LONDON.
JOHN LETTOU, WILLIAM DE MACHLINIA, RICHARD PYNSON.
In 1480, printing was introduced into London by John Lettou, perhaps a
native of Lithuania, of which Lettou is an old form. The first product
of the press was an edition of John Kendale’s Indulgence asking for aid
against the Turks, another edition having just been issued by Caxton in
his large No. 2* type. As we have said, Lettou’s small neat type was
very much better suited for printing indulgences, and its appearance
very probably caused Caxton to make his small type No. 4, which he used
in future for such work. Besides two other editions of the indulgence,
Lettou printed only one book in this year, the _Quæstiones Antonii
Andreæ super duodecim libros metaphysice Aristotelis_. It is a small
folio of 106 leaves, of very great rarity, only one perfect copy being
known, in the library of Sion College, London. In 1481 another folio
book was printed, _Thomas Wallensis super Psalterium_, and probably in
the same year a work on ecclesiastical procedure, known only from two
leaves which were found in the binding of one of the Parker books in
Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.
From the workmanship of these books we can clearly see that Lettou was
a practised printer, though we know nothing as to where he learnt his
art. His type, which bears no resemblance to any other used in England,
is very similar to that of Matthias Moravus, the Naples printer; so
similar, indeed, as to make it certain that there must have been some
connexion between the two printers, or some common origin for their
types. Lettou was assisted by a certain William Wilcock, at whose
expense the two large books were printed.
About 1482, Lettou was joined by another printer, William de Machlinia,
a native no doubt of Malines in Belgium. These two printers employed a
new fount of type of the same school as the other English types, and
one suitable for the printing of the law-books, which were their sole
productions. In partnership they printed but five books, the _Tenores
Novelli_, the _Abridgment of the Statutes_, and the _Year-Books_ of
the 33rd, 35th, and 36th years of Henry VII. The first of these books
is the only one which has a colophon. It gives the names of the two
printers, and states that the book was printed in the city of London,
‘juxta ecclesiam omnium sanctorum;’ a rather vague address, since,
according to Arnold’s Chronicle, there were several London churches
thus dedicated.
After these books had been issued, about 1483-84, John Lettou
disappears, and Machlinia carried on his business alone. By himself he
printed at least twenty-two books or editions. Out of all this number
only four contain his name, and not one a date. He printed at two
addresses, ‘By Flete-brigge,’ and in Holborn. If these two addresses
refer to two different places, and we have no reason for supposing the
contrary, there is no doubt that ‘By Flete-brigge’ is the earlier.
How late he continued to carry on business it is not possible to find
out, as none of his books are dated. The Bull of Innocent VIII.,
relating to the marriage of Henry VII., which he printed, cannot
have been issued till after 2nd March 1486; and the occurrence of a
title-page in one of his books points to a still later date, for we
know of no other book having a title-page printed in England before
1491-92.
Machlinia’s use of signatures and initial directors seems to have been
entirely arbitrary, and it is impossible to arrange the books in any
certain order from their typographical peculiarities.
In the ‘Flete-brigge’ type there are nine books. Two works of Albertus
Magnus, the _Liber aggregationis_ and the _De secretis mulierum_;[34]
a _Horæ ad usum Sarum_, known only from fragments rescued from old
bindings; the _Revelation of St. Nicholas to a monk of Evesham_, of
which the two known copies show curious instances of wrong imposition.
There are, besides, three law-books and a school-book, the _Vulgaria
Terencii_. Of the _Horæ ad usum Sarum_ twenty leaves are known, all
printed on vellum. In size it might be called a 16mo, and was made up
in gatherings of eight leaves, each gathering containing two sheets of
vellum. These gatherings were folded in a peculiar way. As an ordinary
rule, when we find a quire of eight leaves formed of two sheets, leaves
1, 2, 7, 8 were printed on one sheet, leaves 3, 4, 5, 6 on the other.
But Machlinia adopted a different plan, and printed leaves 1, 4, 5,
8 on the one sheet, leaves 2, 3, 6, 7 on the other. It is impossible
to say whether there were any cuts in the volume; there are none in
the remaining fragments, but at the beginning of certain portions a
woodcut border was used, which surrounded the whole page. This border
was afterwards used by Pynson. A curious thing to be noticed about the
type in which these books are printed, is its very strong resemblance
to some of the founts of type used about the same period in Spain.
