CHAPTER VI

'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 GabrielCawood, 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, entitledThe 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 EdwardVI., 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'sFœdera, 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 perhapssome 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 theBook of Common Prayerin all sizes. He also reprinted in 1570 Barclay'sShip of Foolswith 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 oflaws 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 designedengraved 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 printedvarious editions of Grafton'sChronicle, and come into possession of some of his finest woodcut borders.

Richard Tottell's Device.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 ofSurrey 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'sAccedens 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 aMS.of John Knox'sHistory 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'sLives, 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'sArte 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 printerto 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 ofOrlando 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 ofVenus and Adonis, and the first edition ofLucrece. His later work included David Hume'sDaphne-Amaryllis, 1605, 4to; Chapman's translation of theOdyssey(1614, folio); and an edition ofVirgilin 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 ThomasWilkes 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'sCatal. of Broadsides).

Christopher Barker's Device.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 issuedThe Newe Decrees of the Starre Chamber for orders in Printing, which is reprinted in full in the second volume of Arber'sTranscripts, 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 ofCanterbury 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.

n 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 hisMemoirs 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, aDonatus Minorand anAccidence, as well astheDirectorium 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 hisTypographical 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 aFestum visitationis Beate Marie Virginis, without date, and a Latin syntax by Robert Whitinton, entitledEditio 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 includedQuestiones moralissime superlibros ethicorum, by John Dedicus, dated May 15, 1518. On June 5th was issuedCompendium questionum de luce et lumine, on June 7th Walter Burley'sTractatus perbrevis de materia et forma, on June 27th Whitinton'sDe 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'sSpeculum 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'sSpiritual and Most Precious Pearl, and in 1596 two founts ofHebrew 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 aBreviaryfor the use of the abbey there; only one copy has survived, and is now at Emmanuel College, Cambridge.

Device of Joseph Barnes.Fig. 25.—Device of Joseph Barnes.

The first Cambridge printer was John Siberch, whose history, like that of so many other earlyprinters, is totally unknown. Nine specimens of his printing during the years 1521-22 are extant. The first is theOratioof 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, theLibellus 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 isThe Boke of Comfort, called in laten Boetius de Consolatione philosophie. Translated into English tonge ... Enprented in the exemptmonastery 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 withinthe 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 wereA Godly disputation betweene Justus and Peccator and Senex and Juvenis, andAn 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 HenryVIII'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 forBonham, 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 theLetters 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 'StevenagealiasBoreman,' so that the Nicholas Bourman, the London printer, was perhaps a relative.

The Rev. S. Sayers in hisMemoirs 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 printedThe 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 theOrdinarye of Christians, printed by Scoloker after he had settled in London.

From the Ordinarye of Christians, c. 1550.Fig. 26.—From theOrdinarye 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'sIllustrium 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 wasThe 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'sBrief 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 printedA 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 theDomestycal or Household Sermonsof ChristopherHegendorff, which was printed on the last day of February 1549.

Then came his first important undertaking, a quarto edition ofThe boke of common praier. Imprinted the xxiv day of May AnnoMDXLIX. The folio edition appeared in July of the same year. Two months later he printed an edition of thePsalter or Psalmes of David, 4to. On January 12, 1550, appeared a quarto edition of theNew Testament, of which there is a copy in Balliol College Library, and this was followed in the same year by Zwingli'sShort Pathwaye, translated by John Veron; by a translation by Edward Aglionby of Mathew Gribalde'sNotable and marveilous epistle, and theGodly 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 EdwardVI., andAn 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 issuedA Breuiat Cronicle contayninge all the Kynges from Brute to this daye, and in 1556, theArticles 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 atAntwerp. 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:—

In this year Solempne also printedEenen 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 isChronyc. 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'sTranscripts, 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 beskilful 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.

Device used by John Legate.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. Whetherthese 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 entitledAn 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, butwas 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'sRationes 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 entitledA 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, entitledThe 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 afterwardsremoved 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.

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 hischief 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, andTwa 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.

Device of Andrew Miller.Fig.28.—Device of Andrew Miller.

After printing the above-mentioned works, Myllar disappears, and the famousBreviarium 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 theBremarium, 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 printingThe 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 titleAd 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 Scottishprinter 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'sCertane tractatis for Reformatioune of Doctryne and Maneris, a quarto, printed on the 21st May 1562, and the same author'sLast 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'sAne 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, calledThe 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 theBook of Common Orderprinted 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 printingDonatus pro pueris,Rudimentis of Pelisso,Acts of Parliament,Chronicles of the Realm, the book calledRegia Majestas, thePsalms, theHomelies, andRudimenta Artis Grammaticae.

Among his other work of that year may be noticed a ballad entitledThe 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 theActis and Deides of Sir William Wallace, and in 1571The Actis and Lyfe of RobertBruce. 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'sChameleon. The printer, however, had received timely warning and retired to Stirling, where, before the 6th of August, he printed Buchanan'sAdmonition, 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'sRegulationsfor 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'sCatechismus Latino Carmine Redditus et in libros quatuor digestus, a small octavo of forty leaves, printed in Roman type; Fowler'sAnswer to John Hamilton, a quarto of twenty-eight leaves; and aDeclarationwithout place or printer's name, but attributed to his press: after this nothing more is heard of him.

Contemporary with Lekpreuik was ThomasBassandyne, 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 entitledThe 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 calledWelcome Fortunewhich 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'sWorks, of which he had 510 copies in stock at the time of his death.

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