two classes, those officially appointed by the University and those
who traded independently. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries
there are frequent references to the rights of the University over the
stationers. They had certain official duties, such as the valuation
of books and the supply of the necessary school books at fixed rates,
and the stationers chosen by the University received a small fee or
salary for such work. After the middle of the fifteenth century the
stationers can be traced in an unbroken series, but though we know
their names and find entries of their business in accounts, there, at
present, our information ceases. Five names are given in Mr Gray’s
account of the early Cambridge stationers for the second half of the
fifteenth century, Gerard Wake, John Ward, Fydyon, perhaps Fitzjohn,
William Squire, and Walter Hatley. Of these, two, Wake and Hatley, were
bookbinders, and perhaps some of their work may yet be identified, and
if one single volume could be ascribed to either with certainty and
the stamps they used definitely ascertained, then much of their work
could be traced. William Squire is only known from receiving a settled
fee of thirteen shillings and fourpence between the years 1482-6. He
may perhaps, since we find the names Squire and Lesquier often used
indiscriminately, be identical with the stationer William Lesquier
whose goods were administered at Oxford in February 1501-2. Peter
Breynans, another bookbinder, is mentioned in 1502, and a Lawrence
Topfeller in 1506.
In May 1503 the award of Margaret, Countess of Richmond, and three
other arbitrators was agreed to and signed. This covenant between
the town and University contained special references to stationers,
and enacted that only those stationers and binders who had always
practised their trade should be considered under the jurisdiction of
the University, a certain number, then in business, being exempted.
Our knowledge of early Cambridge bookbinding is curiously different
from what we know of Oxford. There our knowledge of fifteenth-century
work is full, and of early sixteenth almost a blank. For Cambridge
there is a splendid series of early sixteenth-century work, while
fifteenth-century specimens are almost unknown or at any rate
unidentified. Mr G. J. Gray’s excellent monograph, lately published
by the Bibliographical Society, has fully put on record what is
known about Cambridge binding, and has the advantage of being well
illustrated. The earliest examples facsimiled in his work are
ornamented by means of the roll-tool, but there is a series of bindings
ornamented with dies in the earlier manner produced probably about
1500, which may with considerable probability be ascribed to a
Cambridge binder. These bindings are very distinctive in appearance
and may easily be distinguished from others of the same period. One
peculiarity enables us to identify this binder’s work even when on
the shelves. He always ruled two perpendicular lines down the back.
The leather used is nearly always the red-tinted variety which seems
peculiar to Cambridge. The scheme of decoration of the sides consisted
of a large centre panel divided by diagonal lines into a kind of
diamond-shaped lattice work, and in each division thus formed a die
was stamped. These dies, mostly square or diamond-shaped, contained
conventional flowers or strange animals and birds. The best two, which
are very finely engraved, have two cocks fighting and a pelican feeding
her young. This binder also made frequent use of a small tool of a
spray of foliage, plain and not enclosed in a frame, and this he used
to build up borders and to finish the ends of the bands, a noticeable
peculiarity. The boards were usually lined with vellum.
When Dr James prepared his catalogue of manuscripts in the library of
Pembroke College, the librarian, Mr Minns, added an appendix containing
an account of the early printed books and a plate of facsimiles of
stamps used on some of the bindings. Those numbered 21 to 32 belonged
to this binder and occur on four bindings. Three of these are on
printed books ranging between 1478 and 1490. The fourth specimen is
more important as affording a definite clue to a Cambridge origin, for
it is on the second volume of the college register. A search for and
examination of such bindings as remain in Cambridge might result in the
discovery of some inscription or other evidence which might enable us
to identify the binder.
The earliest of the important sixteenth-century binders and stationers
is Garret Godfrey, and his name is first found affixed to a deed in
1503 which itself relates to the position of stationers and bookbinders
in the University. He was a native of the Low Countries, and from the
occurrence of the name Graten on some waste sheets extracted from some
of his bindings, is supposed to have come from Graten in Limburg. He
seems to have occupied a good position in Cambridge, and was chosen as
one of the churchwardens of St Mary the Great in 1516, and continued to
fill offices in connexion with the church for several years. He died in
1539 and was buried in St Mary’s, while his will, dated September 12,
was proved on October 11.
