition of Selden's Works, printed by Bowyer
the elder in six folio volumes in 1722. The publication of this book
marks an era in the history of English printing, for the types with
which it was printed were cut by William Caslon.
This famous type-founder, who by his skill raised the art of printing to
a higher level than it had reached since the days of John Day, was born
at Cradley, near Hales Owen in Shropshire. We are indebted for his
biography partly to Bowyer and partly to Nichols, but it must be
confessed that the earlier part of it is vague and unconvincing.
According to this oft-quoted story, Caslon began life as an engraver of
gun-locks, and made blocking tools for binders. This was somewhere about
1716, in which year it is said John Watts, the printer, became his
patron, and employed him to cut type punches. Bowyer became acquainted
with him from seeing some specimen of his lettering on a book, and took
him to the foundry of James, in Bartholomew Close. Bowyer next advanced
him some money, as also did Watts, and with these loans he set up for
himself, his first essay in type-founding being a fount of Arabic for
the Psalter published by the Society for the Promotion of Christian
Knowledge. When he had finished the Arabic, _i.e._ somewhere about 1724
or 1725, he cut his own name in Roman type and placed it at the foot of
the specimen. This attracted the notice of Samuel Palmer, the author of
a very unreliable _History of Printing_, and with Palmer, Caslon worked
for some time, but at length transferred his services to William Bowyer,
for whom he cut the types of the 'Selden.'
It is almost impossible to place any reliance upon so vague and
inconclusive a biography as this. There was a belief in the Caslon
family that he began letter-cutting before 1720, and the equally vague
traditions which point to a later date need not make us treat this as
impossible.
Was his the unknown hand that cut the double pica type which Baskett
used in printing the 'Vinegar' Bible? A close examination of the types
used in that Bible, those used in printing the folio edition of Pope's
_Iliad_, and those of the 'Selden,' reveals a striking resemblance,
especially in the form of the italic letter, and at least makes it clear
that if the two first-mentioned works were printed with Dutch letter,
then it was on the best form of that letter that Caslon modelled his
types.
The charm of Caslon's Roman letter lay in its wonderful regularity as
well as in the shape and proportion of the letters. In this respect it
was a worthy successor to the best Aldine founts of the sixteenth
century. The italic was also noticeable for its beauty and regularity.
Caslon's superiority over all other letter-cutters, English or Dutch,
was quickly recognised, and from this time forward until the close of
the century all the best and most important books were printed with
Caslon's letter; the old letter-founders, such as James and Grover,
being entirely neglected, and even such a powerful rival as John
Baskerville being unable to compete with him.
In addition to the printers in London already noticed, there were two
others who must not be forgotten. Samuel Richardson, author of _Pamela_,
_Clarissa Harlowe_, and _Sir Charles Grandison_, was by trade a printer.
Born in Derbyshire, of humble parents, in 1689, he was apprenticed to
Mr. John Wilde, a printer in London, whom he served for seven years. He
took up his freedom in 1706, and started business for himself in
Salisbury Court, Fleet Street. Among his earliest patrons were the Duke
of Wharton, for whom he printed some six numbers of a paper called the
_True Briton_, and the Right Hon. Arthur Onslow, by whose interest he
obtained the printing of the Journals of the House of Commons. But he
did some better work than this, as in 1732 he printed for Andrew Millar
a good edition in folio of _Churchill's Voyages_, and in 1733 the second
volume of De Thou's _History_, a work in seven folio volumes, edited by
Samuel Buckley, his share in which reflects credit on Richardson as a
printer. Between 1736-37 he printed _The Daily Journal_, and in 1738 the
_Daily Gazeteer_, and in 1740 the newly-formed Society for the
Encouragement of Learning entrusted to him the printing of the first
volume of _The Negociations of Sir Thomas Roe_, in folio. In this the
text was printed in the same type as the De Thou, but the dedication was
in a fount of double pica Roman. This work, which was intended to have
been in six volumes, was never completed.
Richardson's work as an author began in 1741 with the publication of
_Pamela_, in four volumes, duodecimo, printed at his own press.
_Clarissa Harlowe_ appeared in 1747-48, and in 1753 his final novel,
_Sir Charles Grandison_. Through the treachery of one of his workmen in
the printing office, the Dublin booksellers were enabled to issue an
edition of _Sir Charles Grandison_ before the work had left Richardson's
press. He vented his aggrieved feelings by printing a pamphlet, _The
Case of Samuel Richardson of London, Printer_.
In 1755 Richardson rebuilt his premises, and in 1760 he bought half the
patent of law printing, which he shared with Catherine Lintot. His
death took place on the 4th July 1761, his business being afterwards
carried on by his nephew, William Richardson.
The other press to which reference has been made was that of Henry
Woodfall. In the first series of _Notes and Queries_ (vol. xi. pp. 377,
418) an anonymous contributor supplied some very interesting and
valuable notes drawn from the ledgers of that printer between the years
1734 and 1747. Such a record is the most valuable material for a history
of printing, but unfortunately this is the only known instance in which
it is available. It supplies us with the most useful information, the
numbers of copies that went to make up an edition, the quality and cost
of the paper and the number of sheets contained in each volume, with
many other interesting particulars, which it is impossible to get from
any other source. While recognising the value of these extracts from
Woodfall's ledger, the writer hardly seems to have made the most of his
opportunity. In many instances he gives only the title of the work and
the number of copies printed, omitting all particulars as regards the
cost of printing. But even as it stands this series of papers throws
much interesting light upon the publication of some of the notable works
of that period.
Woodfall's printing was broadly divided into two classes, 'gentlemen's
work' and 'booksellers' work,' and the second is naturally the more
interesting.
Among those for whom he printed were Bernard and Henry Lintot, Robert
Dodsley, Andrew Millar, and Lawton Gilliver. Against Bernard Lintot is
the following entry:--
Decr. 15th, 1735--
Printing the first volume of Mr. Pope's Works,
Cr., Long Primer, 8vo, 3000 (and 75 fine), @
£2, 2s. per sheet, 14 sheets and a half, 30. 09. 0
Title in red and black, 1. 1
Paid for 2 reams and 1/4 of writing demy, 2. 16. 3
On May 15, 1736, Woodfall enters to Henry Lintot--
The _Iliad of Homer_ by Mr. Pope, demy,
Long Primer and Brevier. No. 2000 in
6 vols, 68 sheets and 1/2 @ £2, 2s. per sheet, £143. 17
Under Dodsley's account is entered on 12th May 1737--
Printing the _first Epistle of the Second Book
of Horace Imitated_, folio, double size, Poetry,
No. 2000, and 150 fine, [seven] shts., at
27s. per sht., 9. 09. 0
May 18, 1737. 150 fol. titles, _Second Book of
Epistles_, 4. 0
A few weeks later Woodfall received an order from Lawton Gilliver for
1500 crown octavo copies of _Epistles of Horace_, and 100 fine or large
paper copies. The second edition of Pope's Works was also printed by
Woodfall for Henry Lintot, the order being for 2000.
For Andrew Millar Woodfall printed the following works of Thomson the
poet--
Oct. 14th 1734. Spring, a poem, 8vo, 250
copies.
Jan. 8th 173-4/5. Liberty, a poem, 1st part
cr. 8vo, No. 3000, and 250 fine copies.
Of the 4th and 6th parts only 1250 copies were printed.
June 6th, 1738, Mr. Thomson's Works. Vol. I.
No. 1000, 8vo.
With the issue of the second volume the number was increased to 1500.
_The Seasons_ were printed on June 19th, 1744, in octavo. There were
1500 errata in the work, and a special charge of £2, 4s. was made for
'divers and repeated alterations.'
Among the miscellaneous writers whose works were passed through the
elder Woodfall's press was the Rev. John Peters, against whom he entered
an account, dated July 17th, 1735, for printing _Thoughts concerning
Religion_, 4to, 16 sheets. This gentleman was a literary shark, ready to
devour any unprotected morsel that came in his way. The work above
mentioned, and another printed by Woodfall in 1732, called _A Letter to
a Bishop_, were afterwards discovered to be from the pen of Duncan
Forbes, and were published in an edition of his works printed in
Edinburgh and London in 1751. A lawsuit was at once commenced by George
Woodfall and John Peters against the publishers of Forbes' works, the
name of Messrs. Rivington being prominently mentioned, and the
defendants, in their answer, stated that the two works in question were
well known to have been written by Duncan Forbes, and that the MS. was
in the possession of his family.[14]
This little incident, taken in conjunction with Henry Woodfall's
connection with E. Curll and the letters of Pope, and the story told by
Thomas Gent of the printing of _The Bishop of Rochester's Effigy_, shows
that he was a worthy disciple of Iago in the matter of
money-getting.[15]
Mention of Thomas Gent leads naturally to a study of the provincial
press of this period. This is a much more difficult matter than it has
been hitherto, as presses were established not in three or four places
only, but in almost every town of any size. The history of provincial
printing has never yet been written, and the task of tracing out the
various printers and their work would be long and arduous. All that is
attempted here is to give a sketch of the earlier and more important
presses, adding in an appendix a chronological list of the places in
which printing was carried on before 1750.
In the previous chapter it has been shown how the munificence of Bishop
Fell and Francis Junius furnished the University of Oxford with an
unusually large stock of excellent letter of all descriptions, so that
it was in a position to do better work than any other house in the
kingdom. Its productions, during the first twenty years of the
eighteenth century, were in every way worthy of its reputation, and some
of them deserve special mention.
In 1705 Hickes's _Linguarum Vett. Septentrionalium Thesaurus_ was issued
in three large folio volumes of great beauty. The work required many
unusual founts, and these were mainly furnished from the bequest of
Junius.
In 1707 the University published Mill's _Greek Testament_, which Wood in
his _Athenæ Oxonienses_ (vol. ii. p. 604) says had been begun in 1681 at
Bishop Fell's printing-house near the theatre. The double pica italic
used in this was a grand letter. Both the foregoing works were
ornamented with handsome initial letters, and head and tail pieces
engraved by M. Burghers, probably the first engraver of the day in this
country. Many classical works were also produced in the same sumptuous
manner, notably Hudson's edition of the _Works of Dionysius_,1704, which
it is difficult to praise too highly. The copies measured nearly
eighteen inches in height, the paper was thick and good; the Greek and
Latin texts were printed side by side, with notes at the foot, yet
ample margins were left. In fact it is one of the finest examples of
English printing of this period to be met with.
Cambridge was sadly behind her sister University. Neither Reed in his
_Old English Letter Foundries_, nor Mr. Allnutt in his valuable articles
on Provincial Presses, has anything to say of it. Cornelius Crowndale
was the University printer at this time, but beyond an edition of
_Eusebius_ in three folio volumes, issued in 1720, no notable book came
from his press, little in fact beyond reprints in octavo and duodecimo
of classical works for the use of the scholars, and repeated editions of
the Bible and Book of Common Prayer, full of errors, and so badly
printed that the less said about them the better. We may notice,
however, an edition of Butler's _Hudibras_, edited by Zachary Grey, in
two octavo volumes, with Hogarth's plates, and two books by Conyers
Middleton, _Bibliothecæ Cantabrigiensis ordinandæ methodus_, 1723, and
_A Dissertation concerning the Origin of Printing in England,_ 1735,
both in quarto.
Among the earliest provincial presses at work in the beginning of the
eighteenth century was that at Norwich, where Francis Burges was
established in the year 1701. Thomas Tanner, afterwards Bishop of St.
Asaph, sent John Bagford a broadside, printed by that printer, a list of
the clergy that were to preach in the cathedral at Norfolk from
November 1st, 1701, until Trinity Sunday following. In a MS. note at the
foot Tanner says:--
'DR. BAGFORD,--When you were at Cambridge, I thought you would have
come to Norwich. I send this to put among your other collections of
printers. It is the first thing that was ever printed here.'[16]
In this statement, however, Tanner was wrong, unless we suppose this
broadside to have been printed nearly five weeks in advance, as there
had appeared, on September 27th, 1701, _Some Observations on the Use and
Original of the Noble Art and Mystery of Printing_, by Francis Burges,
which is also claimed as the first book printed at Norwich since the
sixteenth century. There is also evidence that Burges began to issue a
newspaper called _The Norwich Post_ early in September. Among his other
work of that year were sermons by John Jeffery and John Graile, and
Humphrey Prideaux's _Directions to Churchwardens for the Faithfull
Discharge of their Offices. For the Use of the Archdeaconry of Suffolk_.
(Norwich 1701, quarto.) Francis Burges died in January 1706, leaving the
business to his widow, who in the following year printed and published a
little tract of eight quarto pages, with the title, _A true description
of the City of Norwich both in its ancient and modern state_.
Meanwhile, in November of the preceding year, a second press was
started in the town by Henry Crossgrove, who began to issue a paper
called the _Norwich Gazette_.
Burges's business seems to have been taken by Freeman Collins, who
printed from the same address, in 1713, Robert Pate's _Complete Syntax_.
He in his turn was succeeded by Benjamin Lyon, who in 1718 reprinted the
_True Description_, as _The History of the City of Norwich ... To which
is added Norfolk's Furies: or a view of Kett's Camp_. (Norwich. Printed
by Benj. Lyon near the Red-well, for Robert Allen and Nich. Lemon. 1718.
8vo. pp. 40.) He added to this some useful lists of bishops, etc., and a
'Chronological Account of Remarkable Accidents and Occurrences, to
date,' in which the following entries occur:--
'1701. The first printing office was set up in Norwich, near the
Red-well, by Francis Surges.
'1706. Sam. Hashart a distiller, set up a Printing Office, in
Magdalen St., and sent for Henry Cross-grove from London to be his
journeyman.'
Crossgrove appears to have continued work till 1739, being succeeded by
William Chase, who had been printing since 1711, and who established the
_Norwich Mercury_ in 1727.
At Bristol the press that William Bonny had established in 1695
continued to flourish until 1713. About November 1702 he began to issue
a weekly paper called the _Bristol Post-Boy_, which ran until 1712,
when it was either replaced or supplanted by Samuel Farley's _Bristol
Postman_.[17]
The Parleys were noted printers in the West of England at this time, and
the above-named Samuel must not be confounded with Samuel Farley the
Exeter printer.
