John Palsgrave, prebendary of St Paul’s, and Richard Pynson citizen
and stationer of London, arranges for the printing of a book named
_Lez le Clarissimaunt de la lange Francois_, containing three books,
with certain tables and a French vocabulist. Palsgrave will pay six
and eightpence for each ream of paper 20 quires; 750 copies are to
be printed, of which Pynson shall have as many as, at a price agreed
between them, will pay him at the above rate. Clauses to be inserted
that Pynson shall not print more than 750 till that number is sold,
and that Palsgrave shall deliver the copy from time to time truly
corrected. The book as we now have it consists of three parts. The
first has the title, introduction, and index, and a privilege from the
King dated September 2, 1530, so that the printing must be after that
date. The second contains two books, one on pronunciation, the other
on the nine parts of speech and ends with Pynson’s device. The third
part contains the third book with tables of words and ending with this
colophon, “Thus endeth this booke called _Lesclarissement de la langue
Francoyse_, whiche is very necessarye for all suche as intende to lerne
to speke trewe frenche; the imprintyng fynyssed by Johan Haukyns the
XVIII daye of July. The yere of our lorde god, M.CCCCC. and XXX.” In
the preface of the author to the King he speaks of his having formerly
written two “sundrie” books on the subject which he had “offred” to
the Princess Mary, the King’s sister, and Charles Brandon, Duke of
Suffolk, her husband. These two books I take to be the two contained
in the second part of _Lesclarcissement_ which were certainly printed
by Pynson. A curious piece of information about the book occurs in a
letter dated April 13, 1529, written by Stephen Vaughan to Cromwell. In
it he says that “he wishes to learn French and when in London asked Mr
Palsgrave for one of his books, which he refused. Requests Cromwell to
get one for him, as Palsgrave will not refuse him. Hears he has told
Pynson to sell them only to those he names lest his profit as a teacher
should be diminished. Would esteem one no less than a jewel and will
send Cromwell something of greater value in return.”
Now in Pynson’s first agreement he was to print 60 reams of paper,
that is 1200 quires and 750 copies of the book. This gives to each
copy of the book 1-3/5 quires of paper, and taking twenty sheets
to the quire, each book would contain 64 leaves. The middle part
of _Lesclarcissement_ consists of 60 leaves without any title-page
or prefatory matter. My theory is that this portion with a title
and preface was issued in or soon after 1524. We see that Palsgrave
was very chary of selling copies, so that many would remain in the
printer’s hands. At a much later date the large third part containing
the vocabularies was put in hand and finished in July, 1530, by John
Haukins. The copies of the middle part were added to it, their old
title and prefatory matter cancelled and a new title, index, and
prefatory matter printed for the whole book some time after September
1530.
As the wording of the agreements mentioned above is slightly ambiguous,
a word of explanation is necessary. The 6_s._ 8_d._ which Palsgrave
paid per ream was the price of the paper itself and not the printing of
it. Palsgrave was to pay for the paper and Pynson was to have so many
copies to sell at a rate agreed upon as would repay him his outlay in
printing. The average cost at that time for printing in comparison to
paper was as four to one. The ream costing 6_s._ 8_d._, the printing
and printer’s profit of the ream would amount to £1. 6_s._ 8_d._, thus
the total cost of a ream, paper, printing, and all would be £1. 13_s._
4_d._ I have collected many notices of the price of printing-paper from
the time of Arnold’s _Chronicle_ (about 1496) during the whole of our
period, and while writing-paper went so high as thirty-four shillings
and fourpence a ream, printing-paper was invariably 6_s._ 8_d._
William Faques, who succeeded Peter Actors, the first stationer to the
King, as the first King’s Printer, is but a very shadowy figure, and
of his life we know nothing. He was a native of Normandy, and Herbert
suggests, but without any reason, that he may have learned his art with
Jean le Bourgeois. The only date connected with his books is 1504, in
which year he printed a proclamation on the coinage, the _Statutes of
the Nineteenth Year of Henry VII_, and a Latin _Psalter_. This last
book shows that unknown or not Faques was a skilful printer, for it is
one of the most beautiful books issued from the early English press.
The type is sharp and brilliant, the printing in red well done, and
each page is surrounded with a chain-like border. On the first leaf
is the printer’s device, a very uncommon one, consisting of two
triangles. On one is the verse (Psalm xxxvii. 16) in black letters on
a white ground, “Melius est modicum iusto super divitias peccatorum
multas.” On the second triangle in white letters on a black ground the
text (Prov. xvi. 32), “Melior est patiens viro forti et qui dominat.”
