THE SPREAD OF THE ART IN GREAT BRITAIN.
The introduction of printing into Scotland did not take place till
1508, in which year a printer named Andrew Myllar set up his press in
the Southgait at Edinburgh. At this time the countries of Scotland and
France were in close business communications, and many Scotsmen sought
employment on the Continent. In 1496 a certain David Lauxius, a native
of Edinburgh, was in the employment of Hopyl, the Paris printer, as a
press corrector, an employment often undertaken by men of learning.
Lauxius afterwards became a schoolmaster at Arras, and is several
times spoken of by Badius Ascensius in the prefatory letters which he
prefixed to his grammars. Such books as were needed were sent over to
Scotland from France, and the probable cause of the introduction of
printing into the former country was the desire of William Elphinstone,
Bishop of Aberdeen, to have his adaptation of the _Sarum Breviary_ for
the use of Aberdeen produced under his own personal supervision. Two
men were readily found to undertake the work; one, Walter Chepman,
a wealthy merchant, who supplied the necessary capital; the other,
Andrew Myllar, a bookseller, who had several times employed foreign
presses to print books for him, and had himself been abroad on business
expeditions.
The books which had been printed for Myllar were, _Multorum vocabulorum
equivocorum interpretatio magistri Johannis de Garlandia_, in 1505,
and _Expositio sequentiarum secundum usum Sarum_, in 1506; both being
without a printer’s name, but most probably from the press of P.
Violette of Rouen.[37]
[37] Dr. Dickson, relying on the authority of M. Claudin, has ascribed
these books to the press of Lawrence Hostingue of Rouen. From the
facsimiles which he gives it is clear that the types are not identical.
The books should rather be ascribed to Pierre Violette, who used, as
far as can be seen, the same type; and who also used in his _Expositio
Hymnorum et Sequentiarum ad usum Sarum_, printed in 1507, the woodcut
of a man seated at a reading desk, which is found on the title-page of
Myllar’s _Garlandia_.
As was to be expected, Myllar obtained his type from France, and
probably from Rouen, but it bears no resemblance to that used in the
books printed for him. Among the Rouen types it is most like that used
by Le Talleur, but the resemblance is not very close. The capital
letters seem identical with those used by De Marnef, at Paris, in his
_Nef des folz_, and are also very like those of the Lyons printer,
Claude Daygne.
Supplied with these types, Myllar returned to Edinburgh, and in the
spring of 1508 issued a series of nine poetical pamphlets, the only
known copies being now preserved in the Advocates’ Library, Edinburgh.
These were all issued within a few days of each other, and neither
the type nor the woodcuts show any indication of wear or blemishes
which might enable some order to be assigned to them. These books, like
Pynson’s early-quartos, are signed by the sheet, an indication that the
printer learnt his art at Rouen.
In 1510 the _Breviary_ was issued, and, were it not for the colophon,
would pass as the production of a Norman press, It is in two volumes;
the Pars Hiemalis, containing 400 leaves, the Pars Estivalis, 378. Only
four copies are known, all imperfect. With the production of this book
the Edinburgh press stopped for some while.
There is no doubt much yet to be learnt about the history of the first
Scottish press, especially in its relations to those of Normandy, and
there seems no reason why in time it should not become quite clear. Not
only are the original books in existence, but also the acts relating to
them. One other book must be noticed as having been printed in Scotland
before 1530. This is the _De compassione Beate Virginis Marie_, a
‘novum festum’ issued for incorporation into the _Breviary_, and
printed at Edinburgh, by John Story, about 1520. Of this little tract
but one copy remains, which is bound up in the copy of the _Aberdeen
Breviary_ belonging to Lord Strathmore at Glamis. It consists of a
single sheet of eight leaves, and, according to Dr. Dickson, is not
printed in the same type as the _Breviary_.
From this time onward till Davidson began to print, it seems as though
Scotland had no practised typographer. Hector Boece, John Vaus, and
others, were obliged to send their books to be printed at a foreign
press; Vaus indeed went over to Paris to superintend the printing of
his Grammar by Badius, who was at that time the printer most favoured
by Scottish authors.
* * * * *
No book was actually printed at York till 1509, but for many years
before that date there had been stationers in the city who imported
foreign books for sale. Frederick Frees, who was enrolled as a free-man
in 1497, is spoken of as a book printer, but no specimen of his work
exists. His brother Gerard, who assumed the surname of Wanseford,
imported in 1507 an edition of the _Sarum Hymns and Sequences_, printed
for him at Rouen by P. Violette. Of this book only two copies are
known. Shortly after Gerard Wanseford’s death, an action was brought
against his executor, Ralph Pulleyn, by Frederick Frees, the brother,
about the stock of books which had been left, and which consisted
mostly of service-books, bound and unbound, with some _alphabeta_ and
others in Latin and English.