[34] The copy of this book in the University Library, Cambridge,
wanting all signature _c_, but in fine condition, and uncut, has on
the first blank leaf some early writing which refers to the year 1485,
showing probably that the book was not printed after that date.
[Illustration: PAGE OF THE SARUM HORÆ.
(_Printed by Machlinia._)]
In the Holborn type there are a larger number of books, at least
fourteen being known. Of these the best known and most common is the
_Speculum Christiani_, supposed, from the occurrence of the name in a
manuscript copy, to have been compiled by one Watton. It is interesting
as containing specimens of early poetry. Another book was popular
enough to run through three editions; this was the _Treatise on the
Pestilence_, written by Kamitus or Canutus, bishop of Aarhuus. It is
impossible to say when it was printed, or whether some panic connected
with the plague caused a run upon it. One of the editions must have
been almost the last book which Machlinia issued, for it contains the
title-page already referred to. The most important book in this set
in point of size is the _Chronicles of England_, of which only one
perfect copy is known. In the copy in the British Museum occurs a
curious thing. The book is a folio, but two of the leaves are printed
as quarto. In this type are three law-books, _Year-Books_ for years 34
and 37 of Henry VI., and the _Statutes_ of Richard III. There are also
two school-books, the _Vulgaria Terentii_ and an interesting _Donatus_
in folio, whose existence is known only from duplicate copies of one
leaf. The remaining books are theological, and comprise two separate
_Nova Festa_, or services for new feasts; one for the Visitation of
the Virgin, the other for the Transfiguration of our Lord. These
services were almost at once incorporated in the general volume of the
_Breviary_, so that in a separate form they are very uncommon. The last
book to be mentioned is the _Regulæ et ordinationes_ of Innocent VIII.,
which must have been printed some time after 23rd September 1484, when
that pope was elected. Of a later date still is a _Bull_ of the same
pope relating to Henry VII.’s title and marriage. It must have been
printed after 7th November 1485 (the date of Parliament), and after 2nd
March 1485-86 (the date of the _Bull_).
Another book should be mentioned here, which, though it cannot with
certainty be ascribed to any known English printer, resembles most
of all the work of Machlinia. It is an English translation by Kay of
the Latin description of the _Siege of Rhodes_, written by Caorsin; a
small folio of twenty-four leaves. Many of the letters seem the same as
Machlinia’s, but with variations and modifications.
The number of founts of type used in this office throughout its
existence was eleven, and of these two are very peculiar. One of the
larger sets of type seems to have been obtained from Caxton, but it was
hardly used at all. Another set of capital letters, which must have
been obtained from abroad, occur in some of the latest books. They bear
no resemblance to anything used by any other printer, and look rather
as though they belonged to a fount of Roman type.
Though 1486 is the latest date which we can fix to any of Machlinia’s
productions, it is probable that he continued to print up till about
the year 1490.
Soon after the cessation of Machlinia’s press, his business seems to
have been taken on by Richard Pynson, whose first dated book appeared
in 1493. Though it is impossible to prove conclusively that Pynson
succeeded Machlinia in business, many small points seem to show that
this was the case. We find leaves of Machlinia’s books in bindings
undoubtedly produced by Pynson, and he was also in possession of a
border used by Machlinia in his edition of the _Sarum Horæ_. It is
often said that Pynson was an apprentice of Caxton’s; but we have no
evidence of this beyond the words in the prologue to the _Chaucer_,
where Caxton is called ‘my worshipful master’—a title applied sometimes
to Caxton by printers living fifty years after.[35]
[35] Blades, in his _Life of Caxton_, not only says that Pynson was
Caxton’s apprentice, but that he used his mark in some of his books.
This mistake has arisen from a doctored copy of Bonaventure’s _Speculum
vite Christi_ in the British Museum, which has a leaf with Caxton’s
device inserted at the end.
In his patent of naturalisation of 30th July 1513, Pynson is described
as a native of Normandy; and we know that he had business relations
with Le Talleur of Rouen, who printed some law-books for him. These
books, three in number, may be ascribed to about 1490, or to some time
after Machlinia had ceased printing, and before Pynson had begun. It
was probably very soon after 1490 that Pynson set up his printing
establishment at the Temple Bar; for though his first dated book, the
_Dives and Pauper_, is dated the 5th July 1493, there are one or two
other books that can with certainty be placed before it.
