and certainly the class of theological works, which had been its main
output, was not such as would be received with favour under the changed
conditions.
Mychell, however, still remained at Canterbury, though his press was
idle. The only piece of printing that can be assigned to him after
Mary’s accession is a semi-official tract of four leaves. _Articles
to be enquyred in thordinary visitacion of the most reverende father
in God, the Lorde Cardinall Pooles grace Archebyshop of Caunterbury
wythin hys Dioces of Cantorbury. In the yeare of our Lorde God M. V.
C. Lvi._ Pole was only consecrated Archbishop in March 1556, so that
the pamphlet must have been printed after that date. No perfect copy
is known, but the first and last leaves, which belonged to Herbert and
which he described in his _Typographical Antiquities_, are now in the
Douce Collection in the Bodleian. The pamphlet is unique in another
respect, as it is the only piece of provincial printing in England
issued during Mary’s reign.
Ames in his _History of Printing_, published in 1749, mentions two
books printed for Martin Coffin, a stationer living at Exeter. The
first, an edition of Stanbridge’s _Vocabula_, was printed at Rouen
by Lawrence Hostingue and Jamet Loys. This would put the date about
1505 when these two printers were in partnership and before 1508 when
Hostingue left Rouen.
The other book is an edition of _Catho cum commento_, also printed
at Rouen by Richard Goupil who was at work about 1510. This is also
mentioned in Bagford’s notes. The first of these books was sold in
Thomas Rawlinson’s sale where Ames probably saw it, and the second may
perhaps have been bound up with it, but since that sale in 1727 all
traces of them have disappeared.
Martin Coffin remained some time longer in England, for we find him
taking out letters of denization in the year 1524 on April 28, and in
these he is described as a bookbinder.
Lastly we may notice two books printed abroad which, by having the
names of English towns printed in their colophons, have sometimes
been considered as the productions of English provincial presses. The
earlier of the two is _The Rescuyinge of the Romish Fox_ written by
William Turner under the pseudonym of William Wraghton. The book is a
violent attack on Stephen Gardiner, then Bishop of Winchester, and ends
with the colophon: “Imprinted have at Winchester. Anno Domini, 1545.
By me Hanse Hit Prik.” The obvious meaning is that the fictitious Hans
Hitprik has imprinted the book against the bishop, not at the town, of
Winchester. Nevertheless the book has been quoted over and over again
as a Winchester printed book.
The second book is Luther’s _Faythfull admonycion of a certen true
pastor_, with the colophon, “Imprinted at Grenewych by Conrade Freeman
in the month of May 1554. With the most gracious licence and privilege
of God almighty, King of heaven and earth.” This last sentence is quite
enough to show the nature of the work, and that the name of the place
and printer are alike fictitious.
Both books are apparently from the press of Christopher Froschover at
Zurich, a prolific printer of controversial books.
In Seyer’s _Memoirs of Bristol_, published in 1823, the claim was put
forward for the existence of an early press at Bristol on the strength
of extracts from some manuscript Kalendars to the effect that “In the
year 1546 a press for printing was set up in the castle which is used
daily to the honour of God.” No trace of anything printed at Bristol in
the sixteenth century has been found, and perhaps the date quoted may
be an error for 1646, about which time a press was certainly at work in
the town issuing sermons and other tracts.
When we consider the places where presses were at work during this
period, or where stationers lived who commissioned books, it seems
surprising that other towns of equal or greater importance have nothing
to show printed or published in them. So much that has come down to us
has survived by so slender a chance that there is always the hope that
further information may be found and other towns added to our list.
Hereford is only represented in a colophon by the unique copy of one
book, Exeter by two books which have been lost for over a hundred and
fifty years.
Chester, for example, is a town where we might have expected to find
books printed or published. The stationers there were certainly
important, for they formed themselves along with the heraldic painters
and embroiderers into a company which obtained a charter from the Mayor
and Aldermen on the feast of St Philip and St James in 1534, formally
enrolled in 1536. After some trouble I ran the registers of the Company
to earth, but unfortunately the first volume has been lost, so that
the records between the years 1536 and 1587 are missing, and any
information about the period we are now concerned with, irrecoverable
at present.