Thus stopping suddenly, not only in the middle of a verse, but the
middle of a word.
In the centre is his monogram transfixed by an arrow. The presence of
this arrow is very puzzling, for it also plays an important part in the
device of Richard Faques, William’s successor. The early printers were
very fond, where possible, of introducing punning allusions into their
devices, and this arrow may have some connexion with the name Faques.
Of the _Psalter_ some six copies are known, and one printed upon vellum
is in the library of Emmanuel College.
The _Statutes_, of which only the British Museum copy is known, has a
fairly full colophon, “Here endeth the statutes holden at Westmestyr
the xxv day of Janiuere in ye xix yere of ye moste nobyll reigne
of kynge Henry the VII. Enprynted in London within Seynt Helens be
Guillam Faques ye kyng Prynter.” St Helens was in Bishopsgate Ward. Two
other books with Faques’ name are known, an edition of the _Vulgaria
Terentii_, and the homily of Origen, _De beata Maria Magdalena_. Both
these little books are without date and both are stated to have been
printed in Abchurch Lane. Two copies are known of the Origen, of the
_Vulgaria_ the only known copy is in the library of Corpus Christi
College, Cambridge. These books are curious in having the top part of
the title cut in wood, a peculiarity which Pynson copied immediately
afterwards, perhaps employing the same woodcutter.
William Faques no doubt died in 1508 for R. Pynson was appointed King’s
Printer in that year. He was succeeded in business by Richard Faques,
who was presumably a near relation and a foreigner, and we may discard
as a fable the statement made to Ames by “Mr Thomas Wilson of Leeds, in
Yorkshire,” who in a letter 2 April, 1751, informed him that Richard
Fawkes, printer, was second son of John Fawkes, of Farnley Hall, in
the said county, Esq.; and in a pedigree he had of that family he was
called printer, of London.
In 1509 Richard Faques issued the _Salus corporis salus anime_ of
Gulielmus de Saliceto, a book printed with his predecessor’s type
and with the chain ornament, and in 1511 issued with W. de Worde
an edition of the Sarum _Missal_. His device, very well cut, is a
copy of that used by Thielman Kerver, but with some alterations. Two
unicorns standing amid flowers and foliage support a shield hung from
a large arrow on which are the initials R.F. and a maiden’s head, in
reference to the sign of the shop where he carried on business, the
Maiden’s Head in St Paul’s Churchyard. Below on a ribbon his name is
cut, Richard Faques. In 1521 when we next find a dated book he had
removed to another shop in the churchyard with the sign of the A. B.
C. He had also made a change in his device, anglicising his name by
cutting out the “ques” of Faques and inserting “kes” in its place in
type. It is interesting to notice that in all the five dated books
which he issued he made a change in the spelling of his name, each time
making it more English. In 1509 it was Fax, in 1511 Faques, in 1521
Fakes, in 1523 Faukes, and in 1530 Fawkes. In 1523 besides his shop
in St Paul’s Churchyard he had a dwelling-house, where probably he
printed, in Durham Rents, in the Strand. In the assessment of Aliens
for the subsidy of 1524 as printed by the Huguenot Society a Richard
Far is given in the Strand, and I think it is quite likely that Far is
a misreading for Fax. A good deal of the Strand was in Westminster,
and in the Westminster denization roll of 1544 is one Amelyne Faxe,
widow, aged 70 years, in England 55 years. “Hath the Kinge’s Magestie’s
proteccion of his grace gyft to Richard Faxe her husbond, late
deceased, to remayn and dwell within this realm, but her landlorde will
not suffre her to dwell in house.”
The Richard Fawkes here mentioned, if he was the same as the printer,
died in 1538 and was buried in the parish of St Martin in the Fields.
The last book issued by R. Faques was the _Mirrour of Our Lady_ of
1530 printed at the desire and instance of the abbess and general
confessor of the Monastery of Syon. It is a beautiful volume with
several woodcuts, one of them signed E. G. similar to one in a Pynson
book, and a number of curious initial letters. A certain Michael Fawkes
was joined with Robert Copland in 1534-5 in printing an edition of
the _Tree and_ XII _frutes of the holy goost_, and also printed the
_Consolation of timorouse and fearfull consciencys_ of which there is a
copy in the British Museum, but beyond this nothing is known of him.
