freeman of the city of York in 1497 as a bookbinder and stationer. He
may also have been a printer, for in the records of a lawsuit held at
York in 1510 he is styled “buke-prynter,” and fellow-townsmen would
hardly have called him this without reason. Nothing printed by him is
known, though Herbert suggests that a proclamation on vellum of the
time of Henry VII. issued at York, mentioned by Bagford, might have
been printed by him. In 1500 he and his wife, Joanna, were admitted
members of the Corpus Christi Guild. In March 1506 the Corporation
passed an order “that Frederick Freez, a Dutchman and an alien
enfranchised, should dwell and inhabit upon the common ground at the
Rose, otherwise the Bull in Conyngestrete, for ten years, at three
pounds yearly rent.” Freez is spoken of as a Dutchman, and his proper
name was no doubt Vries or De Vries. For some reason, perhaps through
marriage, the name, Freez, was changed to Wandsforth, a not uncommon
Yorkshire name, and, though Frederick does not seem to have used it
himself, his brother, Gerard, certainly assumed it, and in his will
calls both himself and his brother Wandsforth, making no reference to
his original name, Freez.
Frederick is but a shadowy person. His name is found in no colophon,
and the only definite connexion with book-selling of which we have
evidence, is the inevitable lawsuit, for Pynson brought an action
against him in 1505. He was certainly still alive in 1515, when he
is mentioned as living in the parish of St Helen on the Walls. He is
known to have had two sons, Valentine and Edward. The first took up his
freedom by patrimony in 1539, but he appears soon after to have fallen
a victim, with his wife, to religious persecution. Fuller writes of
them, “They were both of them born in the city and both gave their
lives therein at one stake for the testimony of Jesus Christ, probably
by order from Edward Lee, the cruel Archbishop.” Though Fuller, relying
on Foxe, assigns this event to the impossible date of 1531, the account
may be taken as founded on fact.
The other son, Edward, who, according to Foxe, had been apprenticed at
York to be a painter and was afterwards a novice monk, was convicted
of heresy at Colchester through painting texts upon the walls of the
inn which he was decorating. He was imprisoned in London, his wife and
child were cruelly killed, and he himself so barbarously treated that
he never afterwards recovered his wits.
The first York stationer, whose name is found in a printed colophon,
is Gerard Freez, or Wandsforth, as he more often called himself, the
brother of Frederick Freez. The first book printed for him was an
edition of the _Expositio Hymnorum et Sequentiarum_, produced by Pierre
Violette at Rouen in 1507. A perfect copy of both parts is in the John
Rylands Library, which was formerly in the wonderful collection formed
by Richard Vaughan at Hengwrt; an imperfect copy is in the Bodleian,
and copy of the _Expositio Sequentiarum_ is in the Bibliotheca
Columbiniana at Seville. Though this book is an edition of the ordinary
Exposition of the Hymns and Sequences according to Salisbury use, yet
the words “ad usum Sarum” have been omitted from the title, perhaps as
being considered prejudicial to its sale in York. On the title-page is
a woodcut of a scholar seated at his desk, and its occurrence here in
a book with Violette’s name was the means of identifying the printer of
the first book printed for sale in Scotland, a grammatical treatise by
Joannes de Garlandia, which has the same woodcut on the title-page. The
year previous to printing this York _Expositio_, Violette had printed a
Sarum _Expositio Sequentiarum_, and presumably an _Expositio Hymnorum_
now lost, for Andrew Myllar at Edinburgh.
About this time editions were also issued of the _Missal_, _Breviary_,
and _Directory_ of York use. Of the _Missal_, apparently only two
copies, both imperfect, are known. When perfect it consisted of 232
leaves, with two columns of forty-three lines. The colophon states that
it was printed “impensis honesti viri Petri Violette,” but Violette was
himself the printer, and his name occurs engraved in the large initial
M on the title-page. The book has no date, but may be assigned to about
1507, and the copy sold in the Cholmley sale in 1902 contained the
autograph of Dr Martin Colyns, an official of the court of York who
died in 1509. The other copy known is the fine copy in the Bodleian,
which wants only leaf 117, the leaf preceding the Canon of the Mass,
which would have contained a woodcut of the Crucifixion. The _Breviary_
is known from a single copy formerly in the collection of Mr Blew, and
now in the University Library. It is a small octavo volume containing
both parts, the Pars Hiemalis and the Pars Æstivalis, and, if perfect,
should have filled about 600 leaves. It is, however, very imperfect,
wanting both beginning and end, title-page and colophon, so that any
information which either might have contained is now lost.