Chester was the centre of a large and important district, and was
also the chief port of embarkation for Ireland (it was from there
that Edward King set out on his ill-fated voyage), so that we might
well expect its stationers to have published something, or some
printer to have set up a press. And there are many other towns in a
similar position. We know from records that they supported a number
of stationers, and it is hard to believe that nothing was printed for
them, even an almanack.
Within the period we have been examining, roughly the hundred years
since the invention of printing up to the passing of the Stationers’
Company’s Charter in 1557, printing had been practised in nine
provincial towns. The two fifteenth-century presses, Oxford and St
Alban’s, ceased simultaneously in 1486. York, away in the north of
England, had a press at work between 1509 and 1516. Then comes a
curious revival; a second press at Oxford from 1517 to 1519, a press
at Cambridge in 1521 and 1522, at Tavistock in 1525 and 1534, at
Abingdon in 1528, and a second at St Alban’s from 1534 to 1538. Then
came the Reformation and the accompanying changes in the old order
of things after which not one of the old presses ventured to start
again. The accession of Edward VI. seems to have given a new impetus
to book-production, and the remaining three of the early provincial
presses were started during his reign, Ipswich working in 1547 and
1548, Worcester from 1548 to 1553, and Canterbury from 1549 to 1556.
When we come to sum up the books produced, it must be admitted that
the output was miserably small. Between 1478 and 1556 the provincial
presses of England issued about one hundred and eleven books, not three
books in two years; twenty-one more books were printed for provincial
stationers, bringing up the number to one hundred and thirty-two, not
two books a year. Between 1478 and 1516, thirty books were printed
in three towns; between 1517 and 1538, twenty-six in five towns; and
between 1548 and 1556, fifty-five books in three towns. The output of
many foreign provincial towns far surpassed that of all the English put
together.
But in looking at the history of the book trade in England during the
period, one point is especially striking, the very great disproportion
between the numbers of printers and of stationers. The books produced
by the English presses formed but an infinitesimal portion of the
literature circulated in the country. The number of printers we can
reckon fairly accurately, for there must be few, if any, who have left
no trace; with stationers it is quite otherwise, for we are almost
entirely dependent on records and registers, of which vast numbers
have utterly perished. In these early times, fortunately for us, if
unfortunately for themselves, people seem to have been continually
engaged in lawsuits, and it is from records of law pleas and actions
that much of our information is derived, though often it consists of
mere names.
It is very difficult for us now to arrive at a clear conception of the
position of a stationer or the character of the book trade of that
period. Reading and writing were not very common accomplishments,
books were relatively expensive and purchasers must have been few,
yet in a small town like Bury St Edmund’s we find about the year 1505
no fewer than six stationers. We know the names of six, there may
have been more, yet how were even six to earn a livelihood? The trade
of a stationer then was more comprehensive than now, for he was a
bookseller and a bookbinder, but even then his business cannot have
been large and would hardly be sufficient to keep him. It is clear,
however, from numerous contemporary references, that stationers often
engaged in other business apart from their own. We find them dealing in
various things besides books, but by far the most favourite occupation
supplementary to selling books was to keep a public-house. Numbers
of the early stationers are spoken of also as beer brewers. In the
Oxford University Archives we constantly find licences granted to the
booksellers to sell wine or beer. The early English printer, Jean
Barbier, who had worked at London and Westminster at the end of the
fifteenth century, is cited in a London lawsuit as “Johannes Barbour
nuper de Coventre, bere brewer, alias dictus Jehanne Berbier nuper de
Coventre, prenter.” Anthony de Solen, the first printer at Norwich,
was admitted a freeman of that city on the condition “that he shall not
occupye eny trade of marchandise eyther from the parts beyonde the seas
or from London, but onely his arte of prynting and selling of Renysh
wyne.” References to this dual business are very frequent, and it seems
to have continued as late as the seventeenth century.