Robert Redman began to print in the year 1523, his first book, of
which there is a copy in the Cambridge University Library, being an
edition of Fitzherbert’s _Diversite de courtz_. His next dated book,
an edition of the _Magna Charta_, was issued in 1525, and in this his
address is given at the sign of the George in St Clement’s parish,
elsewhere described as just outside Temple Bar. Considering the custom
of printers in successively occupying the same houses, it is probable
that this is the same printing-office as that used first by Pynson and
then by Julian Notary. Now at this time Pynson was at work close by on
the other side of Temple Bar and his sign was also the George, and when
Redman not only used his sign but began to issue editions of the books
he had been accustomed to print, we can understand the older printer
becoming very indignant. The publication of an edition of Littleton’s
_Tenures_ by Redman apparently brought matters to a crisis, and Pynson
in his edition of the same book issued in 1525 gave expression to
his feelings in a somewhat strongly worded “letter to the reader.”
In it he points out how much more correct and well printed his work
is as compared with that of Robert Redman, or more properly Rudeman,
for among a thousand it would be hard to find one more unskilled. He
wonders how he can call himself a printer, unless the devil made him
one when he made the cobbler into a skipper. Formerly the scoundrel
professed himself as skilled a bookseller as ever came from Utopia,
well knowing a thing can be called a book when it has merely the
appearance of one and little else. He finishes up by abusing him for
daring to promise that he could print the laws of England properly, and
asks the reader to judge for himself. To this invective Redman returned
no answer but continued to issue his books as before, and though
Pynson on one or two other occasions repeated his attacks they produced
no effect, unless perhaps the addition to his colophons which Redman
sometimes printed, “Si deus nobiscum quis contra nos.”
It was suggested by Herbert and others that Redman removed into Fleet
Street before April 18, 1527. There certainly is an edition of the
_Modus tenendi unum hundredum_ of that date with a distinct colophon
stating that the book was printed by Redman at the George in St
Dunstan’s parish that is within Temple Bar, outside being St Clement’s
parish. But this date must be a misprint, not only because colophons
of 1528 again give him as living in St Clement’s parish, but also he
could hardly have occupied Pynson’s house while the latter was still at
work. It is a curious point to notice that during the period between
1528 and 1530 Redman gives no address in his books. Immediately on
Pynson’s death, however, at the beginning of 1530 Redman not only moved
into his house, but took over part of his material, and for the future
made use of one or other of his old rival’s devices. Previous to this
he had no distinctive device, but made use of some small cuts, one of
the Infant Christ seated, another of St George, and a third of the
Trinity. He used in all, three of Pynson’s devices, the original black
block with the white monogram with which Pynson had first started, a
rarer small metal device, not often used, which has a pierced ribbon at
the bottom in which the printer’s name could be inserted in type, and
the large late wood-block. On March 23, 1530, he issued the first book
from his new address, an edition of the _Natura Brevium_. The book
is dated March 23, 1529, but this must of course mean 1530, and shows
that at any rate as regards law-books Redman began his year on March
25. To law-books Redman mainly confined his attention, and the books
in other classes which he issued are not as a rule of much interest.
He appears not to have had much initiative, but contented himself with
reprinting popular books. In 1533 this practice led him into trouble,
for in February of that year he was bound over in the sum of 500 marks
not to sell the book called ‘_The division of the Spiritualty and the
Temporalty_’ nor any other book privileged by the King. The printing of
this book had been granted to Berthelet, who as King’s Printer would
be in a position to enforce his rights. It was of this book that More
wrote in his _Apology_, “And in this poynt they lay for a sample the
goodlye and godlye, milde and gentle fashion used by him, whosoever
he was, that now lately wrote the booke of the division betwene the
temporaltie and the spiritualtie, which charitable mild manner they say
that if I had used, my woorkes would have been read both of many moe,
and with much better will.” The authorship though unknown to More is
generally ascribed to Christopher St Germain.
Among the more interesting books printed by Redman may be mentioned
editions of the _Life of Christ_, _The Frute of Redempcion_, _The
Pomander of Prayer_, Fewterer’s _Myrrour of Christes Passion_ written
in 1533 and printed the year after, and Whitford’s _Dayly Exercise_ in
which he complains, like Caxton, that having been asked to write out
his book over and over again he had thought better to print it and
thus save himself so much labour.
A very curious border piece was sometimes used by Redman, as for
instance in the English translation of Lyndewode’s _Constitutions_ of
1534 and the _Book of Justices of Peas_, which contains in the lower
margin the initials I. N. and I. M. Who these initials refer to I have
not been able to discover, but the design of the border was popular and
was used by Pynson and at Antwerp by Michael Hillenius, while it is
also found in some of Tindale’s books. It may have been engraved for
some stationer and afterwards obtained by Redman. The last important
work on which Redman was engaged was a folio edition of the _Bible_,
which he printed in partnership with Thomas Petyt for Berthelet.