In Cirencester printing began in 1718, in which year Thomas Hinton
brought out the first number of the _Cirencester Post_, and the
_Gloucester Journal_ was printed in that city by R. Raikes and W. Dicey
on April 9, 172-1/2. Robert Raikes continued printing there till 1750,
and was succeeded by his son Robert, the founder of Sunday Schools.[18]
In the neighbouring county of Devon the Exeter press, finally
established after many vicissitudes in 1698 by Samuel Darker, is found
busily at work in 1701, Darker having been joined by Samuel Farley,
whose relation to the Samuel Farley of Bristol offers an opportunity to
some cunning genealogist to reap distinction. In 1701 Farley issued by
himself John Prince's _Danmonii Orientales Illustres; or The Worthies of
Devon_, a work of 600 folio pages, with coats of arms. It was certainly
one of the largest works printed at that time by any provincial press
outside the Universities. In point of workmanship all that can be said
for it is that it was no worse than the bulk of the work turned out by
provincial presses; and it furnishes its own criticism in a list of
errata on the last page, which closes with the words, 'with many others
too tedious to insert.' Thomas Tanner, writing to Browne Willis in 1706,
says that he has heard of a bi-weekly paper printing at Exeter. No copy
of an Exeter paper of so early a date is known.
In 1705 Farley was joined by Joseph Bliss, and jointly they issued
several books; but the partnership lasted a very short time, as by 1708
Joseph Bliss had set up for himself in the Exchange.
On September 24, 1714, Samuel Farley issued the first number of _The
Exeter Mercury; or Weekly Intelligence of News_, which in the next year
he transferred to Philip Bishop. In 1715 also Joseph Bliss started a
rival sheet called the _Protestant Mercury, or The Exeter Post-Boy_,
from his new printing-house near the London Inn. Meanwhile Farley
appears to have left Exeter, for on September 27, 1715, he published the
first number of the _Salisbury Post-Man_. In 1717 Andrew Brice, the most
important of Exeter printers, began to print, his address then being 'At
the Head of the Serge Market in Southgate Street,' from which he issued,
some time in 1718, a paper called the _Post-Master, or the Loyal
Mercury_. The history of this printer is too lengthy to be told here,
and has already been ably written by Dr. T. N. Brushfield (_The Life
and Bibliography of Andrew Brice_). Farley's name occurs again in 1723,
when he returned to Exeter and started _Farley's Exeter Journal_. In
November 1727 the burial of Samuel Farley is recorded in the registers
at St. Paul's, Exeter. He was succeeded in business by an Edward Farley.
Another provincial press that revived very early in the eighteenth
century was that of Worcester. It had been silent for upwards of a
century and a half; but in June 1709 a printer from London, named
Stephen Bryan, set up a press, and started a newspaper called the
_Worcester Postman_. In 1722 the title was altered to the _Worcester
Post, or Western Journal_. Bryan died in 1748, but just previous to his
death he assigned his paper to Mr. H. Berrow, who then gave it the name
it has ever since borne, that of _Berrow's Worcester Journal_.
Hazlitt, in his _Collections and Notes_ (3rd Series, p. 282), mentions a
book entitled _Tunbridgialia, or ye pleasures of Tunbridge, a poem_, as
printed 'at Mount Sion at ye end of ye Upper Walk at Tunbridge Wells,'
1705.
At Canterbury printing was revived in 1717, and a very interesting
record of it is in the British Museum in the form of a broadside with
the following title:--
'A List of the names of the Mayor, Recorder, Aldermen & Common Council
of the City of Canterbury Who (In the year of our Lord 1717) promoted
and encouraged the noble Art and Mystery of Printing in this City and
County.' Canterbury, Printed by J. Abree for T. James, S. Palmer, and W.
Hunter, 1718.' This John Abree died in 1765 at the age of seventy-seven.
Turning northward, the most important presses were those of York and
Newcastle.
At York John White, who had settled in the city in 1680, was actively
engaged in business in 1701, and he remained the sole printer there
until his death in the year 1715. By his will, dated 31st July 1714, he
gave his wife Grace White the use of one full half of his printing tools
and presses, etc., for her life; and after her death he gave the same to
his grandson, Charles Bourne, to whom he bequeathed the remaining half
of his printing implements immediately upon his death. To John White,
his son, he devised his real estate.
On the 23rd February 1718-19 Grace White issued the first York
newspaper, _The York Mercury_. Upon her death in 1721 the printing-house
was carried on by Charles Bourne until 1724, when he was in turn
succeeded by Thomas Gent, who had served under John White in 1714-15,
and married the widow of Charles Bourne. Davies in his _Memoirs of the
York Press_ (pp. 144 _et seq._) gives a detailed and interesting
biography of this printer, who, he says, has obtained a wider celebrity
than any other York typographer. Gent was an engraver as well as
printer, and was the author of a _History of York_, and other works. As
a printer his work was wretched; there is little to be said for him as
an engraver; while as an author he was below mediocrity. Nevertheless,
he deserves credit for the interest he took in the history of York. His
history of that city was published in small octavo in 1730, and he
followed it up in 1735 with _Annales Regioduni Hullini, or The History
of the Royal and Beautiful town of Kingston upon Hull_, also an octavo.
These works were quickly overshadowed by Drake's _History_, and from
this time forward Gent's fortunes began to decline. He made an enemy of
John White, the son of his old employer, with the result that White set
up a press at York in 1725, and issued the first number of _The York
Courant_, a weekly paper, but sold it and the business to Alexander
Staples ten years later. Staples in turn was succeeded by Cæsar Ward and
Richard Chandler--the first a bookseller in York, the second in London;
but Chandler committed suicide in 1744, and left Ward to carry on the
business alone. John Gilfillan was another printer at work in the city
during this period. Thomas Gent lived to the age of eighty-seven, his
death taking place on the 19th May 1778.
In Newcastle, John White, the son of the York printer of that name,
began printing in 1708. He started the _Newcastle Courant_, the first
number of which appeared in 1711. In 1761 the firm became John White and
Co., and in 1763 John White and T. Saint. White died in 1769, when he is
said to have been the oldest printer in the kingdom. As has been noted,
from 1725 to 1735 he had carried on a press at York in opposition to T.
Gent. One or two other printers are found here for short periods, but
little is known about them.
Among other towns possessing presses early in this century
were--Nottingham, 1711; Chester, 1711; Liverpool, 1712; and Birmingham,
1716.
In America the number of printing presses increased but slowly during
the first half of the eighteenth century. William Bradford in New York
continued the only printer in that province for thirty years. He died on
the 23rd May 1752, at the age of ninety-two. For fifty years he had been
printer to the Government, and among the numerous books that came
through his press were the Book of Common Prayer in quarto, in 1709, the
only issue in America before the Revolution, a venture by which he is
said to have lost heavily. He also printed a Mohawk Prayer-book in
quarto; this was issued in 1715. On the 16th October 1725 he began to
publish a weekly paper called _The New York Gazette_, and continued it
until his retirement from business.
In 1726 a German named John Peter Zenger set up as a printer in New
York. He is chiefly remembered as the printer of the second New York
newspaper, the _New York Weekly Journal_, the first number of which was
wrongly dated October 5th, 1733, instead of November 5th. The paper
involved the printer in several actions for libel, and led to some
lively passages with William Bradford. He is believed to have died about
1746. Bradford was succeeded as printer to the Government by James
Parker, one of his apprentices, who is described as a neat workman. He
continued the _New York Gazette_, with the alternative title, _or Weekly
Post Boy_. He also issued in 1767 an edition of the Psalms in metre, one
of the earliest books printed from type cast in America.
In 1753 Parker took into partnership William Weyman, but the connection
lasted but a short time, Weyman setting up for himself in 1759. Parker
also established presses at New Haven and Woodbridge in New Jersey.
Among the later printers in New York were Hugh Guine (1750-1800); John
Holt (1750-1784), printer to the State during the war; Robert Hodge
(1770-1813); and Frederick Shober (1772-1806).
Philadelphia possessed only one printer until 1723--Andrew Bradford, son
of William Bradford, of New York. In 1723 Samuel Keimer set up near the
Market House. It was this printer whom Benjamin Franklin worked for in
his early days. Bradford started the _American Weekly Mercury_ on
Tuesday, November 22nd, 1719; and the _Pennsylvania Gazette_, afterwards
carried on by Franklin and Meredith, was first printed by Keimer. Andrew
Bradford died in 1742. Perhaps the most notable of Keimer's books was
the folio edition of Sewell's _History of the Quakers_, which he began
in 1725. It was a work of upwards of seven hundred pages and Keimer soon
found that he had taken the contract at a ruinous rate. It was only by
the help of Franklin and Meredith that he was enabled to finish it in
1728.
Benjamin Franklin's history hardly needs retelling. His career as a
printer began in the shop of his brother James at Boston in 1717.
Differences arose between them which ended in Franklin's setting out for
New York. Work was not to be had there, and by the advice of William
Bradford he moved on to Philadelphia. There for some months he worked
for Samuel Keimer until, deluded by the promises of Governor Keith, he
took ship for England with a view of obtaining materials for a printing
office. While in England he worked for James Watts in Bartholomew Close,
and James Palmer. On his return to America he once more entered Keimer's
office as a journeyman. But after a short time, in company with Hugh
Meredith, he set up in business for himself. He was the proprietor and
printer of _Poor Richard's Almanack_, which became celebrated, and also
of the _Pennsylvania Gazette_. After a long and prosperous career
Franklin died, on April 19th, 1790, at the age of eighty-five.
Boston was the home of more printers than any other place in America
during the eighteenth century. To give anything like a history of even a
few of them would be beyond the limits of this work. Only one or two of
the more important can be even noticed.
Thomas Fleet arrived in Boston in 1712, set up as a printer, and for
nearly fifty years carried on business there. His issues were
principally pamphlets for booksellers, small books for children, and
ballads. He was also the proprietor of a newspaper called the _Weekly
Rehearsal_, first begun in September 1731. At his death in July 1758, he
left three sons, two of whom succeeded him in business.
In 1718 Samuel Kneeland set up in Prison Lane, and his printing house
continued for eighty years. He was one of the printers of the _Boston
Gazette_, and he started besides several other journals. Thomas in his
history (vol. i. p. 207) says that Kneeland, in company with Bartholomew
Green, printed a small quarto edition of the English Bible with Mark
Baskett's imprint, but this is not confirmed. Kneeland died on December
14th, 1769. Another celebrated printer in the city of Boston was
Gamaliel Rogers, who began business about 1729. In 1742 he entered into
partnership with Daniel Fowle. In the following year they issued the
first numbers of the _American Magazine_, and in 1748 started the
_Independent Advertiser_. The partnership with Fowle was dissolved in
1750. Rogers subsequently moved to the western part of the town, but
suffered from a fire, which destroyed his plant. He died in 1775.
Daniel Fowle, on the dissolution of his partnership with Rogers, set up
for himself. He was arrested in 1754 for printing a pamphlet reflecting
on some members of the House of Representatives, and was thrown into
prison for several days. Upon his release, he at once left the town and
set up in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where he started the _New Hampshire
Gazette_. He was succeeded in his Boston business by his brother
Zachariah Fowle, who continued printing there until the Revolution, when
he also retired to New Hampshire, where he died in 1776.
[Footnote 14: Chancery Proceedings, 1753 (Record Office).]
[Footnote 15: _Notes and Queries_, First Series, vol. xii. p. 197.]
[Footnote 16: Harl. MS. 5906.]
[Footnote 17: Hyett and Bazeley, _Bibliog. Man. of Glouc. Literature_,
vol. iii. p. 339.]
[Footnote 18: Allnutt, _Bibliographica_, vol. ii. p. 302.]
CHAPTER X
1750-1800
The improvement in printing which Caslon had begun quickly spread to
other parts of the kingdom, even as far north as Scotland, where, before
the middle of the century, there was established at Glasgow a press that
became notable for the beauty of its productions.
Robert and Andrew Foulis, the founders of this press, were the sons of
Andrew Faulls and Marion Paterson, Robert being born at Glasgow on April
20th, 1707, and his brother on November 23rd, 1712.
Robert Foulis was apprenticed to a barber, but his love for literature
led him to study at the University, where he attended the moral
philosophy lectures of Francis Hutcheson, who advised him to become a
bookseller and printer. His brother, Andrew, entered the University at a
later date, destined for the ministry, and during their vacations they
travelled throughout England and on the Continent. In the course of
these travels they sought for and brought back with them many rare and
beautiful books, and gained a wide knowledge of the book trade.
At length, in 1741, Robert Foulis set up as a bookseller in Glasgow. In
some of his earlier publications will be found lists of books printed
and sold by him, which are very interesting. One of these, which
enumerates fifteen books, includes a Greek Testament, Buchanan's edition
of the Psalms, Burnet's _Life of the Earl of Rochester_, seven or eight
classics, among which were a Cicero, Juvenal, Cornelius Nepos, Phædrus,
and Terence, and two of Tasso's works. The Terence was printed for him
by Robert Urie, and shows some excellent founts of small italic and
Roman. Robert Foulis seems to have begun printing on his own account in
1742, and among his earliest patrons was Professor Hutcheson, for whom
he printed a treatise entitled _Metaphysicæ Synopsis_, a duodecimo of
ninety pages, and a work on Moral Philosophy of three hundred and thirty
pages. He also printed in the same year the second and third editions of
a sermon preached by William Leechman before the Synod of Glasgow and
Ayr, _The Meditations of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus_, and
editions of Cicero and Phædrus. All these were in duodecimo or small
octavo, printed in a clear readable type, that probably came from
Urie's foundry. On the 31st March 1743, Robert Foulis was appointed
printer to the University of Glasgow, and published _Demetrius Phalerus
de Elocutione_ in two sizes, quarto and octavo. This was the first book
printed at Glasgow in Greek type, the Greek and Latin renderings being
printed on opposite pages--the Latin in a fount of English Roman that
cannot be distinguished from Caslon's letter, while the italic also has
a strong resemblance to that of the English founder. Among other
productions of the year 1743 was a specimen of another Glasgow man's
work, Bishop Burnet's translation of Sir Thomas More's _Utopia_, to
which was prefixed Holbein's portrait of the great Chancellor.