The importation of foreign books into England during the end of the
fifteenth and early part of the sixteenth centuries must have been very
large. The revival of learning was setting in, the country was gaining
a reputation for scholarship and attracting foreign students, and every
encouragement was given by the authorities to the book trade. In the
grant given to Peter Actors, he was allowed to import books without
paying customs, so that there was some tax upon imported books, though
it was probably very slight.
For almost every class of book of a learned character the English
purchaser was dependent on the foreign printer, and English scholars as
a rule sent their own works to the Continent to be printed on account
of the greater facilities and probably also for the lesser cost.
The two classes of tradesmen who dealt in books were well described
by Fuller in the seventeenth century. The one he calls “stationarii,
publickly avouching the sale of staple books in standing shops, whence
they have their names,” the other he designates “circumforanean
pedlers, ancestors to our modern Mercuries and hawkers.” No doubt,
as on the Continent, the stationer was accustomed to send round
periodically a van laden with books from town to town, and village to
village, and, putting up at the village inn, advertise and show his
wares there.
The chief opportunity for selling books was at the various fairs, and
to these the agents of the London booksellers would journey, not only
to sell books to the public, but to do wholesale business with the
local stationers. It is quite clear that a large number of important
foreign printers and publishers kept premises in London, and their
representatives would also be present at the fairs. These fairs were
very important centres of trade. They continued for a week, sometimes
two, and while they continued, the ordinary shops of the town were
compelled to close. There is evidence to show that to the principal
fairs many of the London booksellers went themselves, leaving their
shops in charge of an assistant. In 1487 an attempt was made by the
Corporation of London to prevent London freemen attending local fairs,
but a general outcry was made that many goods, amongst them books,
would not be obtainable, and the ordinance was repealed. The subject
of the book trade at fairs is too large to be considered here, but
it must be remembered that by far the largest fair in England, a not
unworthy rival to Frankfurt, was held at Sturbridge by Cambridge, and
it retained its reputation for bookselling for some centuries.
After the first quarter of the sixteenth century the freedom of the
foreign book trade was menaced by many ominous acts culminating in the
act of 1534, which seriously interfered with the sale of foreign books
and the trade of the foreign stationer, and about the same time the
disuse and suppression of the various service books destroyed another
branch of the trade.
The book trade received a further severe blow from the literary side
by the advent in England of what was contemptuously styled by many of
the old scholars with distrust and dislike, the “New Learning,” the
teachings of Luther, Melanchthon, and the reformers. The revival of
learning and classical study which had given so great an impetus to
the book trade was superseded by religious and doctrinal quarrelling,
which, though for a time encouraging the importation of controversial
pamphlets, soon brought down upon all concerned the heavy hand of
authority, with the result that, while the literature of the “New
Learning” was prohibited, the demand for books of other classes had
ceased.
The last twenty years of Henry VIII.’s reign was an anxious time for
printers and booksellers; it seemed impossible to foretell what might
safely be printed. Books which one year were condemned to be burnt
appeared a couple of years afterwards, “cum privilegio regali.” During
these years, therefore, we find the provincial press almost entirely
unrepresented: between 1538 and 1548 not a single book was printed,
at any rate overtly, and in the ten years before that, hardly half a
dozen. As we have seen, the short reign of Edward VI. saw more books
printed in the provincial towns than had been produced since the
invention of printing, but this fruitful time was short.
The accession of Mary was marked by an outpouring of seditious books
which naturally did not please the ruling powers. Several enactments
were issued against them, seemingly with little effect. Finally, in
1557, Philip and Mary, “considering and manifestly perceiving that
several seditious and heretical books, both in verse and prose,
are daily published, stamped and printed by divers scandalous,
schismatical, and heretical persons, not only exciting our subjects
and liegemen to sedition and disobedience against us, our crown
and dignity, but also to the renewal and propagating very great and
detestable heresies against the faith and sound catholic doctrine of
holy mother the church,” determined upon a decisive step. The weapon
they forged was ingenious. They granted a Charter to the Stationers’
Company forbidding anyone to print who did not belong to it. The
stationers were naturally active in putting down anything which
competed with themselves, while the King and Queen could in their turn
keep a firm grasp on the stationers. The various enactments of the
Stationers’ Charter practically put an end to the provincial book trade.