Of the last book, the _Directorium_, no copy is known, but we know of
its existence from documentary evidence to be referred to later.
On one of his journeys, presumably to sell books, Gerard Wandsforth
was taken ill at King’s Lynn in Norfolk. There on October 3, 1510,
immediately before his death, he executed his will. He described
himself as a stationer of York, and desired to be buried within the
church of St Margaret before the chapel of the Holy Trinity at Lynn.
He adds the clause, “Also I require for the love of Jhesu Christ for
to be a brother of the Trinity guild kept there, and to pay therfor as
the custom of the guild requireth.” To his brother, Frederick, and his
brother’s son, Valentine (there is no mention of Edward), he leaves
legacies. Then follows, “To Richard Watterson of London xl. s., to the
which Richard, Mr Wynkyn de Word, can inform you. Item I giff to the
said Mr Wynkyn xl. s., which I howght him.” The executors were his
brother Frederick, Ralph Pulleyn, a goldsmith of York, and Mr Maynard
Weywik of London. The will was proved at York on October 24. As there
is no mention of wife or children, we may presume he was unmarried. The
bequests to Richard Waterson and Wynkyn de Worde are interesting. We do
not know at present of any Richard Waterson, a stationer in London, but
a Henry Watson, and the names are easily confused, was at the time an
apprentice to W. de Worde, and we have a reference to another book not
now known, printed at London by Hugo Goes, who printed later at York,
and Henry Watson. The coincidence of names, though it may not mean
anything, is certainly curious. From his owing money to De Worde we may
presume he obtained stock from him, and we find all the York printers
and stationers had dealings of one sort or another with De Worde.
Ralph Pulleyn, the goldsmith, seems to have acted towards Wandsforth
as Fust did to the first printer Gutenberg, advancing money to assist
him in trade. The third executor, Mr Mayner Weywik, is passed over
without notice by Davies in the account of the will in the _History
of the York Press_, but his connexion is fairly easily explained. In
the lists of persons admitted to the freedom of York in 1529-30 is a
stationer, Johannes Warwyke, son of Edward Warwyke, merchant. Thus the
Warwyke family were connected with York and also with the business of
a stationer. Mr Mayner Warwyke, who was like Ralph Pulleyn, a partner
with Wandsforth, appears to have renounced his executorship and sold
his share in the business to Pulleyn. Probably as he lived in London
he did not see his way, after Wandsforth’s death, to continuing in the
business at York.
Shortly after the proving of the will in October 1510, probably at the
beginning of 1511, a suit was brought by Frederick Wandsforth against
his co-executor, Ralph Pulleyn, and the evidence brought forward throws
a considerable amount of light on the early York book trade. The
following abstract of the proceedings is given by Davies.
“It appears that the testator, Gerard Wandsforth, his friend Ralph
Pulleyn, and another friend Mr Manard (Mr Mayner Weywick), had made a
considerable purchase of books as co-partners in equal third shares.
The books, which, it is stated, were bought in France, consisted of
252 missals, 399 portifers (breviaries), and 570 Picas all printed
upon paper. The whole were consigned to the care of Wandsforth, who
deposited them in a room or chamber of his house, near the church of
St John del Pyke at York, of which chamber Ralph Pulleyn had a key.
As soon as the death of Wandsforth became known at York, Pulleyn
hastened to the house of the deceased and took possession of all
the books deposited there, not only those which had been bought in
partnership, but others which were the sole property of Wandsforth, and
caused them to be carried to his own house in Petergate. He alleged
he was justified in taking this course by having advanced money to
Wandsforth to enable him to defray the cost of printing some books
and purchasing others. It was natural that Frederick, the testator’s
brother, should feel much aggrieved by Pulleyn’s grasping conduct, and
upon their encountering each other in the street of Petergate, near
Pulleyn’s residence, high words passed between them which ended in
an affray. When Frederick charged the goldsmith with detaining from
him the property he was entitled to as his brother’s executor, and
thus preventing him from paying his brother’s debts and legacies, and
fulfilling the trusts of his will in other respects, Pulleyn said to
him, ‘You shall have your brother’s goods delivered to you that ever I
had of his.’ But when they went together to Pulleyn’s house only part
of the books were offered to be given up, and these Frederick refused
to accept, insisting upon having the whole. It was then that, to
enforce his rights, he resorted to legal proceedings against Pulleyn.