In 1744 Dr. Andrew Wilson, who for some years had been furnishing Scotch
and Irish printers with types from his foundry, moved to Camlachie, a
spot within a mile of Glasgow, and at once began to furnish letter for
Robert Foulis. In the same year Robert took his brother Andrew into
partnership, and the firm quickly became famous for the beauty and
correctness of their classics, beginning with the edition of Horace,
which, from the fact of its having only six errors in the text, was
christened the immaculate. Other attractive books were the Sophocles of
1745, quarto; Cicero in twenty volumes, small octavo; the small folio
edition of Callimachus, which took the silver medal offered in
Edinburgh for the finest book of not fewer than ten sheets; the
magnificent Homer, which Reed in his _Old English Letter Foundries_
describes as 'for accuracy and splendour the finest monument of the
Foulis press.' But the Foulis press did not confine itself to classics
only. It published several fine editions of English authors, among them
a folio edition of Milton's _Paradise Lost_, and editions of the poems
of Gray and Pope. In 1775 Andrew Foulis died suddenly. The blow was very
severely felt by his brother, and coming as it did upon the failure of
his Academy of Arts, completely crushed him. He removed his art
collection to London for sale; but here another disappointment awaited
him--the sum realised after paying expenses being fifteen shillings. He
returned to Edinburgh, and was on the point of starting for Glasgow when
he died on the 2nd June 1776. The Foulis press was carried on by the
younger Andrew Foulis until the end of the century.
In England, the chief event of this period was the appearance of John
Baskerville at Birmingham.
No satisfactory biography of Baskerville has yet been written, but the
best sketches of his life are those by the late T. B. Reed in his
_History of the Old English Letter Foundries_ (chap, xiii.), which
contains some highly interesting and valuable correspondence between
Baskerville and his publisher, R. Dodsley, and the more recent
article in the _Dictionary of National Biography_, from the pen of Mr.
Tedder.
[Illustration: JOHN THOMAS BASKERVILLE.]
John Baskerville was born in 1706 at Wolverley, a village in
Worcestershire. No one has discovered where he was educated: yet this is
one of the points upon which we should like to know something, because
it is generally admitted that he was a very beautiful writer; indeed, it
was to his love of calligraphy that we owe the regular and
well-proportioned letters associated with his name. For some time he
earned his living as a writing-master; after which he appears to have
gone into the japanning trade, and in 1750 embarked some capital in a
letter foundry. Another point upon which his biographers are silent is
the place where he learnt the art of printing. For we know that the
punches of his foundry were not cut by himself, and that he was not in
any sense a practical printer; yet he must have obtained some knowledge
of the rudiments of the art before taking over the responsibilities of a
foundry of his own. Baskerville appears to have employed the most
skilled artists he could obtain, and it is said that he spent upwards of
£600--some say £800--before he obtained a fount to suit him. His letters
to Dodsley show how anxious he was to attain perfection. The result of
all this care and labour was shown in the quarto edition of _Virgil_
which appeared in 1757, and was followed by quarto editions of Milton's
_Paradise Lost_ and _Paradise Regained_.
The appearance of Baskerville's publications gave rise to no little
controversy. By some they were hailed with unstinted praise; while
others, such as Mores and Dr. Bedford, looked upon them with something
little short of contempt. Yet it is difficult to understand the grounds
of these adverse criticisms. As regards type, there is very little to
choose between Caslon's Roman and that of Baskerville, while the italic
of Baskerville was unquestionably the most beautiful type that had ever
been seen in England; and the ridiculous criticism passed on it that its
very fineness was injurious to the eyesight, was shown to be utterly
worthless by Franklin's letter to the printer, which is printed in
Reed's _Old English Letter Foundries_. But there are also other features
of excellence about these books of Baskerville's. They are simplicity
itself. There is not a single ornament or tail-piece introduced into
them to divide the attention. The books were printed with deep and wide
margins, and the lines were spaced out with the very best effect.
The first public body to recognise Baskerville's ability was the
University of Oxford, which in July 1758 empowered him to cut a fount of
Greek types for 200 guineas. This order proved to be beyond his power.
It is generally admitted that his Greek type was a failure, and he
wisely made no further attempts at cutting learned characters. Some of
the punches of Baskerville's Greek types are still preserved at Oxford,
and are the only specimens of his foundry that we have.
In his Preface to _Paradise Lost_, Baskerville stated that the extent of
his ambition was to print an octavo Prayer Book and a folio Bible. In
connection with this ambition, he applied to the University of Cambridge
for appointment as their printer, a privilege which was granted to him,
but at the cost of such a heavy premium that he obtained no pecuniary
profit from it. The Prayer Book printed in two forms appeared in 1760,
and the same year saw the prospectus and specimen of the Bible issued,
the Bible itself appearing in 1763 in imperial folio. Both are beautiful
specimens of the printer's art.
But Baskerville soon became disgusted with the ill-natured criticism to
which he was subjected, coupled with the failure of booksellers to
support him, and was anxious to have done with the business. The year
before the publication of the Bible, he wrote to Horace Walpole a letter
given by Reed (p. 278) in which he says that he is sending specimens of
his foundry to foreign courts in the hope of finding among them a
purchaser for the whole concern, and during the next few years he was in
correspondence with Franklin with the same object. Fortunately for his
country, these attempts were unsuccessful during his life-time, and
between the years 1760-1773 he produced not only several editions of the
Bible and Common Prayer, but the works of Addison, 4 vols. 1761, 4to;
the works of Congreve, 3 vols. 1761, 8vo; _Æsop's Fables_; and in 1772 a
series of the classics in quarto, which, Reed says, 'suffice, had he
printed nothing else, to distinguish him as the first typographer of his
time' (p. 281).
Baskerville died on January 8th, 1775, and for a few years his widow
carried on the foundry; but at the same time endeavoured to dispose of
it. Both our Universities refused it, and no London foundry would touch
it, because the booksellers would have nothing but the types of Caslon
and Jackson. The type was eventually sold in 1779 to the Société
Littéraire-typographique of France for £3700, and was used in a
sumptuous edition of the works of Voltaire.
Yet one firm was found bold enough to model its letter on that of
Baskerville. In 1764 Joseph Fry, a native of Bristol, began
letter-founding in that city. He took as a partner William Pine,
proprietor of the _Bristol Gazette_, but the business was not carried on
in their name but in that of Isaac Moore, their manager. In 1768 they
removed the foundry to London, and issued a prospectus. But so strong
was the prejudice against Baskerville's letter--or, perhaps, it would be
better to say, so strong was the hold which Caslon's foundry had
obtained--that they were compelled to recast the whole of their stock.
This took them several years; meanwhile, they issued one or two editions
of the Bible in their first fount. In 1776 Isaac Moore severed his
connection with the firm. In 1782 Mr. Pine also withdrew, and Joseph Fry
admitted his two sons, Edmund and Henry, into partnership. At length in
1785 appeared the first specimen-book of Fry's foundry, and it was
frankly admitted in the preface that the founts of Roman and italic were
modelled on those of Caslon.
Joseph Fry retired from the business in 1787. Amongst the books printed
with his later type may be mentioned the quarto edition of the classics
edited by Dr. Homer.
Caslon the First died at Bethnal Green on January 23rd, 1766. His son,
Caslon the Second, died intestate on the 17th August 1778, when the
business came to his son, William Caslon the Third. In the same year
that Joseph Fry published his Specimen of Types, Caslon the Third also
published a specimen-book of sixty-two sheets, in every way worthy of
the reputation the firm had established. It included, besides Romans and
italics of great beauty and regularity, every variety of oriental and
learned founts, and several sheets of ornaments and flowers, arranged in
various designs. This book was dedicated to the king, and contained an
address to the reader in which, after reviewing the establishment of
the foundry, Caslon referred bitterly to the eager rivalry of other
printers and their open avowal of imitation. In 1793 Caslon the Third
disposed of his share in the Chiswell Street business to his mother and
his brother Henry's widow.
Mrs. William Caslon, senior, died in October 1795, when the business was
sold by auction and bought by Mrs. Henry Caslon for £520.
Joseph Jackson, who shared with the Caslons the favour of the London
booksellers, was one of two apprentices formerly in the employ of
William Caslon II. Some dispute arose in the foundry about the price of
certain work, and Joseph Jackson and Thomas Cottrell, having acted as
ringleaders in the movement, were dismissed, and being thrown on their
own resources, set up a foundry of their own in Nevil's Court, Fetter
Lane. Of the two Jackson proved far the more skilful, but seems to have
been of a roving disposition. After working for a year or two with
Cottrell he went to sea, leaving Cottrell to carry on the business
alone. This he did with a fair measure of success, though his foundry
was never at any time a large one. After a few years' absence Jackson
returned to England in 1763, and again turned his attention to
letter-cutting, serving for a time under his old partner Cottrell; but
having obtained the services and, what was of more value, the pecuniary
help of two of Cottrell's workmen, he set up for himself, and quickly
took a foremost place in the trade. Among his most successful work was a
fount of English 'Domesday,' for the Domesday Book published by order of
Parliament in 1783, which was preferred to that cut by Cottrell for the
same purpose. Jackson also cut a fount for Dr. Woide's facsimile of the
Alexandrian Codex with great success. But perhaps his most successful
effort was the two-line English which he cut for Macklin's edition of
the Bible, begun in 1789. At the time of his death in 1792 he was at
work upon a fount of double pica for Bowyer's edition of Hume's _History
of England_. After his death his foundry was purchased by William Caslon
III.
Both Macklin's Bible and Hume's _History_ were printed at the press of
Thomas Bensley in Bolt Court, Fleet Street. As a printer of sumptuous
books Bensley had only one rival, William Bulmer, who is generally
accorded the first place. But Bensley was certainly earlier in the
field. His work was quite equal to that of Bulmer, and, apart from this,
the world owes more to his enterprise than it has ever yet acknowledged.
Thomas Bensley was the son of a printer in the Strand, and in 1783 he
succeeded to the business of Edward Allen in Bolt Court, a house
adjoining that in which Johnson had lived. He at once turned his
attention to printing as a fine art. Dibdin, in his _Bibliographical
Decameron_ (vol. ii. p. 397, etc.), gives a list of the works printed by
Bensley, and says that he began with a quarto edition of Lavater's
_Physiognomy_ in 1789, following this up with an octavo edition of Allan
Ramsay's _Gentle Shepherd_ in 1790. In this list, however, Dibdin has
omitted the folio edition of Bürger's poem _Leonora_, printed by Bensley
in 1796, with designs by Lady Diana Beauclerc. In 1797 he printed a very
beautiful edition of Thomson's _Seasons_, in royal folio, with
engravings by Bartolozzi and P. W. Tomkins from pictures by W. Hamilton.
But the chief glories of his press are the Bible and Hume's _History_.
The first was begun in 1789; but Jackson's death caused some delay when
the Book of Numbers had been reached, owing to more type being required.
For some reason, not clearly shown, Bensley would not employ Caslon, but
applied to Vincent Figgins, who for ten years had been in the service of
Jackson, to complete the type. Figgins' foundry was in Swan Yard,
Holborn, where he had established himself after Jackson's death in 1792.
He succeeded with the task set him, and his type, which was an exact
facsimile of Jackson's, was brought into use in the Book of Deuteronomy.
The whole work was completed in seven volumes, in the year 1800, and
this date appears on the title-page; but the dedication to the king was
dated 1791, and the plates, which were the work of Loutherbourg, West,
Hamilton, and others, were variously dated between those years. The text
was printed in double columns, in a handsome two-line English, with the
headings to chapters in Roman capitals, no italic type being used, and
no marginalia.
Robert Bowyer's edition of _Hume_ was in the press at the time of
Jackson's death, but was not completed until 1806. The type used in this
is a double pica, and the founder, it is said, declared that it should
'be the most exquisite performance of the kind in this or any other
country.' He died before its completion, and the work was completed by
Figgins; but the book is a lasting memorial to the skill both of the
founder and the printer.
In January 1791 appeared the first number of Boydell's Shakespeare. The
history of this notorious undertaking was briefly this. Boydell was an
art publisher in Pall Mall, where he had established a gallery and
filled it with the work of Sir Joshua Reynolds, Benjamin West, Opie, and
Northcote, chiefly in Shakesperian subjects. George Nicol the bookseller
proposed to the Boydells that William Martin, brother of Robert Martin
of Birmingham, should be employed to cut a set of types with which to
print an edition of Shakespeare's works, to be illustrated with the
drawings then in Boydell's gallery. This William Martin had learnt his
art in the foundry of Baskerville; and such is the irony of fate, that
less than twenty years after the death of that eminent founder, his
work, scorned by the booksellers of London in his own day, was imitated
in what was certainly one of the most pretentious books that had ever
come from the English press. The printer selected for the work was
William Bulmer, a native of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where he was
apprenticed to Mr. Thomson, the printer, of Burnt House Entry, St.
Nicholas Churchyard. At that time he formed a friendship with Thomas
Bewick, the engraver, who in his _Memoir_ tells us that Bulmer used to
'prove' his cuts for him.
After serving his time, Bulmer came to London and entered the
printing-office of John Bell, who was then issuing a miniature edition
of the poets. A fortunate accident won him his acquaintance with Boydell
and Nicol, and so led to his subsequent employment at the Shakespeare
press.
The Shakespeare was followed by the works of Milton in three volumes
folio in 1794-5-7, and again in 1795 by the Poems of Goldsmith and
Parnell in quarto. In the advertisement to this work, Bulmer pointed out
how much had been done by English printers within the last few years to
raise the art of printing from the low depth to which it had fallen--a
work in which the Shakespeare press had borne no little part. He went on
to say that much pains had been taken with this edition of Goldsmith to
make it a complete specimen of the arts of type and block printing. The
types were Martin's, the woodcuts Bewick's, and the paper Whatman's. One
copy of this book was printed on white satin, and three on English
vellum.
Among the books that appeared within the last five years of the century
was an edition of _Lucretius_ in three volumes large quarto, which
certainly ranks for beauty of type and regularity of printing with any
book of that period. Like most of the works of Baskerville, this book
was quite free from ornament, and claims admiration only from the
excellence of the press-work. The notes were printed in double columns
in small pica, the text itself in double pica. In the whole three
volumes not a dozen printer's errors have been found. This work came
from the press of Archibald Hamilton.