In my brief survey of the subject I hope I have at any rate shown
some of the many points of interest with which it abounds. It is
one moreover eminently associated with the name of Mr Sandars. The
provincial presses always had a great attraction for him, and to his
liberality the University Library is indebted for many of the specimens
it possesses.
Perhaps what may have struck you most is how much we have yet to learn
on the subject, how little we really know. A good deal of what has been
said has been, not about books which we now possess, but about books
which we have lost. A cloud of obscurity still hangs over the subject,
but the cloud has a silver lining. Think how much there still remains
for us to discover.
APPENDIX I.
LIST OF BOOKS PRINTED BY PROVINCIAL PRINTERS OR FOR PROVINCIAL
STATIONERS.
NOTE.
When more than three copies of a book are known, only three are quoted,
preference being given to those in the great libraries.
KEY TO LIBRARIES.
A British Museum.
B Bodleian.
C Cambridge University.
D John Rylands Library.
E Bibliothèque Nationale.
F Lambeth Palace.
G Balliol College, Oxford.
H Brasenose College, Oxford.
I Clare College, Cambridge.
J Corpus Christi College, Oxford.
K Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.
L Emmanuel College, Cambridge.
M Exeter College, Oxford.
N Jesus College, Oxford.
O Jesus College, Cambridge.
P Merton College, Oxford.
Q New College, Oxford.
R Oriel College, Oxford.
S Queen’s College, Oxford.
T St John’s College, Cambridge.
U St John’s College, Oxford.
V Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.
W Trinity College, Cambridge.
X Wadham College, Oxford.
Y York Minster.
Z Norwich Cathedral.
Aa Westminster Abbey.
Bb Ripon Cathedral.
Cc Lincoln Cathedral.
Dd Worcester Cathedral.
Ee Archbp. Marsh’s, Dublin.
Ff Ushaw, St Cuthbert’s College.
Herb. = Herbert’s Typographical Antiquities.
Priv. = Copy in a private collection.
I. OXFORD.
1478.
Rufinus. Expositio in simbolum apostolorum 4to A.B.C.
1479.
Aristotle. Textus ethicorum 4to A.B.D.
Egidius. De peccato originali 4to B.D.R.
1481.
Alexander de Hales fol. A.B.C.
1482.
Lathbury. Expositio super trenis Jheremie fol. A.B.C.
1485.
Phalaris. Epistolæ 4to D.J.X.
1486.
Mirk. Liber festivalis fol. B.D.F.
s.a.
Alexander de Villa Dei. Doctrinale (_fragments_) 4to T.
Anwykyll. Latin Grammar Ed. I. (_fragments_) 4to C.K.W.
Anwykyll. Latin Grammar Ed. II. 4to B.
Augustine. Excitatio 4to A.
Cicero. Pro Milone (_fragments_) 4to B.P.
Hampole. Explanationes in Job 4to C.D. Priv.
Latin Grammar (_fragments_) 4to A.
Lyndewode. Constitutiones provinciales fol. A.B.C.
Swyneshede. Insolubilia 4to P.Q.
Terentius. Vulgaria 4to A.B.C.
_John Scolar._
1517.
Burley. Super libros posteriorum Aristotelis 4to B.U.
1518.
Burley. De materia et forma 4to B.C.N.
Dedicus. Super librosethicorum Aristotelis 4to A.B.C.
Laet. Prenostica (_fragments_) b.s. C.J.
Questiones de luce et lumine 4to B.C.N.
Whitinton. De heteroclitis nominibus 4to B.C.N.
s.a.
Opus insolubilium 4to A.
_Charles Kyrfoth._
1519.
Compotus manualis 4to C.