Godfrey was well supplied with binding tools, and we find him in
possession of at least five rolls. The most important contains
figures of a griffin, a wyvern, and a lion, separated from each other
by branches of foliage. Below the lion are the binder’s initials,
the second having a sign like an arrow-head springing from the top,
representing presumably his merchant’s mark. The workmanship of this
roll very much resembles that of some of the fine London rolls of the
time, those for example of John Reynes or Thomas Symonds, and it is
quite probable that they may all have been engraved by the same man.
Godfrey’s second roll is divided into five divisions. The first
four contain a turretted gateway with portcullis, a fleur-de-lys, a
pomegranate, and a Tudor rose, each under a canopy and surmounted by
a Royal crown. The fifth contains the binder’s initials G. G. and
between them a shield charged with three horse-shoes. This introduction
of a private heraldic shield into a bookbinder’s ornament, is, so far
as my experience goes, quite without parallel and certainly requires
explanation. Occurring as it does, between the binder’s initials,
it must obviously have some connexion with him, and the initials
are certainly those of Garret Godfrey. The late Sir Augustus Franks
suggested that the initials stood for Guido Gimpus. The name is not
mentioned by Burke in his _Armorial_, but Papworth allows a coat
“sable, three horse-shoes argent,” to a family, Vytan-Gimpus, on the
authority of Glover’s _Ordinary_. A third roll containing the Royal
emblem in compartments, in the same order as in the previous one, also
contains his initials, but with no arms. This is a much narrower roll
than the second, and poorer in design. The fourth and fifth rolls have
no mark or initials, one is of diaper work, the other of interlaced
strap work. In addition Godfrey used a few small dies.
Nicholas Speryng, the second stationer, came originally from the
Low Countries, and is found settled in Cambridge, perhaps as early
as 1506, certainly by 1513. It seems likely that he had worked as a
binder before coming to Cambridge, and that he brought some of his
binding tools with him. An examination of his bindings shows that he
often worked in a more old-fashioned style and with older tools than
Godfrey. The ornamental frames on the sides of his bindings are in
many cases built up by a repetition of single stamps, a troublesome
system superseded by the invention of the roll. As he possessed the
stamps he would naturally use them, but he would not have had them
engraved had the use of the roll been then known to him. The two panel
stamps which he used are also probably of foreign make. These contain
representations of the Annunciation on the one side, and St Nicholas
restoring the three murdered children on the other. The Annunciation
was a very favourite subject with bookbinders, especially those of the
Low Countries, while the St Nicholas had reference to the binder’s
Christian name. It is curious to notice that the surname has been
wrongly engraved, and reads Spiernick in place of Spierinck. Some years
ago some fragments of an edition of Holt’s Grammar, the _Lac Puerorum_,
printed in English at Antwerp by Adrian van Berghen, were found in
the Bodleian, which, from the indentations still remaining on them,
had clearly formed the boards of one of these bindings, and on one of
the fragments the name Speyrinck was written. The piece of paper had
doubtless formed the wrapper of a parcel addressed to him.
Speryng’s rolls were all engraved after he came to England. The finest,
apparently engraved by the same hand as Godfrey’s, contains figures of
a dragon, a lion, and a wyvern amidst sprays of foliage. Between the
wyvern and dragon, in a wreath, are his mark and initials. A smaller
roll is divided into five compartments, the first four containing a
fleur-de-lys, a turretted gateway, a pomegranate, and a Tudor rose,
each surmounted by a Royal crown and under a canopy, while the fifth
contains his mark and initials. It is an almost exact copy of one of
Godfrey’s rolls, with the badges arranged in a different order. There
are two varieties of this roll. In the earlier the binder’s initial
S is a rather badly engraved letter of a curious script form, but at
a later date it has been re-engraved in the more usual form. Weale,
describing the earlier state in one place, reads the initials N. G.,
and in another ascribes the roll to Segar Nicholson, a later Cambridge
stationer.
