Read Ebook: A Short History of English Printing 1476-1898 by Plomer Henry R Henry Robert Pollard Alfred W Alfred William Editor

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Robert Wyer appears to have done a great deal of work for his contemporaries, notably Richard Bankes, Richard Kele, and John Gough.

THOMAS BERTHELET TO JOHN DAY

'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.'

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.

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:

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 . 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 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.

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.

From the affidavit of Emmanuel Demetrius , discovered in 1884 at the Dutch Church in Austin Friars, 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

'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.'

'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.'

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.

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:--

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.

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.

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.

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.

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