_Richard Pynson for George Chastelayn_
s.a. (1507).
Lugo, P. de. Principia 4to A.C.D.
_Wynkyn de Worde for Henry Jacobi._
s.a. (1513).
Sirectus. Formalitates 4to A.Q.
_Peter Treveris for John Dorne._
1527.
Tractatus secundarum intentionum 4to C.
s.a. (1527).
Opus insolubilium 4to C.J.
II. ST ALBAN’S.
_Schoolmaster Printer._
1480.
Albertus. Liber modorum significandi 4to E.
Saona, L. de. Rhetorica nova 8º A.B.C.
1481.
Canonicus, J. In physica Aristotelis fol. B.Y.
Exempla sacræ scripturæ 4to A.
1486.
Book of St Alban’s fol. A.B.C.
s.a.
Andreæ, A. In logica Aristotelis (1481) 4to O.X.Z.
Chronicles of England (1485) fol. A.D.K.
Datus, A. Super eleganciis Tullianis (1479) 4to C.
_John Herford._
1534.
Life and passion of St Alban 4to A.B.
1536.
Gwynneth. Confutation of Frith 8º A.C.
1537.
Introduction to reckon with the pen (_fragment_) 8º A.
1538.
Disputation between Justus and Peccator 8º Herb.
Epistle against enemies of poor people 8º Herb.
Rule of an honest life 8º Herb.
s.a.
Breviary of St Alban’s 8º Priv.
Declaration of bond and free will 8º D.
III. HEREFORD.
_Rouen for Ingelbert Haghe._
1505.
Breviarium Herfordense 8º B. Dd.
1517.
_Eustace Hardy, Rouen, for J. Caillard and J. Gachet_
Ortus Vocabulorum 4to D.
IV. EXETER.
_L. Hostingue and J. Loys, Rouen, for Martin Coffin._
s.a. (1505).
Stanbridge. Vocabula 4to Herb.
_R. Goupil, Rouen, for Martin Coffin._
s.a. (1510).
Cato cum commento 4to Herb.
V. YORK.
_Hugo Goes._
1509.
Directorium Sacerdotum 4to V.Y.
s.a.
Accidence 4to.
Donatus 4to.
_Ursyn Mylner._
1516.
Whitinton. De consinitate grammatices 4to A.
s.a. (1514).
Festum Visitationis Beatæ Mariæ 8º Herb.
Supplement to Breviary 8º L.
_P. Violette, Rouen, for Gerard Wandsforth._
1507.
Expositio Hymnorum et sequentiarum 4to B.D.
_Wynkyn de Worde for J. Gachet._
1509.
Manuale Eboracense 4to B. Bb.Ff.
_P. Olivier, Rouen, for J. Gachet._
1516.
Missale Eboracense fol. A.B.C.
1517.
Hymni 4to A.
s.a. (1516).
Manuale 4to Ee.
Processionale 8º Bb.
_F. Regnault, Paris, for J. Gachet._
1526.
Breviarium 8º A.B.C.
_(N. le Roux), Rouen, for J. Gachet._
1530.
Missale 4to B.S. Ee.
Processionale 8º A.B. Ff.
_F. Regnault, Paris, for J. Gachet._
1533.
Breviarium 16º A. Priv.
VI. CAMBRIDGE.
_John Siberch._
1521.
Bullock. Oratio 5to A.B.F.
Augustinus. Sermo 4to B.
Lucian. πὲρι διψάδων 4to A.F.T.
Balduinus. Sermo de altaris sacramento 4to B.C.W.
Erasmus. De conscribendis epistolis 4to A.K.T.
Galen. De temperamentis 4to A.B.C.
1522.
Fisher. Contio 4to B.D.
Papyrius Geminus. Hermathena 4to A.C.T.
s.a.
Lily. De octo partibus orationis constructione (_fragments_) 4to Aa.
_Eucharius Cervicornus, Cologne, for J. Siberch._
1520.
Croke. Introductiones in Rudimenta Græca 4to Cc.
