correctly by bibliographers. Fortunately he held land from the King,
so that at his death an inquest was held by the escheator, and full
and interesting details are preserved among the _Inquisitiones post
mortem_. From this source we learn that his death took place on
September 26th, 1555; that Margaret Berthelet was his second wife, and
that his eldest son Edward was born on July 24th, 1553. His will,
made two days before his death, was proved on November 9th, and by it
he left estates to his widow and his two sons Edward and Anthony and
legacies to apprentices, godchildren, and charities. A considerable
bequest also went to his nephew Thomas Powell, presumably his sister’s
son, who succeeded him in business.
We have an account of Berthelet’s funeral, preserved in Henry Machyn’s
diary:
“The sam day at afternone was bered master Barthelet sqwire and prynter
unto Kyng Henry; and was bered with pennon and cote-armur, and IIII
dosen of skochyons, and II whytt branchys and IIII gylt candyllstykes
and mony prestes and clarkes, and mony mornars, and all the craftes of
prynters, boke-sellers, and all stassyoners.”
Among all the early presses that of Berthelet was preeminent for
good workmanship. Though he avoided as far as possible the use of
illustrations, all the ornamentation he used was in good taste, and in
beauty and variety of type he surpassed all printers of the century.
John Rastell stands quite apart from other early English printers.
Nearly all we know about them comes from the books they printed while
we know little or nothing about their lives. In the case of Rastell
we know a good deal about his career, but little about his books.
He is said to have been born in London, and was educated at Oxford,
afterwards entering Lincoln’s Inn and practising the law, in which he
was very successful. He must have been of considerable social position,
for he married Elizabeth More, the sister of Sir Thomas More. Some
time before 1516 he printed an edition of the _Liber Assisarum_, in
which he refers to the projected publication of Fitzherbert’s _Great
Abridgement_, which appeared in three majestic volumes in that year.
About 1520 he moved his printing establishment to a house, “next Paul’s
gate,” which he named the Mermaid, the same sign that he had previously
used elsewhere, and a lawsuit which took place about 1534 in connexion
with this house throws considerable light on the printer’s habits. He
appears to have left all practical work to his assistants, going off
to his house in the country for months at a time and subletting part
of the printing-office to other tenants, among whom were successively
William Bonham, John Heron, Thomas Kele, and John Gough, all of them
stationers.
Up to the year 1526 Rastell had issued only four dated books, all
connected with the law, but in that year he started out in an entirely
new style and published two extraordinary books, _The merry jests of
the widow Edith_, and the _Hundred mery tales_, neither such as we
should have expected from so grave a printer. About 1529 appeared his
_Pastime of People_, remarkable for a number of large, clumsy woodcuts.
Much has been written about this book and its variations, and it is
generally asserted that the British Museum copy is the only perfect one
known. There is, however, a very fine and perfect copy in a private
library in this country. Another curious book he issued is Lucian’s
_Necromantia_, of which there is a copy at Shirburn Castle.
In 1530 Rastell was drawn into the religious controversies then
becoming violent, and wrote and printed his _New Boke of Purgatory_
in defence of the Romish doctrine. This was answered by John Fryth in
his _Disputation of Purgatory_. Several controversial pamphlets were
written by the two opponents with the result that Rastell became a
convert to the Protestant religion. This change appears to have been a
cause of trouble to Rastell, who writing to Cromwell in 1536 laments
the loss of both business and friends. His law earnings, which had
been over twenty nobles a term, had fallen to under forty shillings
a year and his printing business had fallen off proportionately, and
there is no book definitely known to exist dated later than 1530. While
most of Rastell’s books are legal in character, he is also the printer
of several curious interludes or plays such as the _Interlude of the
four elements_, the _Interlude of women_, _Play concerning Lucretia_,
Skelton’s _Magnificence_, Heywood’s _Gentleness and Nobility_. The
reason for his printing these is not far to seek. He was extremely fond
of giving performances of plays at his house and the records have been
preserved of a curious lawsuit brought against him by a theatrical
costumier on account of dresses supplied. Rastell in 1536 freely
expressed his opinions against the paying of tithes, and perhaps on
this account or some other not now known was thrown into prison, where
he shortly after died. His will dated April 20 and proved October 12
is a rather remarkable document. He had but little to leave. His house
which had been made over to his wife on their marriage he bequeaths to
her. To his eldest son William only forty shillings, and to his other
son John a small annuity he had been left by his grandmother. Other
small sums were left to Cromwell and the Lord Chancellor, and for one
of his two executors he nominated the King himself, who very naturally
renounced probate.