Time has not dealt kindly with some of these specimens of what was
called 'fine' printing. After the lapse of a century, we begin to see
that though the type and press-work were all that could be desired, and
placed the English printers on a level with the best of those on the
Continent, there was something radically wrong with the production of
illustrated books. Whether it was due to the ink, or to the paper, or,
as some suppose, to insufficient drying, in all these sumptuous volumes
the oil has worked out of the illustrations, leaving an ugly brown
stain on the opposite pages, and totally destroying the appearance of
the books. This applies not only to large and small illustrations, but
in many cases to the ornamental wood blocks used for head and tail
pieces. In Macklin's Bible, and in the 'Milton' printed at the
Shakespeare press, this discoloration has completely ruined what were
undoubtedly, when they came from the press, extremely beautiful works.
Before leaving the work of the eighteenth century, a word or two must be
said about the private presses that were at work during that time. The
first place must, of course, be given to that at Strawberry Hill. None
of the curious hobbies ridden by Horace Walpole became him better, or
was more useful, than his fancy for running a printing-press. He was not
devoid of taste, and though no doubt he might have done it better, he
carried this idea out very well. The productions of his press are very
good examples of printing, and are far above any of the other private
press work of the eighteenth century. His type was a neat and clear one,
though somewhat small, and the ornaments and initial letters introduced
into his books were simple and in keeping with the general character of
the types, without being in any sense works of art. The following brief
account of the Strawberry Hill press is compiled from Mr. H. B.
Wheatley's article in _Bibliographica_, and from Austin Dobson's
delightful _Horace Walpole, a Memoir_, 1893.
The press was started in August 1757 with the publication, for R.
Dodsley, of two 'Odes' by Gray. 'I am turned printer, and have converted
a little cottage into a printing office,' he tells one friend; and to
another he writes, 'Elzevir, Aldus, and Stephens are the freshest
persons in my memory'; and referring to the 'Odes,' he writes to John
Chute in July 1757, 'I found him [Gray] in town last week; he had
brought his two Odes to be printed. I snatched them out of Dodsley's
hands.'
Walpole's first printer was William Robinson, an Irishman, who remained
with him for two years. The Odes were followed by Paul Hentzner's _A
Journey into England_, of which only 220 copies were printed. In April
1758 came the two volumes of Walpole's _Catalogue of Royal and Noble
Authors_, of which 300 copies were printed and sold so rapidly, that a
second edition--_not_ printed at Strawberry Hill--was called for before
the end of the year.
In 1760 Walpole wrote to Zouch, in reference to an edition of Lucan,
'Lucan is in poor forwardness. I have been plagued with a succession of
bad printers, and am not got beyond the fourth book.' It was published
in January 1761, and in the following year appeared the first and
second volumes of _Anecdotes of Painting in England_, with plates and
portraits, and having the imprint, 'Printed by Thomas Farmer at
Strawberry Hill, MD.CCLXII.' Then another difficulty appears to have
arisen with the printers, and the third volume, published in 1763, had
no printer's name in the imprint. The fourth volume, not issued till
1780, bears the name of Thomas Kirgate, who seems to have been taken on
in 1772, and held his post until Walpole's death. Between 1764 and 1768
the Strawberry Hill press was idle, but in the latter year Walpole
printed in octavo 200 copies of a French play entitled _Cornélie
Vestale, Tragédie_, and from that time down to 1789 it continued at work
at intervals, its chief productions being _Mémoires du Comte de
Grammont_, 1772, 4to, of which only 100 copies were printed, twenty-five
of which went to Paris; _The Sleep Walker_, a comedy in two acts, 1778,
8vo; _A description of the villa of Mr. Horace Walpole_, 1784, 4to, of
which 200 copies were printed; and _Hieroglyphic Tales_, 1785, 8vo.
Next to the press of Horace Walpole, that of George Allan, M. P. for
Durham, at the Grange, Darlington, must be noticed. The owner was an
enthusiastic antiquary, and he used his press chiefly for printing
fugitive pieces relating to the history of the county of Durham. The
first piece with a date was _Collections relating to St. Edmunds
Hospital_, printed in 1769, and the last a tract which he printed for
his friend Thomas Pennant in 1788, entitled _Of the Patagonians_, of
which only 40 copies were worked off.
The productions of his press were very numerous, but of no great merit.
Allan was his own compositor, and gave much time to his hobby; but his
printer appears to have been a dissolute and dirty workman, who caused
him much annoyance and trouble. Altogether it may safely be said that
Allan's press cost him a great deal more than it was worth.
Another of those who tried their hand at amateur printing was Francis
Blomefield, the historian of Norfolk, who started a press at his rectory
at Fersfield. Here he printed the first volume of his _History_ in 1736,
and also the _History of Thetford_, a thin quarto volume, in 1739. But
the result was an utter failure. The type was bad to begin with, and the
attempt to use red ink on the title-pages only made matters worse. The
press-work was carelessly done; and it is not surprising to find that
the second volume of the _History_, published in 1745, was entrusted to
a Norwich printer.
The celebrated John Wilkes also carried on a private printing-office at
his house in Great George Street, Westminster. Three specimens of its
work have been identified: _An Essay on Woman_, 1763, 8vo, of which only
twelve copies are said to have been printed[19]; a few copies of the
third volume of the _North Briton_; and _Recherches sur l'Origine du
Despotisme Orientale_, Ouvrage posthume de M. Boulanger, 1763, 12mo. A
note in a copy of this volume states that it was printed by Thomas
Farmer, who had also assisted Horace Walpole at the Strawberry Hill
press.
During the last four years of the century the Rev. John Fawcett, a
Baptist minister of some repute, established a press in his house at
Brearley Hall, near Halifax, which he afterwards removed to Ewood Hall.
He used it chiefly for printing his own sermons and writings, among the
most important issue's being _The Life of Oliver Heywood_, 1796, pp.
216; _Miscellanea Sacra_, 1797; _A Summary of the Evidences of
Christianity_, 1797, pp. 100; _Constitution and Order of a Gospel
Church_, 1797, pp. 58; _The History of John Wise_, 1798; Gouge's _Sure
Way of Thriving_; Watson's _Treatise on Christian Contentment_; and Dr.
Williams's _Christian Preacher_. Most of these were in duodecimo.
The type used in this press was a very good one, and the press-work was
done with care. Owing to his growing infirmities Fawcett was obliged to
dispose of the press in 1800. There is reason to believe that the above
list might be considerably increased.
At Bishopstone, in Sussex, the Rev. James Hurdis printed several works
at his own press, the most important being a series of lectures on
poetry, printed in 1797, a quarto of three hundred and thirty pages, and
a poem called _The Favorite Village_, in 1800, a quarto of two hundred
and ten pages.
To these must be added a press at Lustleigh, in Devon, made and worked
by the Rev. William Davy, and at which was printed some thirty copies of
his _System of Divinity_, 26 vols. 1795, 8vo, a copy of which remarkable
work is now in the British Museum, and is considered one of its
curiosities; a press at Glynde, in Sussex, the seat of Lord Hampden,
from which at least one work can be traced; and a press at Madeley, in
Shropshire, from which several religious tracts were printed in 1774 by
the Rev. John Fletcher, and in 1792 a work entitled _Alexander's Feast_,
by Dr. Beddoes.
[Footnote 19: Chalmers' _Life of Wilkes_.]
CHAPTER XI
THE PRESENT CENTURY
It has been said that printing sprang into the world fully armed. At
least this is certain, that for nearly four centuries after its birth
the printing-press in use in all printing-houses remained the same in
form as that which Caxton's workmen had used in the Red Pale at
Westminster. There had been some unimportant alterations made in it by
an Amsterdam printer in the seventeenth century; but until the year 1800
no important change in the form or mechanism of the printing-press had
ever been introduced. Some such change was sorely needed. The productive
powers of the old press were quite unable to keep pace with the
ever-increasing demand for books and newspapers that a quickened
intelligence and national anxiety had awakened. Up to 1815 England was
constantly at war, and men and women alike were eager for news from
abroad. In 1800 Charles Mahon, third Earl Stanhope, invented a new
printing-press.
The Stanhope press substituted an iron framework for the wooden body of
the old press, thus giving greater solidity. The platen was double the
size of that previously in use, thus allowing a larger sheet to be
printed, and a system of levers was adopted in place of the cumbersome
handlebar and screw used in the wooden press. The chief merits of the
new invention were increased speed, ease to the workman, evenness of
impression, and durability. Further improvements in the mechanism of
hand machines were secured in the Columbian press, an American
invention, brought to this country in 1818, and later in the Albion
press, invented by R. W. Cope of London, and since that time by many
others. Yet even with the best of these improved presses no more than
250 or 300 impressions per hour could be worked off, and the daily
output of the most important paper only averaged three or four thousand
copies. But a great and wonderful change was at hand.
In 1806 Frederick Kœnig, the son of a small farmer at Eisleben in
Saxon Prussia, came to England with a project for a steam printing
press. The idea was not a new one, for sixteen years before an
Englishman, named William Nicholson, took out a patent for a machine for
printing, which foreshadowed nearly every fundamental improvement even
in the most advanced machines of the present day. But from want of
means, or some other cause, Nicholson never actually made a machine.
Nor did Kœnig's project meet with much encouragement until he walked
into the printing-house of Thomas Bensley of Bolt Court, who encouraged
the inventor to proceed, and supplied him with the necessary funds.
There is reason to believe that Kœnig made himself acquainted with the
details of Nicholson's patent during the time that his machine was
building. He also obtained the assistance of Andrew F. Bauer, an
ingenious German mechanic. His first patent was taken out on the 29th
March 1810, a second in 1812, a third in 1814, and a fourth in 1816. The
first machine is said to have taken three years to build, and upon its
completion was erected in Bensley's office in Bolt Court. There seems to
be considerable uncertainty as to what was the first publication printed
on it. Some say it was set to work on the _Annual Register_, one
writer[20] asserting that in April 1811, 3000 sheets of that publication
were printed on it; but Mr. Southward, in his monograph _Modern
Printing_, confines himself to the statement that two sheets of a book
were printed on the machine in 1812. Curiously enough neither Bensley's
publication, the _Annual Register_, nor the _Gentleman's Magazine_ takes
any notice of the new invention, although in the _Gentleman's Magazine_
for 1811 there is a notice of a printing machine invented at
Philadelphia, which apparently embodied all the same principles as
Kœnig's (_Gent. Mag._, vol. lxxxi. p. 576).
In 1814 John Walter, the second proprietor of the _Times_, saw Kœnig's
machine, and ordered one to be supplied to the _Times_ office, the first
number printed by steam being that of the 28th November 1814. This
machine was a double cylinder, which printed simultaneously two copies
of a forme of the newspaper on one side only. But it was a cumbersome
and complicated affair, and its greatest output 1800 impressions per
hour.
In 1818 Edward Cowper, a printer of Nelson Square, patented certain
improvements in printing, these improvements consisting of a better
distribution of the ink and a better plan for conveying the sheets from
the cylinders. Having joined his brother-in-law, Augustus Applegarth,
they proceeded to make certain alterations in Kœnig's machine in
Bensley's office which at one stroke removed forty wheels, and greatly
simplified the inking arrangements. In 1827 they jointly invented a
four-cylinder machine, which Applegarth erected for the _Times_. The
distinctive features of this machine were its ability to print both
sides of a sheet at once, its admirable inking apparatus, and great
acceleration of speed, the new machine being capable of printing five
thousand copies per hour.
These machines at once superseded the Kœnig, and were to be found in
use in all parts of the country for printing newspapers until quite
lately. In 1848 the same firm constructed an eight-cylinder vertical
machine, which was one of the sights of the Great Exhibition of 1851.
Shortly afterwards Messrs. Hoe, of New York, made further improvements
in the mechanism, raising the output to 20,000 per hour. All these
machines had to be fed with paper by hand, but in 1869 it occurred to
Mr. J. C. Macdonald, the manager of the _Times_, and Mr. J. C.
Calverley, the chief engineer of the same office, that much saving of
labour would result if paper could be manufactured in continuous rolls;
and the result of their experiments was the rotary press, which was
named after Mr. John Walter, the fourth of that name, then at the head
of the _Times_ proprietorship. Since then the improvement in printing
machines has steadily continued, and may be said to have culminated in
the Hoe 'double supplement' press in use at the present day in many
newspaper offices, which is capable of printing, cutting, and folding
24,000 copies per hour of a full-sized newspaper.
These great changes in presses and press-work have occasioned similar
changes in type-founding.
At the beginning of the century, the firm of Caslon had been given a new
lease of life by the energy of Mrs. Henry Caslon, who in 1799 had
purchased the foundry, a third share in which a few years earlier had
been worth £3000, for the paltry sum of £520. She at once set to work to
have new founts of type cut, and was ably helped by Mr. John Isaac
Drury. The pica then produced was an improvement in the style of Bodoni,
and quickly raised the foundry to its old position. Mrs. Caslon took
into partnership Nathaniel Catherwood, but both died in the course of
the year 1809. The business then came into the hands of Henry Caslon
II., who was joined by John James Catherwood. Other notable firms were
those already noticed in the last chapter--Mrs. Fry, Figgins, Martin,
and Jackson. One and all of these suffered severely from the change in
the fashion of types at the beginning of the century, the ugly form of
type, known as fat-faced letters, then introduced, remaining in vogue
until the revival of Caslon's old-faced type by the younger Whittingham.
Upon the advent of machinery and cylinder printing, the use of movable
type for printing from was supplemented by quicker and more durable
methods, and William Ged's long-despised discovery of stereotyping is
now an absolutely necessary adjunct of modern press-work. This, again,
was in some measure due to Earl Stanhope, who in 1800 went to Andrew
Tilloch, and Foulis, the Glasgow printer, both of whom had taken out a
patent for the invention, and learnt from them the process. He
afterwards associated himself with Andrew Wilson, a London printer, and
in 1802 the plaster process, as it was called, was perfected. This
remained in use until 1846, when a system of forming moulds in _papier
mâché_ was introduced, and this was succeeded by the adaptation of the
stereo-plates to the rotary machines.