In 1509 a certain Hugo Goes printed an edition of the _Directorium
Sacerdotum_, the first dated book printed at York. Two copies are
known, one in the Chapter Library at York, and the other in the library
of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. Davies[38] incorrectly states
that both copies are imperfect, and want the leaf upon which the
colophon was printed; but it is certainly in the Cambridge copy, for
this wants only the last leaf, which would either be blank or with
a printer’s mark. The book is for the most part printed in the type
which W. de Worde used at Westminster just before 1500. Goes printed
also editions of the _Donatus_ and _Accidence_, but no copies are now
known, though in 1667 copies were in possession of a Mr. Hildyard, a
York historian. Bagford, among his notes on printing [Harl. MS. 5974,
95], mentions a _Donatus cum Remigio_, ‘impressus Londiniis juxta
Charing Cross per me Hugonem Goes and Henery Watson’—with the printer’s
device H. G. This book also is unknown, but may perhaps be the Grammar
mentioned by Ames as being among Lord Oxford’s books. If the copy of
the colophon is correct, it shows that Goes was at some time printing
in London. He is said to have also printed at Beverley.
[38] Davies’ _Memoir of the York Press_, 1868, 8vo, pp. 16-18.
In 1516, ‘Ursyn Milner, prynter,’ was admitted to the freedom of the
city. He was born in 1481, and by 1511 was living in York, when he gave
evidence in the suit between Ralph Pulleyn and Frederick Frees. He
printed only two books, a _Festum visitationis Beate Marie Virginis_,
and a _Grammar_ of Whittington’s.
The _Festum_ was issued doubtless between 1513 and 1515, for in 1513
the Convocation of York ordered the feast of the Visitation of the
Blessed Virgin Mary to be kept as a ‘Festum principale.’ It is quoted
by Ames, p. 468, and has the following colophon: ‘Feliciter finiunt
(?) festum visitationis beate Marie virginis secundum usum ebor.
Noviter impressum per Ursyn Milner commorantem in cimiterio Minsterii
Sancti Petri.’ It is in 8vo, and a copy formerly belonged to Thomas
Rawlinson.
The second book, the _Grammar_, is a quarto of twenty-four leaves, made
up in quires of eight and four leaves alternately, a peculiar system
of quiring much affected by Wynkyn de Worde. Below the title is a cut
of a schoolmaster with three pupils, which was used by Wynkyn de Worde
in 1499, and which he in turn had obtained from Govaert van Ghemen
about 1490. (The cut was first used in the _Opusculum Grammaticale_,
Gouda, 13th November 1486.) Below the colophon, which tells us that the
book was printed in ‘blake-strete’ on the 20th December 1516, is the
printer’s device, consisting of a shield hanging on a tree supported by
a bear and an ass, the bear being an allusion to his name Ursyn. On the
shield are a sun and a windmill, the latter referring to his surname
Milner. Below this device is an oblong cut containing his name in full
on a ribbon, his trade-mark being in the centre.
The connexion between the early York stationers and Wynkyn de Worde is
very striking, and has yet to be explained. Gerard Wanseford in his
will, dated 1510, leaves forty shillings to Wynkyn de Worde, which he
(the testator) owed him. The next stationer and printer, Hugo Goes,
was in possession of some of De Worde’s type; and Milner, the last of
the early York printers, used one of his cuts, and copies his peculiar
habit of quiring. Perhaps the type and cuts were originally bought by
Wanseford and obtained successively by the others; at any rate, both
the type and cut were out of W. de Worde’s hands at an early date.
The most important of the York stationers remains still to be noticed,
though he was unfortunately only a stationer and not a printer. John
Gachet appears at York in 1517, and in the same year is mentioned as a
stationer at Hereford. He was in business in the former town at least
as late as 1533, when the last book printed at his expense was issued.
* * * * *
Printing was introduced into Cambridge in 1521, when John Lair de
Siberch, perhaps at the instigation of Richard Croke, who from 1522 was
professor of Greek and public orator, set up his press at the sign of
the Arma Regia. In 1521 he printed six books, and of these the _Oratio
Henrici Bulloci_ is the first. The five other books follow in the
following order: _Augustini Sermo_, _Luciani_ περἰ ὁιψἀὁων, _Balduini
sermo de altaris sacramento_, _Erasmus de conscribendis epistolis_,
and _Galeni de Temperamentis_. In the next year Siberch printed only
two books, _Joannis Roffensis episcopi contio_, and _Papyrii Gemini
Eleatis Hermathena_. It is needless to describe these books more fully
here, for an extremely good and full bibliography of them was compiled
by Bradshaw, and published as an introduction to one of the Cambridge
facsimiles in 1886.[39]
[39] _Doctissimi viri Henrici Bulloci Oratio_ ... reproduced in
facsimile ... with a bibliographical introduction by the late Henry
Bradshaw, M.A. Cambridge, 1886. 4to.