John Rastell’s son William was born about 1508 and went to Oxford
in 1525, where though according to Wood he studied diligently he
took no degree. His first book, issued in 1530, while his father was
still printing, was an edition of Caesar’s _Commentaries_ in Latin
and English. His books, like his father’s, may be divided into three
distinct classes, legal treatises, controversial works mostly by More,
and plays and interludes. Amongst the latter are Heywood’s _Play of
Love_, _The Pardoner and the Friar_, the _Play of the Weather_, and
_Johan Johan the husband and Tib the wife_, copies of them all being in
the library of Magdalene College, Cambridge. Another play, Medwall’s
_Interlude of Nature_, is in the British Museum. While still a printer
he appears to have studied law, having been admitted a student in
1532, while he was called to the bar in 1539, where he practised with
considerable success. Unlike his father he remained through life a
staunch Catholic, and when Edward VI succeeded to the throne, he with
many others of his faith sought refuge abroad. He lived in Louvain
until Mary came to the throne when he returned to England and was
rapidly advanced in his profession, until in 1558 he was made a judge
in the Queen’s Bench, a position which he retained until 1563. Shortly
afterwards he returned to Louvain, where he died on August 27, 1565.
After he had given up printing on his own account William Rastell
compiled and edited a considerable number of important law-books which
continued to be reprinted for a long period. But the work by which he
is best known is the edition of the complete works of his uncle Sir
Thomas More, published in two volumes folio in 1557 by Richard Tottell.
LECTURE VII.
THE STATIONERS OF LONDON AND THE FOREIGN TRADE.
The history of the stationers and the book-trade in England during
the period between 1500 and 1535 is very obscure and information
is difficult to obtain. That the number of stationers was very
considerable we know from incidental references, and though references
are fairly numerous it is almost impossible in the present state of
our knowledge to combine isolated facts into any connected story. One
point is quite clear, and every new discovery only tends to emphasize
it, and that is that the book-trade with the Continent and the dealings
of foreign stationers in this country were infinitely more extensive
and important than is usually supposed. While other countries had a
perfectly adequate supply of printers and stationers of their own and
imported little from their neighbours and practically nothing from
England, here the reverse was the case. In the time of Richard III
there were but four printers in England, one in Westminster, one in
London, one in Oxford, and one in St Alban’s, so that we can quite
understand the Act of 1484, which was so strong an encouragement
to foreigners to trade here in books, and the resulting influx of
aliens. There were hardly any restrictions upon foreign trade and
there was a ready market for foreign printed books, so that it is not
surprising that the more important foreign publishers dealt largely
with this country. They appear to have set up stalls and shops in the
neighbourhood of St Paul’s, where probably the Company of Stationers
would not have power to interfere, and to have placed agents in charge
of them. Besides this they sent agents round to the various provincial
fairs, which at that time were the greatest business centres in the
country, with waggon loads of books for sale.