Whilst the suit was pending, the contending parties were induced, by
the good offices of friends, to agree to refer all matters in dispute
to the arbitration of Sir John Symson, priest, one of the vicars
choral of the cathedral, and Mr John Scauseby, a gentlemen residing in
Goodramgate, and a formal deed of reference was executed. The books
which had been purchased by the testator, jointly with Pulleyn and
Manard, they divided into three equal parts and had them valued by John
More, a moneylender, who lived in Walmgate, whose estimate amounted to
the sum of £86, 19s. 8d. Those belonging solely to the testator, of
which Pulleyn had taken possession, consisted of about 300 volumes,
some bound and some not bound, which were estimated to be worth about
£20. These were chiefly books used in the services of the church, as
Primaria, Doctrinalia, Hymni et Sequentiæ; with some Alphabeta, and
others, both in Latin and English, the titles of which unfortunately
are not stated. The award of the arbitrators was in favour of Frederick
Wandsworth, the complainant in the suit. It was pronounced in the
presence of Ursin Milnour, and three other persons, who are described
as laics of the respective dioceses of Rouen, Durham, and York.”
The original documents of this suit are still preserved in the registry
of the Dean and Chapter of York, and it is much to be desired that a
full reprint of them might be issued, as it is clear that they contain
many points of interest passed over by Davies in his abstract, as well
as names which might afford valuable evidence.
The books belonging to Wandsforth which are mentioned by name are,
we have seen, _Primaria_, _Doctrinalia_, _Alphabeta_, and _Hymni et
Sequentiæ_.
The only trace of an early York _Horæ_ or _Primer_ now known is an
unfolded imperfect quarter-sheet containing six out of eight leaves
of signature P among the Bagford fragments in the British Museum.
The book was of very small size, a 32º with fourteen lines to a full
page printed in black and red. The type is apparently Pynson’s, and
it is the only known book printed by him connected with York. But
another proof of his connexion with York has lately come to light, for
there has been found in the Plea Rolls for 1505 a notice of a lawsuit
brought by Pynson against Frederick Frees, bookseller of York, for
£5, 10s. 6d., perhaps relating to this very book. The _Doctrinalia_
and _Alphabeta_ were presumably school books, while the _Hymni et
Sequentiæ_ belonged to the edition already described. The foreign
printed books belonging jointly to the partners consisted of _Missals_,
_Breviaries_, and _Picas_. The _Missal_ and _Breviary_, printed at
Rouen by Violette, have already been described, but no copy of a
foreign printed York _Pica_ (or _Directorium_) is known. An edition,
shortly to be described, was printed in York in February 1509-10, which
is described in the colophon as revised and amended, and perhaps it was
reprinted from the lost foreign edition. Its competition might account
for the large number (570) remaining of the earlier edition in the
hands of Wandsforth’s executors.
The books actually printed in York are six in number, and are the work
of two printers, Hugo Goes and Ursyn Mylner. Goes has been conjectured
from his name to have been related to Matthias van der Goes, a printer
of Antwerp, but for this no proof is forthcoming. In 1509-10 he printed
an edition of the York _Directorium_, of which two copies are known,
one in York Minster wanting about fifteen leaves, the other in the
library of Sidney Sussex College wanting only the last leaf, which
would either have been blank or have contained a printer’s device.
Davies in his _History of the York Press_ has been singularly
unfortunate in his account of this book. He quotes the very inaccurate
transcript of the colophon printed by Ames, and then adds: “Neither the
copy in the library of Sidney Sussex College nor that belonging to the
Dean and Chapter of York now contains the leaf upon which this colophon
was printed. It is to the valuable work of Ames that we are indebted
for the only record of it that has been preserved.” Davies or his
informant was probably misled by its occurring three pages before the
end of the book. It gives full information, stating that the book was
printed at York by Hugo Goes in the street called Steengate on the 18th
of February 1509. The work begins with a preface by Thomas Hannibal,
doctor of laws and canon of York, who, later, brought the golden rose
from the Pope to Henry VIII., praising the edition as revised and
corrected by Thomas Hothyrsall, vicar choral of the Minster. Then
follows another preface in which it is stated that “the pica with
its table which was composed by Robert Avissede, priest and formerly
chaplain of the church of St Gregory in the great city of York, will
last as long as the world endures.” It has still 118 years to run.
The book is printed with a fount of type which had belonged to Wynkyn
de Worde, and which he had discarded shortly after 1500.