VII. TAVISTOCK.
_Thomas Rychard._
1525.
Boethius. Book of Comfort 4to B.D.M.
1534.
Statutes of the Stannary 4to M.
VIII. ABINGDON.
_John Scolar._
1528.
Breviarium Abendonense 4to L.
IX. IPSWICH.
_Anthony Scoloker._
1547.
Reckoning of years to 1547 8º C.
1548.
Hermann. Right institution of baptism 8º Priv.
Luther. Sermon on John xx. 8º A.B.
Ochino. Sermons 8º A.B.C.
Ordinary for all faithful Christians 8º D.
Zwingli. Certain precepts 8º A.B.C.
s.a.
Disputation between shoemaker and parson 8º Priv.
For _Reginald Oliver_.
1534.
Juvencus. Historia Evangelica 8º.
_John Oswen._
1548.
Calvin. Declaration of the feigned sacrament 8º Herb.
Calvin. The mind of the godly J. Calvin 8º A.B.C.
Exhortation to the sick 8º A.C.
Hegendorff. Domestical sermons 8º A.B. Priv.
Marcourt. Declaration of the Mass 8º B.
Melanchthon. Of the authority of the Church 8º Herb.
s.a.
Book of Prayers (_fragments_) 16º Priv.
Invective against drunkenness 16º C.
Moone. Treatise of things abused 4º A.I.
Oecolampadius. Epistle ... of the poor 8º Herb.
Ramsey. Plaister for a galled horse 4º I.
_Theodoricus Plateanus, Wesel, for John Overton._
1548.
Bale. Illustrium Britanniæ scriptorum summarium 4to A.B.C.
X. WORCESTER.
_John Oswen._
1549.
Book of Common Prayer fol. A.B.
Book of Common Prayer 4to A.C.
Bullinger. Dialogue between anabaptist and Christian 8º Herb.
Certain sermons appointed by the King’s Majesty 4to A.
H.H. Consultorie for all Christians 8º C. Priv.
Hegendorff. Domestical sermons 8º Herb.
Message sent by the King’s Majesty 16º Herb.
Psalter or Psalms of David 4to A.
Spiritual matrimony between Christ and Church 16º Herb.
1550.
Almanack and prognostication for 1551 8º.
Ambrose. Of oppression 16º Herb.
Gribald. Notable and marvellous epistle 8º B.
New Testament 4to A.G.
Veron. Godly sayings of ancient fathers 8º A.B.C.
Zwingli. Short pathway to the Scriptures 8º A.B.C.
1551.
Bullinger. Defence of the baptism of children 8º B.
Bullinger. Dialogue between anabaptist and Christian 8º B.H.
Hooper. Godly annotations in Romans xiii. 8º A.B.C.
1552.
Book of Common Prayer fol. B.
1553.
Hooper. Homily in time of pestilence 4to A.B.C.
Statutes 7 Edward VI. fol. Herb.
XI. CANTERBURY.
_John Mychell._
1549.
Psalter or Psalms of David 4to D.
1550.
Lamberd. Treatise of predestination 8º C.
Psalter or Psalms of David 4to C.
1552.
A breviat chronicle 8º A.B.
A breviat chronicle 8º A.
1553.
A breviat chronicle 8º A.
1556.
Pole. Visitation articles 4to B.
s.a.
Erasmus. Two dialogues 8º A.C.
Hurlestone. News from Rome (for E. Campion) 8º A.B.C.
Lidgate. Churl and bird 8º B.
Melanchthon. Confession of faith of the Germans 8º Herb.
Ridley. Exposition on Philippians 8º B.C.
Saltwood. Comparison between four birds 4º Priv.
Short epistle of the marriage of priests 8º Herb.
Spiritual matrimony between Christ and the soul (_fragment_) 16º A.
Stanbridge. Accidence 4to C.
APPENDIX II.
LIST OF AUTHORITIES.
_General._
ALLNUTT, W. H. English provincial presses. (Bibliographica, Pt. V., pp
23-46.) 8º. London, 1896.