Our sources of information about these stationers are very scattered
and also very inadequate. Chief amongst them are of course the vast
masses of documents, only partially explored, preserved in the Public
Record Office. The list of denizations and the Returns of Aliens
have been printed by the Huguenot Society, and these give a little
information, though unfortunately the business of the person is often
not stated and there is also the further difficulty of his being
entered under his correct surname, a name which in the ordinary course
of business he rarely made use of himself. The names too are most
carelessly spelt and entered. One man for instance occurs under the
following names, Frinnorren, Fremorshem, Formishaa, Bringmarshen, and
Vrimors. The lists of denizations are of little use as far as our
present period is concerned, for from 1509 to 1534 only 240 persons are
entered, though in 1535 the large number of 172 was reached owing to
pressure being put upon strangers from the Low Countries. In this total
of 412 only seven are mentioned as having business connected with the
book-trade; in fact in these lists of denizations the occupation of
only about one in twenty-five is mentioned. The only returns of aliens
before 1535 are the imperfect ones in connexion with the subsidies
granted to Henry VIII in 1523-25, and in these the occupations are but
very rarely entered. These returns are therefore useless in giving
information about otherwise unknown stationers; we can only attempt to
trace persons whose names are already known, and this is rendered the
more difficult as people are arranged anyhow, according to the ward
they inhabited, and there is as yet no index to the book.
Taking all persons residing in England connected with the book-trade,
printers, binders, and stationers, from 1476 to 1535, it would not, I
think, be far from the mark to state that two-thirds were aliens.
By the Act of 1484 they were exempted from the restrictions imposed on
other workmen, and they could by residing close to St Paul’s or in the
liberties of St Martin’s or Blackfriars escape from the jurisdiction
of the wardens of the Stationers’ Company or the Lord Mayor. Though
the immigration of foreigners was always encouraged by Government,
it evoked the bitterest hostility from native craftsmen and was the
frequent cause of those fights and squabbles which culminated in the
famous Mayday riots of 1517. As a case in point may be mentioned
the proceedings in the Star Chamber about the end of the fifteenth
century, when Richard Pynson sued Harry Squire and others for
assaulting and attempting to murder him and his servants. He stated
that his assistants were so threatened and assaulted that they had
been compelled to leave, and that consequently his business was at a
standstill. This perhaps may have been the reason for his leaving St
Clement’s parish and settling within the City in 1500.
Many aliens in order to obtain the privileges of a native took out
letters of denization, but these privileges only commenced from the
date of the grant and were not retrospective as in the case of a patent
of naturalization. Letters of denization allowed a man to hold, but
not to inherit lands; nor did they confer any benefit on the children
born previous to the date of the grant. In 1512 an Act was passed for
levying a subsidy, and it was ordained that every alien made a denizen
should be rated like a native, but that aliens not denizened should pay
a double rate. In 1515 this was reversed and denizens again compelled
to pay a double rate.
In 1523 as a set-off for levying a subsidy Henry VIII gave assent to an
Act which ordered that no alien, denizen or not, using any manner of
handicraft within the realm should from henceforth take any apprentice
except he be born under the King’s obedience; that no alien should keep
more than two alien journeymen; and that aliens using handicrafts in
London and two miles round should be under the search and reformation
of the wardens of the handicrafts within the City of London. This Act
seems to have been very laxly enforced, and was practically repeated by
a decree of the Star Chamber in 1528, which contained the additional
clause that no stranger, not being a denizen and who was not a
householder before 15th February 1528, should keep house or shop where
he should exercise any handicraft. Finally, in 1534 the celebrated
Act against foreign printers and binders was passed, whose terms and
effects will be noticed later.
From the earliest times London citizens had been forbidden by their
oath of freedom from taking any foreign born apprentice, and the Act
of 1523 laid a similar prohibition on all aliens, so that the foreign
element was slowly and surely eliminated.
The authorities of the City of London were strongly opposed to
admitting any foreigners to the freedom of the City. In a letter from
Thomas Berthelet to Morisine written in 1540 he writes, “My lorde mayor
told me ... that but one stranger born was made freeman these 40 years.
I fear the answer is somewhat feigned, for instead of one stranger made
freeman this 40 years, there have been six or more. Perhaps they do it
to show that they esteem not the liberty of London so light as to admit
a stranger born so suddenly when the King’s natural subjects must do so
long and painful a service before they can enjoy it.”