Besides the _Directorium_ Goes is credited with two other books,
editions of the _Donatus Minor cum Remigio_ and _Accidence_. In 1664
Christopher Hildyard, a barrister in York, issued a little book on the
antiquities of the city, and his own copy with manuscript additions is
now in the British Museum. One of his notes relates to these books, of
which he gives a fairly full description with the titles and imprints.
They were bound up with a grammar printed by W. de Worde in 1506. He
ends his note thus: “The book I have by me, new bound up by Mr Mawburn
of York, bookseller, 1667, July 12.” Of the Wynkyn de Worde grammar
of 1506, we know of an imperfect copy in the library at Lambeth, but
of the two grammars printed by Goes in the Steengate, all traces have
disappeared. Hildyard’s description is so clear and exact that there is
no reason whatever for doubting his accuracy, and we can only hope that
they have not been destroyed, but may be rediscovered some day on some
unexplored library shelf.
What became of Goes is not known, but his name is connected with
another very mysterious lost book. Amongst the numerous manuscript
collections made by John Bagford, with a view to writing a history of
printing, is the following entry, copied apparently from a colophon.
“Donatus cum Remigio impressus Londiniis juxta Charing Cross per me
Hugonem Goes and Henery Watson with the printers device H. G.” Puzzling
as this entry is, I think it must be taken as representing something
which Bagford had seen, for he was hardly clever enough to invent, if
it is a forgery, so tantalisingly ingenious an imprint. He would not
have known, unless he carefully studied prefaces and epilogues, that at
this time W. de Worde had in his employment an assistant named Henry
Watson, nor was his eye correct enough to recognise that the type used
by Goes at York was obtained from W. de Worde, even had he seen a
copy of the York _Directorium_, which is most improbable. Yet here he
combines in one address as partners two men who had both been closely
connected with Wynkyn de Worde.
Whatever may be said against Bagford, there is no doubt that he was
assiduous, if not always very accurate, in transcribing titles and
imprints of scarce books that came in his way, and it is from his
memoranda that much information on missing books has been recovered.
Whether Goes worked in London before or after his sojourn in York, is
impossible to determine until some further information, or the lost
_Donatus_ itself, is forthcoming. The earliest printer, at present
known, who was established near Charing Cross is Robert Wyer, who was
at work as early as 1524. Ames, under H. Goes, gives the vague entry:
“He also printed a Latin Grammar at London in quarto, formerly among
Lord Oxford’s books,” but this may merely be derived from Bagford’s
notes. Lastly Ames quotes a broadside in the possession of Thomas
Martyn, “A wooden cut of a man on horseback with a spear in his right
hand and a shield, with the arms of France, in his left. Emprynted at
Beverlay in the Hye-gate by me Hewe Goes, with his mark or rebus of a
great H and a goose.” Martyn died in 1771, and since his time no trace
of this broadside has been found.
Ursyn Mylner, the second printer in York, has a much clearer history
than his predecessor. He was born in 1481, but we find no mention of
him until 1511, unless he is the Ursyn who supplied some books for
the King’s library in 1502. In 1511 he was a witness in the lawsuit
which we have previously described. About 1513 he printed two _Nova
Festa_ of York use. The first is an edition of the _Festum Visitationis
Beate Marie Virginis_, and the colophon stated that it was newly
printed by Ursyn Mylner dwelling in the churchyard of the minster
of St Peter. This book was chronicled by Ames as in the collection
of Thomas Rawlinson, and again I must add the sad statement, all
traces of it have since been lost. I searched through Rawlinson’s
sale catalogue--sixteen volumes--without result, but last year in the
Bodleian I came across a note-book among the Rawlinson manuscripts in
which he had entered fairly full notices of some of his books, and here
I found the colophon as given by Ames. The date of the book can be
accurately settled. In 1513 the Convocation of York ordered the Feast
of the Visitation to be kept as a Festum Principale; by 1516 Mylner had
moved to a new address.
The second of the _Nova Festa_ was a small supplement to the Sanctorale
of the _Breviary_ and the only copy known, found in the binding of
a book, is in the library of Emmanuel College. The book in which it
was found was printed in 1512, and from the fact that these leaves,
which are printer’s waste, were used in the binding, this binding may
perhaps be attributed to Mylner. The tract consists of four leaves
in 8°, with thirty-three and thirty-four lines to the page, and
commences with a large initial P printed in colour. The text is in
red and black, and many of the lines end with small type-ornaments.