Since the publication of this bibliography, the existence of another
book from the first Cambridge press has been discovered. In 1889, among
some other fragments forming the covers of a book in Westminster Abbey
Library, were found part of the first sheet of the Cambridge _Papyrius
Geminus_, and two leaves of a grammar in the same type, in quarto, with
twenty-six lines to the page besides headlines. These turned out to be
part of the small grammar, _De octo orationis partium constructione_,
written for use in Paul’s School. It was written by Lily and amended by
Erasmus, and finally issued anonymously. After the printing of these
nine books Siberch is lost sight of; but that he was still alive in
1525 we know from a letter of Erasmus, who, writing on Christmas Day to
Dr. Robert Aldrich of King’s College, sends greetings, among others,
to ‘Gerardum, Nicolaum et Joannem Siburgum bibliopolas.’ Amongst the
fragments taken from the binding spoken of above, was a letter to
Siberch from the well-known Antwerp and London bookseller, Peter Kaetz,
relating to the purchase of books, but it has unfortunately no date,
though certainly earlier than 1524.
Two books were printed at Tavistock in the first half of the sixteenth
century; and as the monks possessed a printing press of their own, it
is quite probable that other books were issued which have now entirely
perished. The first book is an English metrical translation of the _De
Consolatione Philosophiæ_ of Boethius made by Thomas Waltwnem. It has
the following colophon: ‘Emprented in the exempt monastery of Tavestock
in Denshyre. By me Dan Thomas Rychard, monke of the sayd monastery.
To the instant desyre of the ryght worshypful esquyer Mayster Robert
Langdon, anno d. MDXXV.’ Several copies of this book are known.
Of the other book but one copy is known, now in the library of Exeter
College, Oxford. It is a small quarto of twenty-six leaves, with thirty
or thirty-one lines to the page, The tithe runs, ‘Here foloyth the
confirmation of the Charter perteynynge to all the tynners wythyn the
countey of Devonshyre, wyth there statutes also made at Crockeryntorre
by the hole assent and consent of al the sayd tynners yn the yere
of the reygne of our souerayne Lord Kynge Henry ye VIII. the-secund
yere.’ The book ends on the reverse of signature d 3, ‘Here endyth the
statutes of the stannary. Imprented yn Tavystoke ye xx day of August
the yere of the reygne off our soveryne Lord Kynge Henry ye VIII. the
xxvi yere.’
At Abingdon a book was printed in 1528 by John Scolar, who had beer
printing at Oxford about ten years previously. It is the _Breviary_
for the use of Abingdon, and the only known copy is in the library of
Emmanuel College, Cambridge. The colophon runs: ‘Istud portiforium fuit
impressum per Joannem Scholarem in monasterio beate marie virginis
Abendonensi. Anno incarnationis dominice Millesimo quingentesimo
vicesimo octavo. Et Thome Rowlonde abbatis septimo decimo.’
Two other towns must be mentioned, which, though not possessing
resident printers, had stationers who published books printed for them.
In 1505 the Hereford _Breviary_ was issued under the superintendence
of Inghelbert Haghe, and under the patronage of the ‘Illustrissime
viraginis,’ Margaret, Countess of Richmond and Derby. It has the
following colophon: ‘Impressum est hoc breviarium secundum eiusdem
diocesis usum in clarissimo rathomagensi emporio: impensis et cura
Inghelberti Haghe dicte comitis bibliopole ac dedititii. Anno salutis
christi Millesimo quingentesimo quinto. II. non. augusti.’ Of this book
only three copies are known. One, textually perfect, and containing
both parts, is in Worcester Cathedral Library. The Bodleian has a Pars
Estivalis, slightly imperfect, and another copy is in private hands.
We can trace this bookseller to a later date, for his name occurs in a
note written on a fragment in the Bodleian, which formed at one time
the lining of a binding, ‘Dedi bibliopole herfordensi Ingleberto
nuncupato pro isto et sex reliquis libris biblie xliii^s iiij^d quos
emi ludlowie anno domini incarnationis millesimo quingentesimo decimo
circiter die nundinarum lichefeldensium.’
The other town is Exeter, where, about 1510, a stationer named Martin
Coeffin was living. Two books were printed for him, both of which were
without date. One of these was the _Vocabula magistri Stanbrigi, primum
jam edita, sua saltem editione_, printed, so Ames tells us, by Lawrence
Hostingue and Jamet Loys at Rouen. He adds further, that the ‘piece’
had five leaves, which we may take to be impossible; it must have had
six leaves, of which the last was blank, or had a printer’s device
upon it. The second book was a _Catho cum commento_, printed at Rouen
by Richard Goupil, ‘juxta conventum sancti Augustini ad intersignum
regulæ auræ commorantis.’ On the subject of this book Ames is no more
explicit; he tells us it was printed at the expense of Martin Coeffin
at Exeter, beyond that he has nothing to say. The two pieces are quoted
by him in his _General History of Printing_ between the Years 1510 and
1517, and the date which he thus assigns is probably fairly correct,
for Frère quotes Goupil under the year 1510, and Hostingue under
1505-10.