The great centre of trade during this period was St Paul’s Churchyard,
and the shops there were of two kinds. There were the substantial
houses round the cathedral, where the printer or stationer could carry
on his business and dwell, but clustered in every direction against
the very walls of the church were booths and sheds and stalls. These
were simply “lock up” shops of one story, many with flat roofs for
people to stand on to view processions, and were used by booksellers
and such printers as had printing-offices elsewhere. In Strype’s life
of Parker we have a description of a shop set up at a later date by Day
the printer, “Whereupon he got framed a neat handsome shop. It was but
little and low and flat-roofed, and leaded like a terrace, railed and
posted, fit for men to stand upon in any triumph or show, but could
not in any wise hurt and deface the same. This cost him forty or fifty
pounds.”
Even the most important printers had stalls before their houses, for
we read in an account of a lawsuit in 1536 resulting from an attack
on some Frenchmen in Fleet Street, that one of them, endeavouring
to escape, concealed himself under the King’s Printer’s (_i.e._
Berthelet’s) stall. Thomas Symonds, a stationer, who was a witness in
a lawsuit in 1514, speaks of himself as standing before his stall at
seven in the morning, not so very early an hour at a period when the
Privy Council assembled at eight.
Though London was the head-quarters of the trade, the stationers did
not confine their attention to the City, but travelled about the
country attending the various fairs, where so far as we can judge from
such few early accounts as are still preserved, a very considerable
portion of their trade was done. Great fairs such as that of Sturbridge
brought booksellers from far and near, and so great was their fame as
a bookselling centre that even at the end of the seventeenth century
the great London dealers sent down vast consignments of books which
were sold by auction by the leading London auctioneers. All the more
important stationers too paid frequent visits to the Continent and
attended the great fair at Frankfurt, the principal opportunity for
seeing all the latest publications and the recognised time and place
for the transaction of business.
In treating of these early stationers I propose first of all to take
those who lived and carried on business solely in London, and then to
pass on to those who traded both in London and on the Continent. Of
very many we know little but the name, and these I can but pass over,
touching only on those who are known as publishers of books, or about
whom we have some definite information.
The first of these is a certain John Boudins, or Baldwin as he called
himself in English, who lived in the parish of St Clement’s, Eastcheap.
We know of him from one book, an edition of the Sarum _Expositio
Hymnorum et Sequentiarum_ which was printed for him at Paris by André
Bocard in 1502, and which is apparently the first edition with the
preface of Badius Ascensius. Boudins died shortly after the publication
of the book, for his will dated October 11, 1501, was proved March 30,
1503. He was a native of the Low Countries.
A certain Andrew Rue, who had succeeded his brother John, who had died
in 1493, was a stationer like his brother in St Paul’s Churchyard. He
died in 1517 leaving legacies to relations in Frankfort and others. To
Thomas Wallis, priest of St Faith’s, he leaves a bound copy of the book
of sermons called _Dormi Secure_, and to David Owen of the same church
a copy of Quentin’s sermons. Two of the executors of his will were John
Reynes and Joyce Pelgrim, both to be noticed shortly.
Richard Nele is mentioned as a stationer in a document of 1525, when he
petitioned to be transferred to the Company of Ironmongers.
John Taverner, another stationer, was paid £4 in 1521 for binding the
books for use in the Chapel Royal. He died in 1531 and his will was
proved in November of that year. In the year following John Sedley,
Warden of the Craft of Stationers, died.
It would be useless here, as well as extremely tedious, to go on
enumerating the names of stationers of whom we know so little, so
I will pass on to some about whom we possess some more definite
information.
Joyce Pelgrim, a native of the Low Countries, was early settled in
London and in 1504 issued the first book specially printed for him, an
edition of the _Ortus Vocabulorum_ printed at Paris by Jean Barbier,
who had himself but lately left England. This book is only known from
some fragments preserved in a binding in Lord Crawford’s library.