It is slightly mutilated, but has most of the colophon, which runs:
“Impressum Ebor per me Ursin Mylner commemorantem in simiterio
ministerii Sancti Petri.” In the colophons to both these _Nova Festa_
we find _commemorantem_ in place of _commorantem_. It is probably
the tract referred to vaguely in the introduction to Wordsworth and
Proctor’s edition of the Sarum _Breviary_ as “An English monastic
Breviary supplement, with anthems and responds for St Thomas and St
Edmund of Canterbury, was printed at York about 1513.” Presumably their
information about it was obtained from Henry Bradshaw. In the more
recently issued book on the Old English Service Books, York is credited
with no printed _Nova Festa_.
After printing these two small tracts Mylner moved to a new workshop.
In the lawsuit of 1511 he was spoken of as living in the parish of
St Michael le Belfry, and the two tracts were printed “in cimiterio
ministerii Sancti Petri,” but both addresses probably refer to the same
place, as the church of St Michael’s le Belfry stands alongside the
minster on the south side. A small passage adjoining this church, and
forming the south entrance to the minster close, was formerly known as
Bookbinders Alley.
[Illustration: COLOPHON AND DEVICES FROM WHITINTON’S GRAMMAR, PRINTED
AT YORK BY URSYN MYLNER IN 1516. ]
Mylner moved to Blake Street in the parish of St Helen. It seems
probable that his earlier shop, within the precincts of the minster,
would be in the liberties, and outside the jurisdiction of the
municipal authorities, but Blake Street was another matter, and he
would not be allowed to carry on his business as a printer without
having been admitted to the freedom of the city. In 1515-16, therefore,
we find the name Ursyn Mylner, prynter, entered on the roll of freemen.
He did not obtain his freedom by patrimony, so that he had probably
served his full term of apprenticeship.
In December 1516 he issued a _Grammar_ of Whitinton. It is a small
quarto of twenty-four leaves and only one copy is known. It was sold
in Thomas Rawlinson’s sale in 1727 for one shilling, being bought by
his brother Richard, and at the latter’s sale it was bought by M. C.
Tutet; it is now in the British Museum. On the title-page is a woodcut
of a schoolmaster with three pupils seated on a bench before him. This
woodcut originally belonged to Govaert van Ghemen, who used it at Gouda
in an _Opusculum grammaticale_ printed there in 1486. About 1490, when
he moved to Copenhagen, he parted with some of his material, and this
cut, with a fount of type and some woodcut initials, passed into the
hands of Wynkyn de Worde, who used it in several grammars issued about
1500. At the end of the book, below the colophon, is the printer’s
device. This consists of a shield hanging from a tree supported by a
bear, an allusion to the name Ursyn, and an ass. The shield is divided
per pale, and bears on the one half a windmill, on the other a sun. The
mill is obviously for Mylner, but what the sun is for is not clear. We
see that Mylner had some connexion with Wynkyn de Worde, whose sign was
the sun; and it is perhaps just possible that this might refer to some
trade partnership between the two men. Below the device is an oblong
cut containing a ribbon in which the name Ursin Mylner is printed in
full. In the centre is his trade-mark.
In this same year we find him mentioned as a bookbinder, entered in the
accounts of the minster as paid for binding books for the choir.
After 1516 we find no further mention of Mylner. He was then only about
thirty-five years old and may possibly have moved elsewhere; but no
trace of him is found. From this time onwards to 1533 almost the whole
York book-trade was in the hands of John Gachet, a stationer from
France. Gachet’s name is first found in 1509, when, in partnership with
another stationer, Jacques Ferrebouc, he commissioned Wynkyn de Worde
to print for him an edition of the York _Manual_. This _Manual_ is a
very curious book. The colophon states clearly that it was printed in
London by Wynkyn de Worde dwelling in the street called Fleet Street
at the sign of the Sun, or in St Paul’s Churchyard under the image of
Our Lady of Pity, for John Gachet and James Ferrebouc, partners. In
spite of this assertion it is plain that the book was printed abroad.
The paper, the type of the text and music staves, the illustrations,
all are obviously foreign, and the particular device of De Worde on
the title-page is only found in books printed for him in Paris. The
colophon unfortunately does not state where Gachet and Ferrebouc were
living, but the latter was certainly just before and after 1509 in
Paris. Perhaps Gachet may have been the travelling member of the firm
and have journeyed as far as York on his business tours. By 1514 he
was certainly settled there, for in that year he was admitted a brother
of the Corpus Christi Guild. In 1516 and 1517 he published a series of
service books, a _Missal_, a _Processional_, a _Manual_, a _Hymnal_,
and a _Book of Hours_.