It would be foreign to the purpose of this work, which is concerned with
printing as applied to books, to attempt to describe the Linotype and
its rival processes which have been recently introduced to further
facilitate newspaper printing. We must, therefore, return to our
book-printers, and note first that the Shakespeare Press of William
Bulmer, for which Martin the type-founder was almost exclusively
employed, continued to turn out beautiful examples of typographic work
during the early years of the nineteenth century. A list of the works
issued from this press up to 1817 is given by Dibdin in his notes to the
second volume of his _Decameron_, pp. 384-395. Some of the chief items
were _The Arabian Nights Entertainments_, 5 vols. 1802, 8vo; _The Book
of Common Prayer_, with an introduction by John Reeves, 1802, 8vo; _The
Itinerary of Archbishop Baldwin through Wales_, translated by Sir R. C.
Hoare, 2 vols. 1806, 4to; Richardson's _Dictionary of the Arabic and
Persian Languages_, 2 vols. 1806-10, 4to; Hoare's _History of
Wiltshire_, 1812, folio; Dibdin's _Typographical Antiquities_, 4 vols.
1812, 4to; and the same author's _Bibliotheca Spenceriana_, 4 vols.
1814-15, 8vo, and _Bibliographical Decameron_, 3 vols. 1817, 8vo. These
three last are considered to be some of the best work of this press,
which also turned out many books for private circulation only. William
Bulmer died on September 9th, 1830, after a long and active life, and
was succeeded by his partner Mr. William Nichol.
Nor had Thomas Bensley slackened anything of his enthusiasm for fine
printing. Twice during the first twenty years of the century he suffered
severely by fire: the first time in 1807, when a quarto edition of
Thomson's _Seasons_, an edition of the _Works_ of Pope, and many other
books were destroyed; the second in 1819, on June 26th, when the
premises were totally burnt down. This was followed by the death of his
son, and shortly afterwards he retired from business, and died on
September 11th, 1835. Not only was he an excellent printer, but he did
more than any other man of his time to introduce the improved printing
machine into this country.
John Nichols was another of the great printers of his day, and he too
was burnt out on the night of February 8th, 1808. No better account of
the magnitude of his undertakings at that time could be found than his
own description of the disaster, which he contributed to the
_Gentleman's Magazine_ in the following March:--
'Amongst the books destroyed are many of very great value, and some that
can never be replaced. Not to mention a large quantity of handsome
quarto Bibles, the works of Swift, Pope, Young, Thomson, Johnson, etc.
etc., the _Annals of Commerce_, and other works which may still be
elsewhere purchased, there are several consumed which cannot now be
obtained at any price. The unsold copies of the introduction to the
second volume of the _Sepulchral Monuments_; Hutchins' _Dorsetshire_;
Bigland's _Gloucestershire_; Hutchinson's _Durham_; Thorpe's _Registrum_
and _Custumale Roffense_; the few numbers that remained of the
_Bibliotheca Topographica_; the third volume of _Elizabethan
Progresses_; the _Illustrations of Ancient Manners_; Mr. Gough's
_History of Pleshy_, and his valuable account of the _Coins of the
Seleucidæ_, engraved by Bartolozzi; Colonel de la Motte's _Allusive
Arms_; Bishop Atterbury's _Epistolary Correspondence_; and last, not
least, the whole of six portions of Mr. Nichols' _Leicestershire_, and
the entire stock of the _Gentleman's Magazine_ from 1782 to 1807, are
irrecoverably lost.'
'Of those in the press, the most important were the concluding portion
of Hutchins' _Dorsetshire_ (nearly finished); a second volume of Manning
and Bray's _Surrey_ (about half printed); Mr. Bawdwin's translation of
_Domesday for Yorkshire_ (nearly finished); a new edition of Dr.
Whitaker's _History of Craven_; Mr. Gough's _British Topography_ (nearly
one volume); the sixth volume of _Biographia Britannica_ (ready for
publishing); Dr. Kelly's _Dictionary of the Manx Language_; Mr. Neild's
_History of Prisons_; a genuine unpublished comedy by Sir Richard
Steele; Mr. Joseph Reid's unpublished tragedy of _Dido_; four volumes of
the _British Essayists_; Mr. Taylor Combe's _Appendix to Dr. Hunter's
Coins_; part of Dr. Hawes' annual report for 1808; a part of the
_Biographical Anecdotes of Hogarth_; two entire volumes, and the half of
two other volumes of a new edition of the anecdotes of Mr. Bowyer,' etc.
Writing to Bishop Percy in July of that year, Nichols stated that he had
lost £10,000 beyond his insurance in this outbreak.
John Nichols died on the 26th November 1826, after a long and laborious
life. He was a born antiquary, and a voluminous author, his chief works
being _The History and Antiquities of the Town and County of Leicester_,
completed in 1815 in eight folio volumes, and _Literary Anecdotes of the
Eighteenth Century_, 1812-15, an expansion of the _Biographical and
Literary Anecdotes of William Bowyer_, which had been printed in 1782.
This work was afterwards supplemented by _Illustrations of the Literary
History of the Eighteenth Century_, 6 vols. 1817-31, to which his son
afterwards added two additional volumes. John Nichols was Common
Councillor for the ward of Farringdon Without from 1784 to 1786, and
again from 1787 to 1811. In 1804 he was Master of the Stationers'
Company. He was succeeded in business by his son John Bowyer Nichols,
and the firm subsequently became J. Nichols, Son, and Bentley. Like his
father, John Bowyer Nichols was editor and author of many books, and was
appointed Printer to the Society of Antiquaries in 1824. He died at
Haling on October 16th, 1863, leaving seven children, of whom the
eldest, John Gough Nichols, born on 22nd May 1806, became the head of
the printing-house, and editor of the _Gentleman's Magazine_, as his
father and grandfather had been before him. He was one of the founders
of the Camden Society (1838), and edited many of its publications. He
was the promoter and editor of _The Herald and Genealogist_, and his
researches in this direction were of great importance. The _Dictionary
of National Biography_ enumerates thirty-four works from his pen, most
of which it would be safe to say were also printed by him. He died on
14th November 1873.
Another press of importance in the first half of the nineteenth century
was that of Thomas Davison. He was the printer of most of Byron's works,
and many of those of Campbell, Moore and Wordsworth; but his chief
claim to notice rests upon the magnificent edition of Whitaker's
_History of Rickmondshire_ in two large folio volumes, printed in 1823,
and upon that of Dugdale's _Monasticon_, in eight folio volumes, issued
between 1817 and 1830, an undertaking of great magnitude. In Timperley's
_Encyclopædia_ it is stated that Davison made important improvements in
the manufacture of printing ink, and that few of his competitors could
approach him in excellence of work.
The story of the firm of Eyre and Spottiswoode would, if material were
available, form an interesting chapter in the history of English
printing. It is the direct descendant in the royal line of Pynson,
Berthelet, the Barkers, and finally of John and Robert Baskett, the last
of whom assigned the patent to John Eyre of Landford House, Wilts, whose
son, Charles Eyre, the great-grandfather of the present George Edward
Briscoe Eyre, succeeded to the business in 1770. During the seventeenth
century, the work of the Government and the sovereign had been divided
among several firms, but in the eighteenth century it was again given to
one man, John Baskett. In the printing of the Bible and Book of Common
Prayer the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge have also a share; but
all the other Government work is done by Messrs. Eyre and Spottiswoode.
Charles Eyre, not being a practical printer, obtained the co-operation
of William Strahan. On the renewal of the patent in 1798, the name of
John Reeves was inserted, but Mr. Strahan purchased his interest. In
1829, the patent was again renewed to George Eyre, the son of Charles,
John Reeves, and Andrew Strahan. George Edward Eyre, son of George
William Strahan, was born at Edinburgh in April 1715, and, after serving
his apprenticeship in Edinburgh, took his way to London, where, it is
believed, he found a post in the office of Andrew Miller. In 1770 the
printing-house was removed from Blackfriars to New Street, near Gough
Square, Fleet Street. William Strahan was intimately associated with the
best literature of his time, among those for whom he published being Dr.
Johnson, Hume, Adam Smith, Robertson, and many other eminent writers. In
1774 he was Master of the Stationers' Company, Member of Parliament for
Malmesbury, and sat for Wootton Bassett in the next Parliament. Among
his greatest friends was Benjamin Franklin, who kept up a correspondence
with him in spite of the strong political differences between them.
Strahan died at New Street on July 9th 1785, leaving three sons and two
daughters. The youngest son, Andrew, succeeded his father in the Royal
Printing House, and one of the daughters married John Spottiswoode of
Spottiswoode, whose son, Andrew, afterwards entered the firm. Andrew
Strahan was noted for his benevolence, and on his death in 1831 he left
handsome bequests to the Literary Fund and the Company of Stationers.
Andrew Spottiswoode, who died in 1866 at the ripe age of seventy-nine,
had a large printing business apart from the office of Queen's Printer,
and his imprint will be found in much of the lighter literature of the
period. His son, William Spottiswoode, after a distinguished career at
Oxford, ultimately attained high rank as a mathematician, and in 1865
became President of the Mathematical Section of the British Association.
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1853, and became its
President on 30th November 1878. He died on 27th June 1883.
Equally renowned is the firm of Gilbert and Rivington. Early in the
second half of the eighteenth century (the exact date is not known) John
Rivington, the fourth son of John Rivington the publisher, and direct
descendant of Charles Rivington of the Bible and Crown in Paternoster
Row, succeeded to the business of James Emonson, printer, of St. John's
Square, Clerkenwell. John Rivington died in 1785, and was succeeded by
his widow, who in 1786 took as partner John Marshall. A series of
classical works, of which they were the printers, was very favourably
received. These included the Greek Testament, Livy, and Sophocles, as
well as a series of Latin poets and authors, edited by Michael
Maittaire. The business next passed into the hands of Deodatus Bye. He
in turn admitted Henry Law as partner, and the firm became successively
Law and Gilbert and Robert and Richard Gilbert. The partnership being
dissolved early in the present century by the death of Robert Gilbert,
Richard carried on the business alone until 1830, when he took into
partnership Mr. William Rivington, a great-grandson of the first Charles
Rivington, and from that day the firm has gone by the name of Gilbert
and Rivington. Richard Gilbert died in 1852, and for eleven years after
his death the printing business was carried on by Mr. William Rivington,
who issued many valuable and standard works on subjects of classical and
ecclesiological interest.
William Rivington retired from business in 1868, being succeeded by his
son, William John Rivington, and his nephew, Alexander. The business
increased largely in their hands; one of their first undertakings being
the purchase in 1870 of the plant of the late Mr. William Mavor Watts,
by which they secured a large addition to their collection of Oriental
types. In 1875 Mr. E. Mosley entered the firm, and Mr. William John
Rivington left it to join the publishing house of Sampson Low, Marston
and Searle. Mr. Alexander Rivington retired from the firm in 1878,
being thus the last Rivington connected with the house, which shortly
afterwards was turned into a limited liability company.
Messrs. Gilbert and Rivington's collection of Oriental and other foreign
types enables them to print in every known language, their specimen
books embracing 267 distinct tongues. They are Oriental printers to the
British Museum, India Office, British and Foreign Bible Society.
Speaking of the Oriental work, the most striking feature in the firm's
business, a correspondent to the _British Printer_ (March-April 1895),
says:
'Most of the type faces noticed were on English bodies, and the
composition is somewhat similar. Arabic is composed just as with
English. Sanskrit possesses some little features of accents and
kerned sections, which render justification quite a fine art,
accents on varying bodies needing to be utilised.... The firm does
much Hindustani work, and possesses seven sizes of type in this
language. Amongst the curiosities are the cuneiform types, the
wedge-like series of faces in which old Persian, Median, and
Assyrian inscriptions are written; and last, but by no means least
in interest, the odd-looking hieroglyphic type faces, which are on
bodies ranging from half nonpareil to three nonpareils, and some
idea of their extent may be derived by noting that this type
occupies fourteen cases of one hundred boxes each.'
To the firm of Messrs. Clowes of Stamford Street belongs the credit of
being the first to print cheap periodical literature. William Clowes the
elder, a native of Chichester, born in 1779, was apprenticed to a
printer of that town, and coming to London in 1802 commenced business on
his own account in the following year 1803. By marriage with the
daughter of Mr. Winchester of the Strand, he obtained a share of the
Government printing work. On moving to Stamford Street, Blackfriars
Road, he was chosen to print the _Penny Magazine_, edited by Charles
Knight, the first attempt to provide the public with good literature in
a cheap periodical form. The work was illustrated with woodcuts, and so
great was its success that from No. 1 to No. 106 there were sold twenty
million copies; but the undertaking was heavily handicapped by the paper
tax of threepence per pound (see _The Struggles of a Book_, C. Knight,
1850, 8vo). In 1840 an article appeared in the _Quarterly Review_,
written, it is said, by Sir F. B. Head, but which is more in the style
of T. F. Dibdin, on the Clowes printing-office. Even at that time there
were no less than nineteen of Applegarth and Cowper's machines at work
there, with a daily average of one thousand per hour each. Besides these
there were twenty-three hand presses and five hydraulic presses. The
foundry employed thirty hands, and the compositors numbered one hundred
and sixty.
In 1851 Messrs. Clowes printed the official catalogues of the Great
Exhibition, for which they specially cast 58,520 lbs. of type. They
subsequently printed the catalogues of the Exhibitions of 1883-1886, and
the Royal Academy catalogues, and have been connected from their
inception with two works of a very different character, _Hymns Ancient
and Modern_--the circulation of which has to be reckoned in
millions--and the great _General Catalogue_ of the Library of the
British Museum, for their excellent printing of which all 'readers' are
indebted to them. William Clowes the elder died in 1847. He was
succeeded by his son, William, who died in 1883; and a third William, a
grandson, is one of the managing directors of the firm which in 1881 was
turned into a limited liability company.
But the chief honours of book production in London during the present
century have been rightly awarded to the Chiswick Press.