Redman died in 1540 between October 21, the date of his will, and
November 4, when it was proved. He left his property to be divided
into three parts. The first for bequests and funeral expenses, the
second to his wife, and the third to his children. One of his executors
was his son-in-law Henry Smith, a stationer and printer of law-books
who lived at the sign of the Trinity, without Temple Bar, in St
Clement’s parish, perhaps the very house which had once been in the
occupation of Redman, who had used a device of the Trinity as one of
his early marks. Redman’s wife Elizabeth, whose maiden name had been
Pickering, continued to carry on the business by herself for a short
while, but retired on her remarriage with Ralph Cholmondeley, when the
printing-office and its effects passed to William Middleton.
[Illustration: TITLE-PAGE TO R. REDMAN’S EDITION OF LYNDEWODE’S
‘CONSTITUTIONS’ OF 1534.]
A certain John Redman, born in 1508 and who was in business as a
stationer at least as early as 1530, may have been a relation, though
there is no direct proof. He printed at Southwark a small work of
Cicero for Robert Redman which lends some probability to the theory,
and on Robert’s death in 1540 he appears to have moved to London to a
shop in Paternoster Row with the sign of Our Lady of Pity.
Thomas Berthelet, Pynson’s successor as King’s Printer, seems to have
been at one time in his employment as apprentice or assistant, and may
most probably be identical with the Thomas Bercula or Berclaeus who
speaks of himself as the printer in several books issued by Pynson. The
earliest in which this name appears is an edition of the _Vulgaria_
of Whitinton issued in 1520, and after the editor’s preface is a
short address to the reader by Thomas Bercula Typographus. There is
no definite statement to connect Bercula and Berthelet and yet it is
hard to see who else the name could apply to. Berthelet may have come
into the business to take the place of Pynson’s son Richard who had
died, but it is curious that there is no reference to him in Pynson’s
will. In 1524 Berthelet married his first wife, for it seems most
probable that he is the person referred to in the following entry in
the register of marriage licences granted by the Bishop of London,
“1524 August 23 Thomas Barthelett of St Dunstan in the West and Agnes
Langwyth, widow, at St Bride’s, Fleet Street.” In 1528 he started
business on his own account, his first book being Thomas Paynell’s
translation of the _Regimen sanitatis Salerni_: ‘This boke techying
al people to governe them in helthe.’ The colophon runs “Imprinted
in London in Flete Strete in the House of Thomas Berthelet nere to
ye cundite at ye signe of Lucrece. Anno domini 1528, mense Augusto.”
Another work of Paynell’s, entitled _The Assault and Conquest of
Heaven_, was issued in 1529. Berthelet’s shop must have been further
east than Pynson’s and close by Wynkyn de Worde’s, though it is
impossible to say on which side of Fleet Street it stood. Two other
early books often quoted as earlier than 1530 may be noted here. One is
a work by Wakefield on the divorce controversy, quoted by Wood in the
_Athenae Oxonienses_ and dated by him 1528, the other is an edition of
the _Statutes_, the first book of Berthelet’s given by Herbert and said
to be dated 1529. The first of these, of which there is a copy in the
Bodleian, is without date, but from the subject-matter cannot be before
1533 and from the fact that the printer is styled King’s Printer could
not be earlier than 1530. For this latter reason also the _Statutes_
of 1529 must be non-existent. One or two books, such as Erasmus on the
Lord’s Prayer, in which he does not style himself King’s Printer, may
perhaps be assigned to before 1530.
On February 15, 1530, immediately after Pynson’s death, Berthelet was
appointed Printer to the King with an annuity of four pounds. Just
a few days before he had issued an edition of Paynell’s translation
of the _Regimen sanitatis Salerni_ which is very interesting as
illustrating a point I have several times referred to. The book is
dated February, 1530, and Berthelet is not spoken of as King’s Printer,
a fact he emphasized very particularly as soon as he had risen to
that position. We may conclude therefore that in this colophon
February 1530 does not mean February 1531 and that therefore Berthelet
calculated his year as beginning on January 1.
After the Royal appointment Berthelet’s press started on an active
career, and the first book issued, naturally one on the political
question then engaging the attention of Europe, was an important work
on the subject of the royal divorce. This was the first edition, in
Latin, of the _Determinations of the most famous Universities_, written
and collected for the purpose of strengthening the King’s position.