Speryng had also a roll of diaper work resembling, though clearly
differing from, Godfrey’s, and another roll with a graceful pattern of
twining foliage and flowers. He also, like Godfrey, had several dies.
There is a binding in Westminster Abbey Library on a copy of a _Codex
Justiniani_ printed at Paris in 1515 which both Godfrey and Speryng
appear to have had a hand in with remarkable results. First the volume
was bound by Godfrey, who ornamented the side with a framework made
with his fine broad roll, with two parallel impressions of the same
roll inside the panel. The volume somehow came later into Speryng’s
hands. He filled up the vacant spaces with his own diaper roll, and
then stamped his ornamental roll with his initials over Godfrey’s,
mixing the ornaments in hopeless confusion. We find the body of
Speryng’s wyvern with the head of one of Godfrey’s animals, and so on.
One roll used by Speryng had belonged to Siberch, and I found it many
years ago on a binding in Westminster Abbey Library. Commenting on
this binding Mr Gray writes: “We have evidence of Siberch’s grand roll
being used by Spierinck on the binding of a Faber, Paris, 1526; the J
is obliterated by the N being stamped over it, but not completely, for
Siberch’s initial can be plainly seen underneath, and this roll was
used with one of Spierinck’s own.” This explanation is hardly clear.
Speryng did not use Siberch’s roll on the binding and then attempt to
stamp an N over the J. What he did do was to try and cut on the brass
tool itself an N which should replace the J, but the work was clumsily
done and portions of the J still show.
The binding of the Faber just mentioned is stamped with Siberch’s
mutilated roll and one of Speryng’s diaper rolls, and this was the
only known example of the use of the mutilated roll. Not long ago,
however, I found in the library of Queen’s College, Oxford, a copy
of the _Decretals_ of Panormitanus printed at Lyons in 1524 in four
large folio volumes in a magnificent Cambridge binding. On it is used
the mutilated roll of Siberch, Speryng’s largest signed roll, and his
smaller floral roll. Speryng died about the end of 1545 and was buried
in St Mary’s Church. His will, dated August 20, 1545, was proved on
January 27 following.
In 1523 an act was passed to prevent the taking of alien apprentices,
and a further act of 1529 prohibited aliens, not householders, from
exercising any handicraft, but in both acts the two Universities of
Oxford and Cambridge were exempted. In the latter year Wolsey was
petitioned by the University to be allowed to have three foreign
licensed booksellers, and when in 1534 the act was passed restricting
the dealings of foreign stationers, special permission was granted to
Cambridge to elect three stationers or printers who might be aliens or
natives. No similar privilege was either asked for by or granted to
Oxford.
The University immediately appointed the three stationers, Nicholas
Speryng, Garret Godfrey, and Segar Nicholson, who appear to have been
themselves instrumental in procuring the grant. Strangely enough the
date of this grant providing for increased activity apparently exactly
coincides with a remarkable cessation of work. No book is known bound
by Speryng printed later than 1533, though he did not die until the
end of 1545, while the latest dated book bound by Godfrey, who died
in 1539, is 1535. After this date we find no more fine bindings. The
beautiful broad rolls and panel stamps went out of fashion and were
superseded by narrow rolls of formal renaissance ornament. As at Oxford
the succession of stationers and binders continued unbroken; but their
work is of little interest.
LECTURE IV.
TAVISTOCK, ABINGDON, ST ALBAN’S SECOND PRESS, IPSWICH, WORCESTER,
CANTERBURY, EXETER, “WINCHESTER,” AND “GREENWICH.”
The next place after Cambridge is Tavistock, where a book was printed
in 1525. It was an edition of the _De consolatione philosophiæ_ of
Boethius, translated into verse and divided into eight-line stanzas.
In most manuscripts of the poem the author is given as Johannes
Capellanus, but at the end of this edition are some verses whose first
and last letters give the names of the patroness, Elizabeth Berkeley,
and the translator, Johannes Waltwnem or Walton, said to have been a
canon of Oseney. The colophon runs: “Enprented in the exempt monastery
of Tavestok in Denshyre. By me, Dan Thomas Rychard, monke of the sayd
monastery. To the instant desyre of the ryght worshypful esquyer
Mayster Robert Langdon, anno d. MDXXV.” It was no doubt produced at the
expense of Robert Langdon of Keverell, a rough woodcut of whose arms
occurs at the end of the book. He was a wealthy Cornish gentleman, who
married an heiress and died in 1548.
