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_.]