A fragment of a grammar, consisting of the last leaf only, among the
Hearne fragments in the Bodleian, is all that remains of one of his
earliest books. It is printed entirely in his first large coarse type,
which bears so much resemblance to some of Machlinia’s; and was used as
waste to line the boards of a book before Passion Week, 1494.
The _Chaucer_, in which two types are used, one for the prose and
another for the verse, is also earlier than the _Dives and Pauper_.
It is illustrated with a number of badly executed woodcuts, cut
specially for the book, of the various pilgrims in the _Canterbury
Tales_. Some of these cuts were altered while the book was passing
through the press, and serve again for different characters. The
Sergeaunt with a little alteration reappears as the Doctor of Physick,
and the Squire is turned into the Manciple.
[Illustration: FROM THE ‘FESTUM NOMINIS JESU.’
PYNSON, C. 1493.]
In 1493 the _Dives and Pauper_ appeared. It is printed in a new type,
copied evidently from a French model, and strongly resembling some
used in Verard’s books. This type superseded the larger type of the
_Chaucer_, which we do not find in use again. To 1493 a number of
small books can be assigned, all printed in the type of the _Dives and
Pauper_, and having twenty-five lines to the page. Amongst them we may
mention the _Festum Nominis Jesu_; an edition of Lydgate’s _Churl and
Bird_; a _Life of St. Margaret_, which is known only from fragments,
and a legal work of which there is one leaf in Lambeth Palace Library.
The method of using signatures, which Pynson adopted in these early
books, affords another small piece of evidence to prove that he learnt
to print at Rouen, and not in England. In the quartos, the first leaf
of the quire is signed A 1, the second has no signature, while the
third is signed A 2. This way of signing (by the sheet instead of by
the leaf), not a very ordinary one, was commonly in use at Rouen; while
Caxton and De Worde signed in the more usual manner, with consecutive
signatures to each leaf for the first half of the quire.
For some unknown reason, Pynson was dissatisfied with the _Dives and
Pauper_ type, for after 1493 it never seems to have been used again.
From this time onwards, till about 1500, the majority of his books were
printed in the small type of the _Chaucer_, or in some newer types of
a more severe and less French appearance. In his earliest books Pynson
used a device consisting of his initials cut in wood, so as to print
white upon a black background. It resembles in many ways that of his
old associate Le Talleur, and may therefore have been cut in Rouen. In
1496 we find him using two new devices, one a large woodcut containing
his mark, and a helmet surmounted by a small bird,[36] which began to
break about 1497, and was soon disused. The other, which is a metal
cut, is in two pieces, a border of men and flowers, and an interior
piece with the mark on a shield and supporters. The border of this
device is a most useful guide in determining the dates of the books
in which it occurs. In the lower part is a ribbon pierced for the
insertion of type. The two ends of the piece below the ribbon were too
thin to be strong, so that the piece gets gradually bent in, the ribbon
becoming narrower and narrower. According to the bend of this piece
the exact year can be ascertained, from 1499, when it began to get
displaced, to 1513, when it broke off altogether.
[36] The bird above the helmet is a finch, no doubt a punning allusion
to Pynson’s name, Pynson being the Norman word for a finch. Very
probably the birds in the large coat of arms are finches also, though
Ames calls them eagles.
Among the books which appeared in 1494, the _Fall of Princis_,
translated by Lydgate from Boccaccio, is the most remarkable. It is
printed throughout in the smaller type of the _Chaucer_, and at the
head of each part is a woodcut of particularly good execution. The
copy of this book in the British Museum, unfortunately imperfect,
was rescued from the counter of a small shop where it was being used
to make little bags or ‘twists’ to hold pennyworths of sweets. Each
leaf has been divided into four pieces. A _Grammar of Sulpitius_ and
a _Book of Good Manners_ were also printed with a date in this year.
In 1495 no dated books were issued, but the _Petronylla_ and _The Art
and Craft to know well to Dye_ must have been issued about this time.
In 1496, Pynson printed a small supplement to the first edition of
the _Hymns and Sequences_ printed at Cologne by Quentell, and in the
following year he issued a complete edition of the book, and an edition
of the _Horæ ad usum Sarum_. In the same year (1497) he printed six of
Terence’s plays, each signed separately so that they could be issued
apart. About this year were issued two interesting folios, _Reynard the
Fox_, and a _Speculum vite Christi_, with illustrations. In 1500 was
issued the _Book of Cookery_, of which the only known copy is in the
library at Longleat, and the splendid _Sarum Missal_, printed at the
expense of Cardinal Morton, and generally known as the Morton Missal.