Charles Whittingham the elder was born at Calledon, near Coventry, in
1767, and was apprenticed to a printer of that city. As soon as his time
was out he came to London, and set up a press in Fetter Lane, his chief
customers being Willis, a bookseller of Stationers' Court, Jordan of
Fleet Street, and Symonds of Paternoster Row. His beginning was humble
enough, his chief work lying in the direction of stationery, cards, and
small bills. His first important publisher was a certain Heptinstall,
who set him to print new editions of Boswell's _Johnson_, Robertson's
_America_, and other important works. This was enough to set him going,
and in 1797 he moved to larger premises in Dean Street, Fetter Lane,
and then began to issue illustrated books. In 1803 he took a second
workshop at 10 Union Buildings, Leather Lane, and again in 1807 he moved
to Goswell Street. In 1811 he took his foreman Robert Rowland into
partnership, and shortly afterwards left him to manage the city
business, while he himself set up a press at Chiswick and took up his
abode at College House. Here he continued to work until his death in
1840. For a short time, from 1824 to 1828, he was joined with his nephew
Charles, to whom at his death he left the Chiswick business.
There is not much to be said of the work of the elder Whittingham. He
confined his attention to the issue of small books, such as the _British
Classics_, which he began to print in 1803. His books are chiefly
notable for the printing of the woodcuts, which by the process known as
overlaying, he brought to great perfection. His relations with the
publishers were, however, none of the best. They accused him of piracy,
and considered it to be against the best interests of the trade to issue
small and cheap books. The productions of the elder Whittingham's press
have, moreover, been largely overshadowed by those of his nephew.
Charles Whittingham the younger was a genuine artist in printing. He
loved books to begin with, and thought no pains too great to bestow upon
their production. Born at Mitcham, on October 30th, 1795, he was
apprenticed to his uncle in 1810. In 1824 he was taken into partnership,
but this lasted only four years, and he then set up for himself at 21
Took's Court, Chancery Lane. A near neighbour of his at that time was
the publisher William Pickering, who since 1820 had been putting in the
hands of the public some excellently printed and dainty volumes. It is
stated in the _Dictionary of National Biography_ that the series known
as the _Diamond Classics_ was printed for Pickering at the Chiswick
Press. But this was not the case. He had no dealings whatever with the
Whittinghams or the Chiswick Press before his introduction to Charles
Whittingham the younger in 1829. The _Diamond Classics_, which he began
to issue while he was living in Lincoln's Inn Fields in 1822, were
printed by C. Corrall of Charing Cross, and the _Oxford English
Classics_, in large octavo, chiefly by Talboys and Wheeler of Oxford,
while most of his other work, amongst it the first eleven volumes of the
works of Bacon, was done by Thomas White, who is first found at Bear
Alley, and subsequently at Johnson Court and Crane Court in Fleet
Street.
[Illustration: FIG. 35.--Old-faced Type.]
Few of these early books of Pickering's had any kind of decoration
beyond a device on the title-page. Simplicity, combined with what was
best in type and paper, seem to have been the publisher's chief aim at
that time; but in some of the _Diamond Classics_ will be found the
small and artistic border-pieces which he afterwards used frequently.
The first of Pickering's books in which anything of a very ornamental
character occurs is _The Bijou, or Annual of Literature_, a publication
which fixes very clearly his association with Whittingham. _The Bijou_
first appeared in 1828, printed by Thomas White, with one or two
charming head-pieces designed by Stothard. The volume for 1829 was also
printed by White, and is noticeable as having the publisher's Aldine
device, showing that this came into use during the year 1828. The volume
for 1830 was printed by C. Whittingham of Took's Court. The meeting
between the two men had been brought about by Basil Montagu in the
summer of 1829. They found themselves kindred spirits on the subject of
the artistic treatment of books, and a friendship sprang up between
them, that ceased only with Pickering's death in 1854, and was
productive of some of the most beautiful books that had ever come from
an English press. Mr. Arthur Warren in his book, _The Charles
Whittinghams, Printers_ (p. 203), tells us: 'The two men met frequently
for consultation, and whenever the bookseller visited the press, which
he often did, there were brave experiments toward. The printer would
produce something new in title-pages, or in colour work, or ornament,
and the bookseller would propound some new venture in the reproduction
of an ancient volume.... They made it a point, moreover, to pass their
Sundays together, either at the printer's house or at Pickering's.'
[Illustration: FIG. 36.--Early Chiswick Press Initials.]
In the artistic production of books they were ably assisted by
Whittingham's eldest daughter Charlotte, and Mary Byfield. The former
designed the blocks, many of which were copied from the best French and
Italian work of the sixteenth century, and the latter engraved them.
Among the notable books produced by these means were the _Aldine Poets_,
editions of Milton, Bacon, Isaak Walton's _Complete Angler_, the works
of George Peele, reprints of Caxton's books, and many Prayer-books. In
1844 Pickering and Whittingham were in consultation as to the production
of an edition of _Juvenal_ to be printed in old-face great primer, and
the foundry of the latest descendant of the Caslons was ransacked to
supply the fount. The edition was to be rubricated and otherwise
decorated, and this, or the printer's stock trouble, 'lack of paper,'
occasioning some delay, the revived type first appeared in a fiction
entitled _Lady Willoughby's Diary_, to which it gave a pleasantly
old-world look in keeping with the period of which the story treats. By
the kindness of Mr. Jacobi, the present manager of the Chiswick Press,
an exact copy of the title-page of this book is here given, and with
it, examples of the decorative initials and devices, in the revival of
which also the Chiswick Press led the way.
[Illustration: FIG. 37.--Early Chiswick Press Devices.]
Pickering died in 1854, and though Charles Whittingham the younger lived
to the age of eighty-one, his death not taking place till 1876, he had
retired from business in 1860. The business was afterwards acquired by
Mr. George Bell.
In the English provinces Messrs. Clay, of Bungay, in Suffolk, have made
for themselves a reputation both as general printers and more
particularly for the careful production of old English texts; and
Messrs. Austin, of Hertford, are well known for their Oriental work. But
the pre-eminence certainly rests with the Clarendon Press at Oxford,
whose work, whether in its innumerable editions of the Bible and
Prayer-book, its classical books, or its great dictionaries, is
probably, alike in accuracy of composition, in excellence of spacing and
press-work, and in clearness of type, the most flawless that has ever
been produced. Book-lovers have been known to complain of it as so good
as to be uninteresting, but it certainly possesses all the distinctive
virtues of a University Press.
If England has no lack of good printers at the present day, in Scotland
they are, at least, equally plentiful.
The Ballantyne Press was founded by James Ballantyne, a solicitor in
Kelso, with the aid of Sir Walter Scott. Ballantyne and Scott had been
school-fellows and chums, and an incident in their school life recorded
by Ballantyne aptly illustrates the characters of the two men.
Ballantyne was studious but not quick, and often when he was bothered
with his lessons, Scott would whisper to him, 'Come, slink over beside
me, Jamie, and I'll tell you a story.' Although their roads lay apart
for some years, while Scott was studying in Edinburgh and Ballantyne was
carrying on the Kelso _Mail_, they met and renewed their friendship in
the stage coach that ran between Kelso and Glasgow. Shortly afterwards,
Ballantyne called on Scott, and begged him to supply a few paragraphs on
legal questions of the day to the Kelso _Mail_. This Scott readily
undertook to do, and when the manuscript was ready he took it himself to
the printing-office, and with it some of the ballads destined for
Lewis's collection then publishing in Edinburgh. Before he left he
suggested that Ballantyne should print a few copies of the ballads, so
that he might show his friends in Edinburgh what Ballantyne could do.
Twelve copies were accordingly printed, with the title of _Apologies for
Tales of Terror_. These were published in 1799, and Scott was so pleased
with their appearance that he promised Ballantyne that he should be the
printer of a selection of Border ballads that he was then making. This
selection was given the title of _Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border_,
and formed two small octavo volumes, with the imprint, 'Kelso, 1802.'
Ballantyne's work, as shown in these volumes, was equal in every way to
the best work done by Bensley and Bulmer at this time. Good type and
good paper, combined with accuracy and clearness, at once raised
Ballantyne's reputation. Longman and Rees, the publishers, declared
themselves delighted with the printing, and Scott urged his friend to
remove his press to Edinburgh, where he assured him he would find enough
work to repay him for the removal. After some hesitation Ballantyne
acquiesced in the proposal, and having found suitable premises in the
neighbourhood of Holyrood House, set up 'two presses and a proof one,'
and shortly afterwards, in April 1803, printed there the third volume of
the _Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border._ From this time forward Scott
made it a point that whatever he wrote or edited should be printed at
the Ballantyne Press. The first quarto, the _Lay of the Last Minstrel_,
was published in January 1805. The poem was printed in a somewhat
heavy-faced type; but in other respects the typography left nothing to
be desired. In the same year Ballantyne and Scott entered into
partnership, Scott taking a third of the profits of the printing-office.
So rapidly did James Ballantyne extend his business that in 1819 Scott,
in a letter to Constable, says that the Ballantyne Press 'has sixteen
presses, of which only twelve are at present employed.' In 1826 the firm
became involved in the bankruptcy of the publishers Messrs. Constable.
After this Ballantyne was employed as editor of the _Weekly Journal_,
and the literary management of the printing-house. He died on the 17th
January 1833. The firm is now known as Ballantyne, Hanson and Co., and
admirably sustains its old traditions.
Another great Scottish printing-house, that of T. and A. Constable, was
founded by Thomas Constable, the fourth son of Archibald Constable the
publisher. He learned his art in London under Mr. Charles Richards, and
on returning to Edinburgh, in 1833, he founded the present
printing-house in Thistle Street. Shortly afterwards he was appointed
Queen's Printer for Scotland, and the patent was afterwards extended to
his son Archibald, the present titular head of the house. Some years
later he received the appointment of Printer to the University of
Edinburgh. Thomas Constable inherited and incorporated with his own firm
the printing business of his maternal grandfather, David Willison, a
business founded in the eighteenth century. The firm has always been
noted for its scholarly reading and the beauty of its workmanship; and
only the fact that this volume is being printed by it prevents a longer
eulogy.
Among other Scottish firms who are doing excellent work mention may be
made also of Messrs. R. and R. Clark of Edinburgh, who tread very
closely on the heels of the Clarendon Press, and Messrs. Maclehose, the
printers to the University of Glasgow. In America also there is much
good work being done, that of Mr. De Vinne and of the Riverside Press,
Cambridge, being of the very highest excellence.
In the history of English printing, the close of the nineteenth century
will always be memorable for the brilliant but short-lived career of the
Kelmscott Press.
In May 1891 Mr. William Morris, whose poems and romances had delighted
many readers, issued a small quarto book entitled _The Story of the
Glittering Plain_, which had been printed at a press that he had set up
in the Upper Mall, Hammersmith.
Lovers of old books could recognise at once that in its arrangement,
and, to some extent, in its types, this first-fruit of the Kelmscott
Press went straight back to the fifteenth century, resembling most
nearly the quartos printed at Venice about 1490. Until within a few
years of that date printed books, like the old manuscripts, had
dispensed altogether with a title-page. Their first few pages might be
occupied with a prologue or a table of contents, and though, when the
text was reached, it was usual to herald it with an _Incipit_ or
_Incomincia_, followed by the title of the work, the information as to
date of issue, printer or publisher, and place of imprint or sale,
which we look to find in the title-page, was only given in a crowning
paragraph or colophon at the end of the book, save for one or two
accidental instances. The full title-page, as we know it, is not found
before about 1520, and did not come into general use, so as to supersede
the colophon, until many years after that date. But about 1480 the
advantage of getting the short title of the book clearly stated at its
outset was becoming pretty generally recognised, and from this date
onwards what may be called the label title-page--that is, a first page
containing the title and nothing else--is very frequently found. Ten
years later a practice occasionally adopted elsewhere became common at
Venice, and the first page of the text of a book was decorated with an
ornamental border, and occasionally with a little picture as well. It
was this temporary fashion which commended itself to Mr. Morris, and
_The Story of the Glittering Plain_ was issued with one of these label
title-pages and with the first page of the story surrounded by a very
beautiful border cut on wood from a design by Mr. Morris himself, here
reproduced by the kind permission of his executors. It contained also a
number of decorative initial letters, to use the clumsy phrase which the
misappropriation of the word capitals to stand for ordinary majuscules,
or 'upper case' letters, makes inevitable. Mr. Morris's initials were,
of course, true capitals--_i.e._ they were used to mark the beginnings
of chapters, and the only fault that could be found with them was that
they were a little too large for the quarto page. These also were from
Mr. Morris's own designs, ideas in one or two cases having been borrowed
from a set used by Sweynheym and Pannartz, the Germans who introduced
printing into Italy; but the borrowing, as always with Mr. Morris, being
absolutely free. As for the type, it was clear that it bore some
resemblance to that used by Nicolas Jenson, the Frenchman who began
printing in Venice in 1470, and whose finer books, especially those on
vellum, are generally recognised as the supreme examples of that
perfection to which the art of printing attained in its earliest
infancy. Mr. Morris's type was as rich as Jenson's at its best, and
showed its authorship by not being quite rigidly Roman, some of the
letters betraying a leaning to the 'Gothic' or 'black-letter' forms,
which had found favour with the majority of the mediæval scribes. At the
end of the book came the colophon in due fifteenth-century style, with
information as to when and where it was printed. The ornamental design
bearing the word 'Kelmscott,' by way of the device or trade-mark without
which no fifteenth-century printer thought his office properly equipped,
was not used in this book, but speedily made its appearance.
[Illustration: FIG. 38.--The first page of _The Story of the Glittering
Plain_.]
Pretty as was this edition of the _The Story of the Glittering Plain_,
it yet raised a doubt--the doubt as to whether there was any real life
in this effort to start afresh from old models, or whether it was a mere
antiquarian revival and nothing more. The history of printing--or rather
of the handwriting which the first printers took as their
models--recorded, at least, one instance in which an antiquarian revival
had been of permanent service; for the _Roman letter_, which the
printers have used now for four centuries, was itself a happy reversion
on the part of the fifteenth-century scribes to the Caroline minuscules
of 600 years earlier, which had gradually been debased past recognition.