Before 1506 he entered into partnership with Henry Jacobi, and the two,
assisted with money by a wealthy merchant, William Bretton, a grocer
and member of the Staple at Calais, issued several books connected with
the service of the Church. The first and most important was an edition
of the _Constitutiones Provinciales_ of William Lindewode, issued some
time after May, 1506. It was printed at Paris by Wolfgang Hopyl in a
most ornate manner and the title-page is one of the most beautiful to
be found in an early book, the combination of small woodcuts, woodcut
borders, printer’s devices, and red and black printing forming a most
rich and harmonious whole. Two service books, a Sarum _Horae_ and a
_Psalterium cum Hymnis_, followed at the beginning of 1507. In 1510 for
the same patron they issued the _Pupilla Oculi_ of Joannes de Burgo and
the _Speculum Spiritualium_ of Richard of Hampole printed by Hopyl, as
well as another _Horae_ printed by Kerver.
On their own account the stationers did little, issuing in 1507 and
1508 three school books. Pelgrim, after the publication of the _Ortus
Vocabulorum_ of 1504 does not seem to have issued any books on his own
account, but he was always connected with William Bretton, and acted
as his agent in 1514. He lived in Paul’s Churchyard at the sign of St
Anne, though nothing is heard of the shop after 1506. It may be that it
was one of the many swept away to make room for the new schools built
by Colet, for we know that the Trinity, where Pelgrim’s partner Jacobi
lived, was close by.
Henry Jacobi, probably a Frenchman, was apparently a much more
important stationer than Pelgrim and some things point to his having
been a citizen of London. He is first mentioned in 1504 as a stationer,
and in 1505, as we learn from a note in a MS. in the British Museum,
he supplied a large number of books to the King. Shortly after this he
joined as a partner with Pelgrim and together they printed books for
William Bretton. In 1509 he appears to have separated from his partner,
for in the colophon of the _Ortus Vocabulorum_ printed by Pynson his
name is found alone. In 1510 he went over to France and his name is
found in the colophons of some small tracts of Savonarola, printed in
Paris in 1510 and 1511 by Badius Ascensius. In 1512 he was back in
London, and issued an edition of the Sarum _Diurnale_ printed for him
at Paris by Hopyl. Francis Byrckman also appears to have been concerned
in the publication of this book for his device is printed at the end.
About this time Jacobi issued a _Legenda Francisci_ printed for him by
Jean Barbier at Paris and a _Regula Benediciti_ printed by W. de Worde.
Soon after 1512 Jacobi migrated to Oxford, where he opened a shop
with his old sign of the Trinity and published there an edition of
the _Formalitates_ of Antonius Sirectus, printed for him in London by
Wynkyn de Worde. A copy of the title-page was found by Mr Proctor in a
binding in New College, Oxford, and a copy of the book itself, minus
the greater part of the title, was subsequently traced in the British
Museum. Jacobi did not long survive his migration to Oxford, but died
there in 1514, and on the 11th December administration of his effects
was granted to William Bretton through his agent Joyce Pelgrim, while
his will was proved the same year in London.
The devices used by Pelgrim and Jacobi were four in number. In the
books printed for W. Bretton a large block containing his coat of arms
is used. After its first appearance a mistake in the heraldry was
discovered and the shield was cut out and a new one inserted in the
block, a very early example of what is technically known as plugging.
It is curious that this device, though a private coat of arms, was
afterwards copied and used as a device by the Paris printer Egidius
Gourmont. The device used by Pelgrim and Jacobi together was a blank
shield on a ribbon with the motto “Nosce teipsum” with their initials
and marks on either side. Jacobi used in the Sirectus a representation
of the Trinity with his mark and name in full below on a ribbon. In the
books printed for them by Hopyl another device of the Trinity is found.
The bindings produced by the Trinity stationers were of two classes.
The folio books were tooled with small dies, the smaller books stamped
with panel stamps. Several copies of the _Lyndewode_ of 1506 are in
existence tooled with identical dies, and one of these copies is lined
with unused sheets of the _Ortus Vocabulorum_ printed for Pelgrim in
1504. The panel stamps all appear to have belonged to Henry Jacobi, for
at present none have been found with Pelgrim’s mark. Like many other
stationers of the time he used the two panels, having on one side a
shield bearing the arms of France and England and supported by a dragon
and greyhound and on the other the Tudor rose between two scrolls,
supported by angels and containing these verses,
Hec rosa virtutis de celo missa sereno
Eternum florens, regia sceptra feret.