Of updated books printed about this time we may notice especially,
editions of _Guy of Warwick_, _Maundeville’s Travels_, _Informatio
Puerorum_, a few small school-books, and a number of year-books and
other legal works.
About 1502-3, Pynson changed his residence from outside Temple Bar to
the George in Fleet Street, where he continued to the end of his life.
His career as a printer is curiously different from Wynkyn de Worde’s.
The latter was the popular printer, publishing numbers of slight books
of a kind likely to appeal to the public. Pynson, on the other hand,
was in a more official position as King’s printer, and seems to have
been generally chosen as the publisher of learned books. Wynkyn de
Worde printed ten slight books for every one of a more solid character;
with Pynson the average was about equal.
From 1510 onwards we find frequent entries relating to Pynson in all
the accounts of payments made by Henry VIII., and these show that
he was clearly the royal printer, and in receipt of an annuity. In
September 1509, he issued the _Sermo fratris Hieronymi de Ferraria_,
which contains the first Roman type used in England. In 1513 appeared
the _Sege and Dystruccyon of Troye_, of which there are several copies
known, printed upon vellum.
Pynson’s will is dated 18th November 1529, and was proved on 18th
February 1530. He was succeeded in business by Robert Redman, who had
been for a few years previously his rather unscrupulous rival.
The last few years of the fifteenth century saw a great change in the
development of English printing. Up to the time of Caxton’s death
in 1491, there seems to have been little foreign competition, but
immediately after this date the state of things altered entirely.
Both France and Italy produced books for the English market, and sent
over stationers to dispose of them: Gerard Leeu at Antwerp printed a
number of English books, mostly of a popular character, while Hertzog
in Venice; and a number of printers in Paris, printed service-books of
Sarum use.
By 1493 two stationers were settled in England; one, Frederick Egmondt,
as an agent for Hertzog, the other, Nicholas Lecompte, who sold books
printed in Paris. Though we only know of these two as stationers
through their names appearing in the colophons of books with which
they were connected, there must have been many others of whom we have
no trace. After the Act of 1483, which so strongly encouraged foreign
importations, a very large number of books for the English market were
printed abroad. This was at first occasioned by the small variety
in the number of types and the scarcity of ornamental letters and
woodcuts. In 1487, Caxton commissioned George Maynyal, a Paris printer,
to print an edition of the _Sarum Missal_, and this is the first
foreign printed book for sale in England whose history we know. About
ten years previously, a _Sarum Breviary_ had been printed at Cologne,
and in 1483 another edition at Venice. The first edition of the _Sarum_
_Missal_ was printed about 1486 by Wenssler at Basle. In the fifteenth
century, at least fifty books are known to have been printed abroad
for sale in England. Most of these were service-books, but there were
a few of other classes. Gerard Leeu reprinted three of Caxton’s books,
_The Chronicles_, _The History of Jason_, and the _History of Paris
and the fair Vienne_, and added a fourth popular book to these, which
had not previously appeared in English, the _Dialogues of Salomon and
Marcolphus_. In addition to these, he printed editions of the _Sarum
Directorium Sacerdotum_ and _Horæ_.
Another class of books produced abroad were school-books, and the
earliest of these for English use is an edition of the grammatical
tracts of _Perottus_, printed at Louvain in 1486 by Egidius van der
Heerstraten. In the same year Leeu printed the _Vulgaria_, and very
shortly afterwards editions of the Grammars by Anwykyll and the
_Garlandia_ were issued from Deventer, Antwerp, Cologne, and Paris.
The greater portion, however, of this foreign importation consisted
of service-books, at least forty editions being sent over from abroad
before 1501. From Venice were sent Breviaries and Missals, printed for
the most part by Johannes de Landoia dictus Hertog. As we have said,
the first edition of the _Sarum Breviary_ was printed at Cologne by an
unknown printer, and the first edition of the _Sarum Missal_ at Basle
by Wenssler about 1486. From Paris and Rouen came the greater number
of _Horæ_, and such books as the _Legenda_, _Manuale_, and _Liber
Festivalis_.
It is impossible to enter here with any fulness into the history of the
earliest stationers and the books printed abroad for sale in England.
It is rather foreign to our present subject, but would well repay
careful study.