There was no room for a second such sweeping reform as this, but those
who compared the best modern printing with the masterpieces of the craft
in its early days knew that the modern books by the side of the old ones
looked flat and grey; and the new _Glittering Plain_, though not
entirely satisfactory, was certainly free from these faults. A few
months later the appearance of the three-volume reprint of Caxton's
version of the _Golden Legend_ of Jacobus de Voragine, sufficed to show
that the Kelmscott Press was capable of turning out a book large enough
to tax the resources of a printing-office, and the new book was not only
larger but better than its predecessor. It became known that this, but
for an accident, should have been the first book issued from the new
press; and it was evident that the initial letters were exactly right
for this larger page, while the splendid woodcuts from the designs of
Sir Edward Burne-Jones revived the old glories of book-illustration. In
the _Golden Legend_ also appeared the first of those woodcut
frontispiece titles which formed, as far as we know, an entirely new
departure, and confer on the Kelmscott books one of their chief
distinctions. Printed sometimes in white letters on a background of dark
scrollery, sometimes in black letters on a lighter ground, these titles
are always surrounded by a border harmonising with that on the first
page of text, which they face. They thus carry out Mr. Morris's cardinal
principle, that the unit, both for arrangement of type and for
decoration, is always the double page. How persistently even the best
printers in the trade ignore this principle is known to any one who has
asked for a specimen of how a book is to be printed, it being almost
impossible to get more than a single page set up. If a double page is
insisted on, the craftsman, ingenious in avoiding trouble, will print
the same page twice over, thus confusing the eye by the exact
parallelism of line with line and paragraph with paragraph. But Mr.
Morris, who had all the capacity of genius for taking pains, understood
that, when a book lies open before us, though we only read one page at a
time, we see two, and in the selection of the type, the adjustment of
letterpress and margins, and finally in the pursuit of a decorative
beginning, either to the book itself, or to its sections, he never
arranged a single page except in relation to the one which it was to
face.
As far as permanent influence is concerned Mr. Morris's Roman letter,
the 'Golden type,' as it was dubbed, from its use in the _Golden
Legend_, is the most important of the three founts which he employed.
His own sympathies, however, were too pronouncedly mediæval for him to
be satisfied with it, and for the next large book which he took in hand,
a reprint of Caxton's _Recuyell of the Histories of Troy_, the first
work printed in the English tongue, he designed a much larger and bolder
type, an improvement on one of the 'Gothic' founts used by Anton
Koberger at Nuremberg in the fifteenth century. This 'Troy' type was
subsequently recut in a smaller size for the double-columned Chaucer,
and in both its forms is a very handsome fount, while the characters are
so clearly and legibly shaped that, despite its antique origin, any
child who knows his letters can learn to read it in a few minutes. With
these three founts the Kelmscott Press was thoroughly equipped with
type; but until his final illness took firm hold on him Mr. Morris was
never tired of designing new initials, border-pieces, and decorative
titles with a profusion which the old printers, who were parsimonious in
these matters, would have thought extravagantly lavish. Including
those completed by his executors after his death, he printed in all
fifty-three books in sixty-five volumes, and this annual output of nine
or ten volumes of all sizes, save the duodecimo, which he refused to
recognise, gave his work a cumulative force which greatly increased its
influence. Had he printed only a few books his press might have been
regarded as a rich man's toy, an outbreak of æstheticism in a new place,
of no more permanent interest than the cult of the sunflower and the
lily in the 'eighties. Even the great Chaucer by itself might not have
sufficed to take his press out of the category of experiments. But when
folio, quarto, octavo, and sexto-decimo appeared in quick succession,
each with its appropriate decorations, and challenging and defying
comparison with the best work of the best printers of the past, the
experimental stage was left far behind, and publishers and printers
awoke to the fact that a model had been set them which they would do
well to imitate.
[Illustration: FIG. 39.--The Kelmscott 'Troy' Type.]
As to what will be the permanent result of Mr. Morris's efforts to
reform modern printing it is too soon as yet to speak, but signs of
their influence are already abundantly visible. The books issued from
the 'Vale Press' of Messrs. Ricketts and Shannon have their admirers;
but they have that rather irritating degree of likeness which makes
every difference--and the differences are numerous--appear a wilful
and regrettable divergence.
[Illustration: FIG. 40.--The Macmillan Greek Type.]
The 'Macmillan Greek type,' designed by Mr. Selwyn Image, which has now
been in use for some time, may be regarded as another offshoot of Mr.
Morris's theories, and deserves all the praise due to a brave
experiment. By permission of the Messrs. Macmillan a page of it, taken
from their 'Parnassus' _Homer_, is here shown, and few modern types will
bear comparison with it. That it is not wholly and entirely successful
is due to the fact that for so many centuries Greek types have been
dominated by the models set by Aldus and the other printers of the early
sixteenth century, who tried to imitate the rapid cursive hand of the
Greek scholars of their day. Had the introduction of printing been
preceded by a revival of the beautiful Greek book-hand of the eleventh
century, similar to the revival of the Caroline minuscules, all would
have been well. But in going back himself to the eleventh century Mr.
Image was obliged perpetually to conciliate eyes used to the later
cursive forms, and the result is too obviously eclectic. The mere fact,
however, that such an effort has been made is full of promise for the
future, for it is only by new effort, joined with constant reference to
old models, that types can be improved.
[Footnote 20: _The History of Printing_. London: Printed for the Society
for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1855, 8vo.]
INDEX OF PRINTERS, TYPEFOUNDERS, ETC.
Abree, J., 253.
Alday. _See_ Alde.
Alde, Edward, 163, 169.
Alde, Elizabeth, 169.
Alde, John, 101, 163.
Allen, Edward, 271.
Allen, John, 220.
Alsop, Bernard, 171, 172, 179, 181, 194, 221.
Andrewe, Laurence, 53, 57, 58.
Andrews, J. and R., 210.
Arbuthnot, A., 146 _sq._
Archer, T., 171.
Aspley, W., 163.
Asplyn, ----, 137.
Austin, Messrs., 307.
Austin, R., 221.
B. T., _i.e._ Brudnell, T., 190.
Badger, R., 179.
Baker, J., 102.
Baldwyn, Richard, 101.
Baldwyn, W., 101.
Ballantyne, Hanson and Co., 309.
Ballantyne, James, 307 _sq._
Bankes, Richard, 55, 59, 60, 133.
Barber, John, 233, _sq._
Barbier, Jean, 30.
Barker, Christopher, 97, 118 _sq._,154, 208, 230.
Barker, Robert, 154 _sq._, 176, 216, 218, 230.
Barnes, Joseph, 124, 183.
Baskerville, John, xiii, 265 _sq._, 274.
Baskett, John, 230, 231, 232.
Bassandyne, T., 146 _sq._
Beale, John, 179.
Bell, Jane, 221.
Bensley, Thomas, 271 _sq._, 284, 289.
Bentley, W., 221.
Berthelet, Thomas, 61 _sq._, 69, 82.
Bignon, J., 41.
Bill, John, 155, 160.
Bishop, George, 112, 120, 155.
Bishop, Richard, 166, 179, 183, 194, 221.
Bliss, Joseph, 251, 252.
Blomefield, F. (private press), 279.
Blount, Edward, 163.
Blythe, Robert, 101.
'Bonere.' _See_ Bonham, W.
Bonham, John, 101.
Bonham, William, 52, 53, 74, 75, 76, 101, 129.
Bonny, W., 250.
Bourgeois, Jean le, 44.
Bourman, N., 101, 129.
Bourne, C., 254.
Bourne, N., 171.
Bowyer, William, the elder, 236 _sq._
Bowyer, William, the younger, 238 _sq._
Boyden, Thomas, 101.
Bradford, Andrew, 257, 258.
Bradford, W., 220, 221, 256.
Bremer, _alias_ Bulle. _See_ Bulle J.
Brice, Andrew, 252, 253.
Bridges, H., 224.
Broad, Alice, 218.
Broad, T., 218, 221.
Brodehead, G., 101.
Broke, R., 101.
Browne, E., 101.
Brudenell, J., 201, 208, 225.
Brudenell, T., 190, 222.
Bryan, S., 253.
Buck, J., 222.
Buck, T., 216, 222.
Bucks. _See_ Buck, T.
Bulkeley, S., 218, 219.
Bulle, _alias_ Bremer, J., 26.
Bullock, R., 112.
Bulmer, William, 271, 274, 288, 289.
Burges, F., 248, 249;
his widow, 249.
Burtoft, J., 101.
Butter, N., 171, 173, 189.
Byddell, John, 37, 66, 68 _sq._, 76.
Bye, Deodatus, 296.
Bylton, T., 101.
Bynneman, H., 137.
Caley, R., 102.
Case, J., 101.
Caslon I., letterfounder, xiii, 239 _sq._, 269;
his widow, 270.
Caslon II., letterfounder, 269, 287;
his widow, 270, 287.
Caslon III., letterfounder, 269.
Cater, E., 101.
Catherwood, N., typefounder, 287.
Cawood, Gabriel, 112.
Cawood, John, 83, 101, 109 _sq._
Caxton, William, ix, 1 _sq._, 33, 57.
Chandeler, G., 102.
Chandler, R., 255.
Charlewood, J., 102.
Charteris, H., 144, 149 _sq._
Charteris, Robert, 151.
Chase, W., 250.
Chepman, Walter, 139 _sq._
Child, Mr., 225.
Chiswick Press, xii, xiii, 300.
Clarendon Press, xiii, 214, 307.
Clark, Messrs. R. and R., 311.
Clarke, J., 101.
Clarke, Mrs., 233.
Clay, Messrs., 307.
Cleston, N., 101.
Clowes, John, 189, 222.
Clowes, William, 297 _sq._
Coates. _See_ Cotes, R.
Coe, A., 222, 224, 227.
Cole, P., 222.
Coles, A., 222.
Collins, Freeman, 250.
Constable, R., 222.
Constable, T., 310.
Cooke, Henry, 83, 101.
Cooke, W., 101.
Copland, Robert, 37, 47 _sq._, 61
Copland, William, 76, 101.
Corrall, C., 301.
Coston, S., 101.
Cotes, R., 222.
Cotes, T., 179, 182.
Cotes, Mrs., 224, 226.
Cottesford, H., 101.
Cottrel, J., 200, 222, 224, 225.
Cottrell, Thomas, typefounder, 270.
Cowper, E., 285.
Crespin, J., 147.
Croke, A., 101.
Crosse, R., 101.
Crossgrove, H., 250.
Crost, A., 101.
Crouch, E., 222.
Crouch, J., 222.
Crouch, N., 224, 227.
Crowndale, C., 248.
Dabbe, H. _See_ Tab, H.
Daniel, R., 216.
Darby, J., 209, 225, 227.
Darker, S., 251.
Davidson, T., 142.
Davison, T., 292, 293.
Davy, Rev. William (private press), 281.
Dawson, Gertrude, 194, 222.
Dawson, J., 179, 194.
Day, John, 29, 79 _sq._, 101, 106, 137, 154, 158, 198, 211.
Day, Stephen, 185.
Devell, T., 101.
De Vinne, F., 311.
Dexter, Gregory, 175.
Dicey, W., 251.
Dockwray, T., 101.
Doesborch, J. van, 57.
Dover, Simon, 206.
Drury, J., typefounder, 287.
Dugard, William, 191, 222.
Duxwell, T., 101.
East, T., 165, 169.
Eld, George, 169.
Ellis, W., 222.
Eyre, Charles, 294.
Eyre and Spottiswoode, 293.
Faques, R. _See_ Fawkes, R.
Faques, W., 40, 44.
Farley, Edward, 253.
Farley, Samuel, of Bristol, 251;
of Exeter, 251 _sq._
Farmer, Thomas, 278, 280.
Fawcett, Rev. John (private press), 280.
Fawcett, T., 172.
Fawkes, R., 45, 58.
Fayreberne, J., 101.
Field, John, 194, 222, 224.
Field, Richard, 117 _sq._, 162.
Fifield, Alexander, typefounder, 180.
Figgins, V., typefounder, 272.
Fleet, Thomas, 259.
Flessher. _See_ Fletcher.
Fletcher, James, 194, 197, 206, 209, 222, 224, 225.
Fletcher, Rev. John (private press), 281.
Fletcher, Miles, 169, 170, 179, 194, 237.
Foster, John, 220.
Foulis, A. and R., 261 _sq._
Fowle, D., 260.
Fox, John, 101.
Franklin, B., 258.
Franckton, J., 152.
Freez, F., 122.
Frenche, P., 101.
Fry, Edmund, Henry, and Joseph, typefounders, 268 _sq._
Gamlyn or Gammon, A., 101.
Gammon. _See_ Gamlyn.
Ged, William, stereotype founder, 235.
Gee, Thomas, 101.
Gent, Thomas, 246, 254 _sq._
Gibson, Thomas, 65, 79.
Gilbert, Richard and Robert, 296.
Gilbert and Rivington, 295.
Gilfillan, J., 255.
Glover, Joseph, 185.
Godbid, William, 200, 224, 225.
Goez, H., 122.
Goez, M. van der, 122.
Gonneld, James, 101.
Gough, John, 37, 53, 54 _sq._, 60, 101.
Grafton, Richard, 66, 70 _sq._, 73, 76, 113.
Green, S., 219.
Green, S., the younger, 220.
Grene, R., 101.
Griffin. _See_ Griffith, E.
Griffith, E., 170, 179, 222.
Griffith, W., 90, 101, 138.
Grismand, J., typefounder, 180, 194, 200, 222.
Grismond. _See_ Grismand.
Grover, James, 211.
Grover, T., 211, 212.
Gryffyth, Sarah, 224, 227.
Guine, H., 257.
Hacket, Thomas, 102.
Hall, H., 222.
Hamilton, A., 275.
Hare, A., 222.
Harper, Thomas, 169, 179, 192, 194, 222.
Harris, B., 220.
Harrison, John, 108.
Harrison, Luke, 108.
Harrison, Martha, 222.
Harrison, R., 101.
Harvey, R., 101.
Haviland, John, 166, 170, 179.
Hayes, J., 200, 202, 208.
Hayes, Mr., 225.
Heldersham, F., 222.
Herford, John, 127 _sq._
Heron, John, 53.
Hester, Andrew, 101.
Hills, Henry, 194, 222.
Hinton, Thomas, 251.
Hodge, Robert, 257.
Hodgkinson, R., 179, 195, 200, 224.
Hodgkys. _See_ Hoskins.
Holder, R., 101.
Holt, J., 257.
Holyland, J., 101.
Hopyl, W., 43.