The book is printed in a neat and clear black-letter. On the title-page
is a woodcut of the Almighty seated in a diamond-shaped panel, the
outside angles being filled with symbols of the four evangelists.
Copies of this book are not so rare as is generally supposed. There are
two in the Bodleian, and one in Exeter College, Oxford. One is in the
Rylands Library, another in St Andrews University, while Lord Bute, Mr
Christie Miller, and the Duke of Bedford all have examples.
The only other Tavistock book known is the _Charter and Statutes of the
Stannary_, printed nine years later. The colophon runs: “Here endyth
the statutes of the stannary, Imprented yn Tavystoke ye xx. day of
August, the yere of the reygne off our soveryne Lord Kynge Henry ye
viii. the xxvi. yere.” The book is in quarto, and contains twenty-six
leaves of thirty or thirty-one lines. On the title-page is a woodcut
of the King’s arms supported by angels, which occurs several times
elsewhere in the book. The colophon is on the penultimate leaf, and
on the recto of the last leaf is a woodcut of the crucifixion of St
Andrew, on the verso the same woodcut of the Almighty as is used in the
Boethius. Of this book only one copy is known, in the library of Exeter
College, Oxford. It is a most beautifully preserved example, entirely
uncut, and was bequeathed to the college with a number of other rare
books by the Rev. Joseph Sandford.
The press at Abingdon is represented by one book only, and of that
only one copy is known, preserved amongst Archbishop Sancroft’s books
in the library of Emmanuel. It is a _Breviary_ printed for the use of
the brethren of St Mary’s Monastery, the black monks of the order of
St Benedict. It is printed in red and black, in double columns, with
thirty-four lines to the page, and there are no headlines, catchwords,
or numbers to the leaves. When complete it should have contained 358
leaves, but unfortunately two leaves of the Kalendar containing the
months from May to August are missing. The Kalendar at present consists
of four leaves, three signed AI, AII, AIII, and one unsigned leaf; and
the missing two leaves should have come between AII and AIII, which
looks as though the printer had originally omitted them by mistake.
But so important an error could not remain uncorrected. A very curious
point about the book is that one part is set up entirely in quires
of sixes, while the rest is set up in a way common to several early
English printers, in quires alternately of eight and four leaves, thus
doing away with the half sheet. The colophon states that the book
was printed by John Scolar in the monastery of the blessed virgin at
Abingdon, in the year of our Lord, 1528, and of Thomas Rowland, the
abbot, the seventeenth year. Another colophon gives the more exact
date of September 12. Throughout the book occur some curious woodcut
initials. Two, a large E and S, are exceedingly bad copies of good
work. A large C contains the figure of a knight in armour, a very close
copy of one used earlier at Cambridge.
The printer, John Scolar, is doubtless the Oxford printer of 1517-18,
but where he had been or what he had been doing in the intervening
ten years we have not the slightest evidence to show. Since he is
not mentioned among the stationers and booksellers in the Oxford Lay
Subsidy Roll of 1524, we may presume he was not in the town.
The last of these monastic presses was at St Alban’s. The earlier
press, spoken of in a previous lecture, was at work from about 1480 to
1486, but we have no reason for believing that it was connected with
the abbey. The town is specifically mentioned in the colophons with
no reference to the abbey, nor is any person connected with the abbey
mentioned as favouring or assisting in the production of the books. As
regards the revived press the case is quite different. The books were
produced at the request of the abbot, Robert Catton, or his successor,
Richard Stevenage, and the latter’s close connexion with the press is
shown by the occurrence of his initials in the device placed at the end
of some of the books.