It was issued in April and an English translation appeared in the
following November. In June two proclamations were issued, one for the
punishing of “vagabondes and sturdy beggars,” the other for “dampning”
erroneous books and heresies, and prohibiting the translation of
Scripture. The first of these is printed on one sheet of paper, the
second on a sheet and a half, and the printer was paid for 1600 of the
two £8. 6_s._ 8_d._, that is, one penny each for the single sheet and
a penny halfpenny for the sheet and a half. In each penny the cost of
the paper represented one-fifth, for “paper royall” which was then used
for printing cost six and eightpence a ream, the remaining four-fifths
representing all the cost of printing and the profit.
The number of proclamations printed by Berthelet now in existence is
very large, but nothing to compare with the number which he must really
have printed. Looking at such documents as his three year’s accounts
which have been preserved, and casual entries in records, it is clear
that not a tithe is represented by existing specimens, though we are
more lucky in his case than in Pynson’s, almost every one of whose
productions in this class has been destroyed.
In 1531 Berthelet issued the first edition of Sir Thomas Elyot’s _Book
named the Governour_, a work he frequently reprinted, and he seems to
have published all Elyot’s works, which with their various editions
amount to a considerable number. In 1533 he issued the _Dialogue
betwixte two englyshe men, wherof one was called Salem and the other
Bizance_. This work written by Christopher St Germain was an answer to
Sir Thomas More’s _Apology_, which in its turn was an attack upon St
Germain’s _Division of the Spiritualty and Temporalty_.
More’s answer to the first mentioned book was printed by William
Rastell in the same year and entitled _The Debellacyon of Salem and
Bizance_.
Among the many beautiful borders which Berthelet used for his books
there is one about which a word of warning should be said. It has
engraved upon it the date 1534, and as it was in use for several years
it has given rise to great confusion in the dating of books.
In 1537 was issued the celebrated _Institution of a Christian Man_,
called the Bishops’ Book in contradistinction to the _Necessary
Doctrine and Erudition for any Christian Man_, or King’s book, issued
in 1543. Both are versions of the same work, but the first has a
Preface of the Prelates to Henry VIII, the second has an introduction
by the King.
In 1542 Sir Thomas Elyot published his Latin dictionary, and he
appears to have issued or intended to issue a copy on vellum, for in
the Bodleian are five leaves so printed, consisting of the title, the
prologue to Henry VIII in English, an address to the reader in Latin,
and the table of errata. In 1542 he printed another book upon vellum,
Lily’s _Introduction of the Eight Parts of Speech_.
In 1540 a work by Nicholas Borbonius was issued at Basle in which there
is a Latin poem addressed by the learned author to Berthelet and worded
in a most laudatory style. There is no doubt that Berthelet’s printing
and beautiful type were alone in England able to rival the work of the
foreign printers.
On the accession of Edward VI in 1547, Berthelet lost his position
as King’s Printer, and a new one, Richard Grafton, was appointed, a
custom now for the first time introduced, as hitherto the appointment
had been for life. For the succeeding eight years of his life we lose
the familiar “Regius Impressor” of his colophons, and this helps in a
small degree in the dating of undated books. He seems, however, to have
become much less active after the loss of his privilege and probably
left much of the printing business in the hands of his nephew Thomas
Powell, who succeeded him, and his servants. The various purchases of
land which he made from time to time point to his having built up a
considerable fortune, and apart from his purchases in or about London
he had estates in Hereford.
Besides being printer to Henry VIII Berthelet was also the Royal
bookbinder, and it is hard to speak too highly of his skill and taste
in this direction. The beauty of the Italian bindings seems to have
greatly struck his fancy and it is supposed that he brought over some
workmen from Venice both to work for him and to teach his own men. In
his accounts rendered to the King, some of which fortunately have
been preserved, he speaks of books decorated in the Venetian manner,
and the tools used on them are direct copies of those used by Aldus
of Venice and other contemporary Italian binders. He made use of
one very distinctive tool, similar to some found on Oriental work,
by means of which the design appears upon the leather plain while
the whole background is gilt. A good deal of the King’s binding was
done in velvet or white leather. To show the relative value of books
and binding take the following entry, “Item delyuered to the kinges
the XXIII day of January [1542] a booke of the psalter in Englishe
and Latyne, the price VIII_d._, and a booke entitled Enarracones
Evangeliorum Dominicalium, the price XII_d._ and for the gorgious
byndyng of them backe to backe IIII_s._ IV_d._” Or again, “Item
delyuered unto the kinges highnes the XV day of January [1542] a New
Testament in Latyne and a Psalter Englishe and Latyne bounde backe
to backe in white leather, gorgiously gilted on the leather, the
bookes came to IIs. the byndynge and arabaske drawyng in golde on the
transfile IIII_s._”
It is worth noticing, however, that such tenants of Berthelet as were
bookbinders were all Frenchmen.