Hoskins or Hodgkys, 139.
Hostingue, L., 140.
Huke, G., 101.
Hunscott, J., 222.
Hunt, J., 222.
Hunt, T., 24.
Hurdis, Rev. J. (private press), 281.
Husbands, E., 222.
Huvin, J., 30.
Hyll, J., 101.
Hyll, R., 101.
Hyll, W., 101.
Ibbitson, Robert, 189, 200, 222.
Ireland, R., 101.
Islip, A., 179.
Jackson, Joseph, typefounder, 270 _sq._
Jacobi, T., 43.
Jaggard, Isaac, 163.
Jaggard, William, 163.
James, J., 212.
James, T., letterfounder, 229 _sq._, 235, 239.
Jaques, J., 102.
Johnson, M., 219.
Johnson, T., 224, 227.
Jones, William, 173 _sq._, 180.
Judson, J., 102.
Jugge, Richard, 97, 102, 111, 112 _sq._, 147.
Keball, J., 102.
Keimer, S., 258.
Kele, John, 102.
Kele, Richard, 60, 75, 133.
Kele, Thomas, 53, 76.
Kelmscott Press, xiii, 311 _sq._
Kerver, Theilman, 47.
Kevall, R., 102.
Kevall, Stephen, 102.
Kingston, Felix, 162, 179.
Kirgate, Thomas, 278.
Kneeland, S., 259.
Kyng, J., 102.
Kyrforth, C, 124.
Lacy, ----, 137.
Lant, R., 76, 102.
Law, Henry, 296.
Leach, Thomas, 209, 224, 227.
Lee, W., 222.
Legate, John, 135 _sq._, 179.
Legg. _See_ Legge, C.
Legge, Cantrell, 136, 168.
Lekpreuik, R., 143 _sq._
Lettou, John, 11, 26, 27.
Leyborne, R., 222, 225.
Leybourne. _See_ Leyborne, R.
Lichfield, John, 183.
Lichfield, Leonard, 184, 223.
Lillicrapp, P., 224, 227.
Lillicropp. _See_ Lillicrapp.
Lloyd, H., 224, 227.
Lobel, M., 102.
Lownes, H., 167.
Lownes, M., 167.
Lucas, M., 176.
Lyon, B., 250.
Mabb, Thomas, 200, 205, 223.
Maclehose, Messrs., 311.
Machlinia, W. de, 27, 29.
Macmillan, Messrs., xiii.
Mansion, Colard, 4, 6, 10.
Markall, T., 102.
Marsh, Thomas, 97, 102.
Marshall, John, 295.
Marten, W., 102.
Martin, William, typefounder, 273.
Mathewes, Augustine, 173, 180.
Maxey, John, 192.
Maxey, T., 223.
Maxwell, Mr., 227.
Maxwell, Anne, 224.
Maxwell, D., 200.
Maycock, J., 209, 223, 224, 225.
Mayhewes, W., 53.
Mayler, J., 76.
Maynyal, George, 16.
Meredith, C., 223.
Meredith, H., 258.
Meteren, J. van, 72.
Middleton, ----, 76.
Middleton, W., 68.
Milbourne, T., 224, 225.
Miller, A., 223.
Miller, G., 179.
Milner, Ursyn, 123.
Moravus, Matthew, 26.
Mosley, E., 296.
Mottershead, E., 223.
Moxon, James, typefounder, 194.
Moxon, Joseph, typefounder, 210, 223.
Mychell, John, 75, 132.
Myllar, A., 139 _sq._
Neale, F., 223.
Newbery, R., 120, 155.
Newcomb, T., 194 _sq._, 209, 223, 224, 225.
Nichols, Arthur, typefounder, 180.
Nichols, John, 289 _sq._
Nichols, J. Bowyer, 292.
Nichols, J. Gough, 292.
Norton, Bonham, 75, 155, 161 _sq._, 169.
Norton, H., 102.
Norton, John, 155, 158 _sq._, 180, 194.
Norton, Mark, 112.
Norton, Roger, 194, 197, 224, 225.
Norton, William, 75, 102.
Notary, Julian, 30, 32, 37.
Nuthead, W., 221.
Nutt, R., 212.
Oakes, E., 225, 227.
Okes, J., 172, 182.
Okes, Nicholas, 167, 172, 180
Oporinus, ----, 86.
Os, Godfried van, 22.
Oswen, John, 131 _sq._
Oulton, Richard, 182.
Ouseley, Mr., 225.
Overton, J., 130.
Paget, R., 102.
Paine. _See_ Payne, T.
Palmer, Samuel, 240.
Parker, J., 257.
Parker, P., 210.
Parker, Thomas, 102.
Parsons, M., 179, 180.
Partridge, J., 223.
Pattenson, Thomas, 102.
Payne, T., 223.
Pelgrim, J., 43.
Pepwell, Henry, 37, 43, 49, 75, 129.
Petit, T., 66, 76.
Pickering, W., 102.
Pierce, R., 220.
Pigouchet, F., 60, 140.
Playford, J., 223.
Powell, H., 102, 151 _sq._
Powell, Thomas, 63, 102.
Powell, W., 68, 102.
Purfoot, T., 98, 102, 179.
Purslowe, Elizabeth, 182, 194, 223, 227.
Purslowe, G., 170, 179.
Purslowe, Thomas, 175, 179, 180, 194, 224.
Pynson, Richard, xi, 28 _sq._, 39 _sq._, 57, 68.
Radborne, R., 102.
Raikes, Robert, 251.
Rastell, John, xi, 51 _sq._, 74, 76.
Rastell, W., 110.
Ratcliffe, T., 223, 224, 225.
Rawlins, William, 225, 227.
Raworth, John, 179.
Raworth, Richard, 176, 180.
Raworth, Ruth, 176, 191, 223.
Redman, Elizabeth, 68.
Redman, John, 224, 227.
Redman, Robert, 66, 67 _sq._
Regnault, F., 72.
Reynes, John, 109.
Reynes, Lucy, 109.
Richardson, R., 102.
Richardson, Samuel, 241 _sq._
Richel, Wendelin, 86.
Riverside Press, 311.
Rivington, Messrs., 246, 295 _sq._
Roberts, J., 97, 154.
Robinson, William, 277.
Roger, G., 260.
Rogers, J., 102.
Rogers, O., 102.
Rood, Theodoric, 24.
Ross, J., 148.
Ross, T., 223.
Rothwell, J., 223.
Roycroft, Thomas, 194, 198, 200, 206, 209, 223, 224, 225.
Royston, J., 223.
Royston, R., 223.
Rycharde, Dan Thomas, 127.
Ryddall, W., 102.
Sawyer, T., 102.
Scolar, J., 123, 125.
Scoloker, A., 81, 129 _sq._
Scot or Skot, John, 142 _sq._
Seres, William, 76, 79 _sq._, 102, 130, 154.
Shereman, J., 102.
Sherewe, J., 102.
Shober, F., 257.
Short, J., 183.
Siberch, J., 125 _sq._
Simmes, V., 139.
Simmons, Mathew, 190, 194, 223, 224, 226.
Singleton, H., 102.
Skot. _See_ Scot, J.
Skot, John, 54, 62.
Smethwicke, J., 163.
Smith, H., 68.
Smyth, A., 102.
Smyth, R., 151.
Snodham, T., 169.
Solemne or Solempne, A. de, 133 _sq._
Solempne. _See_ Solemne, A.
Sparke, Michael, 173, 174.
Spottiswoode, A., 295.
Spylman, S., 102.
Stansby, W., 165, 170.
Staples, A., 255.
Steward, W., 102.
Strahan, W., 294.
Streator, J., 200, 224, 225.
Stroud, J., 137.
Sutton, E., 102.
Sutton, H., 102.
Symonds. _See_ Simmons.
Tab, Henry, 59.
Tab, J., 129.
Talboys and Wheeler, 301.
Talleur, Le, 29, 41.
Taverner, N., 102.
Taylor, William, 175.
Thomas, T., 135.
Thomlyn, A., 139.
Thompson, G., 223.
Tottell, Richard, 97, 102, 110, 113 _sq._
Tottell, W., 116.
Toye, Elizabeth, 111.
Toye, Robert, 74 _sq._, 83, 111.
Treveris, Peter, 56.
Turke, J., 102.
Turner, William, 173, 183.
Twyn, John, 205.
Tyer, R., 102.
Tyler, E., 224, 225.
Tysdale, J., 102.
Tyton, F., 223.
Urie, Robert, typefounder, 262.
Vaughan, Mr., 225.
Vautrollier, Thomas, 97, 116 _sq._, 150.
Waldegrave, Robert, 138, 149, 150.
Waley or Walley, C., 102.
Waley, J., 102, 110.
Walkley, T., 191, 223.
Wallys, R., 102.
Ward, Cæsar, 255.
Ward, Roger, 98.
Warren, Alice, 195, 200.
Warren, Thomas, 195, 223.
Warren, Mr., 225.
Watkins, Richard, 97, 154.
Watts, J., 239.
Watts, W. M., 296.
Way, R., 102.
Wayland, John, 102.
Weyman, William, 257.
Whitchurch, Edward, 70, 73.
White, Grace, 254.
White, John, 254, 255.
White, John, jun., 254, 256.
White, Robert, 224, 225.
White, Thomas, 301, 303.
Whitney, J., 102.
Whittingham, Charles, the elder, 299, 300.
Whittingham, Charles, the younger, 300 _sq._
Wilde, J., 241.
Wilkes, John (private press), 279.
Willison, D., 310.
Wilson, Dr. A., typefounder, 263.
Wilson, W., 223.
Windet, J., 165.
Winter, John, 225, 227.
Wolfe, John, 98, 195.
Wolfe, Reginald or Reyner, 102, 103 _sq._
Wolfgang, 43.
Wood, Mr., 225
Woodcock, T., 112.
Woodfall, Henry, 243 _sq._
Worde, Wynkyn de. _See_ Wynkyn, Jan, de Worde.
Wrench, W., 183.
Wright, J., 223.
Wright, Thomas, typefounder, 180.
Wright, W., 223.
Wyer, Robert, xi, 47, 57 _sq._, 76, 102.
Wynkyn, Jan, de Worde, 4, 16, 17, 18, 20 _sq._, 31 _sq._, 47, 54, 68,
69, 140, 211.
Young, R., 170.
Zenger, J. P., 257.
INDEX TO PLACES
Abingdon, 125.
America, 219 _sq._, 256, 311.
Antwerp, 16, 57, 72, 122.
Basle, 86.
Birmingham, 256.
Bishopstone, Sussex, 281.
Boston, Mass., 220, 259.
Brearley Hall, 280.
Bristol, 129, 218, 219, 250, 268.
Bruges, 4, 7.
Bungay, co. Suffolk, 307.
Cambridge, 10, 125 _sq._, 135 _sq._, 216, 222, 236, 248.
Cambridge, Mass., 219, 311.
Canterbury, 75, 132, 253.
Chester, 256.
Cirencester, 251.
Cologne, 4, 6, 24, 25.
Coventry, 139.
Darlington, 278 _sq._
Dublin, 152.
Edinburgh, 139 _sq._, 309.
Ewood Hall, 280.
Exeter, 218, 251.
Fawsley, near Daventry, 139.
Fersfield, co. Norfolk, 279.
Gateshead, 219.
Geneva, 147.
Glasgow, 261 _sq._, 311.
Glynde, Sussex, 281.
Gouda, 22.
Ham, East, 137.
Haseley, near Warwick, 139.
Hemel Hempstead, 137.
Hempstead. _See_ Hemel Hempstead.
Hertford, 307.
Ipswich, 129 _sq._
Ireland, 151 _sq._
Kelso, 308, 309.
Liverpool, 256.
Lustleigh, co. Devon, 281.
Madeley, Shropshire, 281.
Molesey, East, 138.
Naples, 26.
Newcastle, 218, 219, 236, 256.
New England, 185 _sq._
New Haven, Conn., 257.
New York, 220, 221, 256, 257.
Norwich, 133, 248 _sq._
Nottingham, 256.
Oxford, 23, 24, 123 _sq._, 183 _sq._, 214, 222, 223, 228, 247 _sq._,
301, 307.
Paris, 16, 30, 46, 47, 60, 72.
Pennsylvania, 220.
Philadelphia, 257.
Plymouth, 219.
Portsmouth (N. H.), 260.
Rome, 26.
Rouen, 29, 44, 140.
St. Albans, 25, 127.
Scotland, 139 _sq._
Shrewsbury, 219.
Southwark, 56, 222.
Stonor Park, 138.
Strasburg, 86.
Strawberry Hill, 276.
Tavistock, 126.
Tunbridge Wells, 253.
Virginia, 221.
Westminster, 7, 10, 14, 30.
Wolston Priory, 139.
Woodbridge (N. J.), 257.
Worcester, 131, 253.
York, 122 _sq._, 218, 219, 254.
Edinburgh: T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to Her Majesty
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Short History of English Printing,
1476-1898, by Henry R. Plomer
*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGLISH PRINTING ***
***** This file should be named 20393-0.txt or 20393-0.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/3/9/20393/
Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier, Taavi Kalju and
the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
http://www.pgdp.net
Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
will be renamed.
Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules,
set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project
Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you
do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is
subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
redistribution.
*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
http://gutenberg.org/license).
Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic works
1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be
used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works. See paragraph 1.E below.
1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the
collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an
individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in
a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check
the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning
the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
States.
1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
copied or distributed:
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
1.E.9.
1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked
to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
Gutenberg-tm License.
1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or
distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
that
- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is
owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments
must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License. You must require such a user to return or
destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
Project Gutenberg-tm works.
- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
of receipt of the work.
- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the
Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
1.F.
1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
your equipment.
1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGE.
1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with
the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy
is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
opportunities to fix the problem.
1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any
provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists
because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
people in all walks of life.
Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation
The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at
809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
[email protected]. Email contact links and up to date contact
information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
page at http://pglaf.org
For additional contact information:
Dr. Gregory B. Newby
Chief Executive and Director
[email protected]
Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation
Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
status with the IRS.
The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To
SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
particular state visit http://pglaf.org
While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
approach us with offers to donate.
International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works.
Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily
keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
http://www.gutenberg.org
This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