The second St Alban’s press was at work from 1534 up to the time of the
suppression of the abbey in 1539. One book, however, may be earlier
than this date, a _Breviary_ of St Alban’s use. The unique copy is in
the library of the Marquis of Bute at Cardiff Castle, but I have never
had an opportunity of examining it, nor have any facsimiles from it
been published, so that it is impossible to determine when or where it
was printed. The librarian at Cardiff Castle considers it to have been
printed at the abbey about 1526.
In 1534 was issued the _Lyfe and passion of Seint Albon prothomartyr
of Englande_, translated by John Lidgate, and printed at the request
of Robert Catton, abbot of St Alban’s. This book, of which two copies
are known, has no printer’s name or place of printing, but is generally
ascribed to Herford’s press. The next book is Gwynneth’s _Confutation
of Frith’s Book_, dated 1536. Of this there is a copy in the University
Library. It again contains no printer’s name, but has a device having
in the centre the initials R. S. joined by a band, standing for Richard
Stevenage, the last abbot of St Alban’s. In 1537 there is an edition
of the _Introduction for to lerne to reken with the pen_. A copy was
mentioned by Ames as in the possession of W. Jones, Esq., but this has
since disappeared, though a last leaf containing the device is said to
be amongst the Bagford fragments. There may be some confusion between
this and Bourman’s edition, whose device was very similar to the one
used by Herford. The description given by Herbert makes no mention of
printer, place, or device, merely the date 1537.
Three more books are quoted by Herbert under the year 1538. _A godly
disputation between Justus and Peccator_, _The rule of an honest
life_, written by Martin, bishop of Dumience, and _An epistle against
the enemies of poor people_. Two, if not three, appear to have had
full colophons, stating that they were printed at St Alban’s by John
Herford for Richard Stevenage, but unfortunately no copies of any of
these books are now known, so that we have no book which contains
Herford’s name which was printed at St Alban’s. These three books were
originally mentioned in Maunsell’s catalogue, but Herbert’s entries are
considerably fuller and must have been derived from some other source.
There is no reason to doubt their genuineness, and we know from other
evidence that Herford was at St Alban’s.
An undated book, printed at St Alban’s by Herford, was in Lord
Spencer’s collection, and is now at Manchester. It is entitled, _A
very declaration of the bond and free wyll of man: the obedyence of
the gospell and what the very gospell meaneth_. This book, hitherto
unknown to bibliographers, contains the name of the place only, and has
no date or printer’s name.
In 1539 Herford appears to have been indiscreet and to have printed
some very unorthodox book. Among the State papers is a letter from
Stevenage, the abbot, to Thomas Cromwell, in which he writes: “Sent
John Pryntare to London with Harry Pepwell, Bonere [Bonham] 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.” The book spoken of must have been considered to be of
importance, when three of the leading London stationers were sent down
to make inquiries about it. It may be that this was the undated book
last mentioned, for it alone is without the name or device of the abbot
himself, yet if the printer had thought that he was publishing anything
obnoxious to the powers, he would hardly have added “printed at St
Alban’s” to his book. The abbot’s letter was dated October 12, and two
months later the abbey was handed over to Henry VIII.’s commissioners.
Of Herford we hear nothing more for five years.
On the suppression of the abbey the printing material was moved to
London, where it was used for a short time by a printer, Nicholas
Bourman. Now the name of the last abbot of St Alban’s was Richard
Stevenage or Boreman, and it is quite probable that this Nicholas
was some relative to whom the presses and type were entrusted during
Herford’s absence. The device used by Bourman was almost identical with
that used at St Alban’s by Herford, the initials of Richard Stevenage
in the latter being replaced by N. B., and a book which had been
printed in the abbey, the _Introduction to learn to reckon with the
pen_, was reprinted by Bourman in 1539. The last definite date in a St
Alban’s book is 1538, and, in the following year, Herford, the printer,
was taken to London and presumably imprisoned or punished. The abbot
was left with the printing material on his hands, which we may suppose
from the occurrence of his initials in the device to have been at any
rate partly his property. He therefore transferred it to London for the
use of his relative until such time as Herford could resume work. This
Herford did in 1544, and Bourman transferred the material back to him.
After this Bourman’s name is found in no book, though he was a member
of the Stationers’ Company and lived to the year 1560.