Richard Grafton, 1537-72, who was a scholar and an author, is one of the
best known of the sixteenth century printers, and, although he issued a
large number of books, confined himself to a single Mark, which was a
rebus or pun upon his name. Grafton was for several years in partnership
with Edward Whitchurche, and also with John Butler. The most important
works accomplished by the two first named were the first issue of the
Great or Cromwell’s Bible, 1539, and Coverdale’s version of the New
Testament, 1538-9, in Latin and English; the latter being partly printed
in Paris by Regnault, and completed in London: as nearly the entire
impression was burnt by order of the Inquisition, it is of great rarity
and value. Grafton, who was printer to Edward VI. both before and after
his accession to the throne, issued a magnificent edition of Halle’s
“Chronicle,” 1548, and an “Abridgement of the Chronicles” by himself in
1562, which in ten years reached a fourth edition. Grafton found
printing a much more hazardous calling than the grocery business to
which he had been brought up, for he was constantly in difficulties,
which on one occasion nearly cost him his life. The idea which found
expression in Grafton’s Mark naturally suggested itself to William
Middleton, or Myddleton, 1525-47, who succeeded to the business of
Robert Redman, and issued books from the sign of the “George next to St.
Dunstan’s Church in Fleet Street.” He had two devices, of which we give
the larger and more important: in the smaller the shield is supported on
either side by an angel. About forty of William Middleton’s books have
been described, one of the most notable being John Heywood’s “Four P’s,
a very merry Enterlude of a Palmer, a Pardoner, a Poticary, and a
Pedler.” Reginald or Reynold Wolfe, 1542-73, was the King’s Printer and
a learned antiquary. Wolfe was probably of foreign extraction, for there
were several early sixteenth century printers of the same surname in
France, Germany, and Switzerland. His printing-office was in St. Paul’s
Churchyard, at the sign of the Brazen Serpent, which emblem he used as a
device, a subject which, as we have already seen, was frequently
employed for a similar purpose abroad. Wolfe’s other device, of which
there are two sizes, consisted of an elegant cartouche German shield, on
which is represented a fruit-tree and two boys, one of whom is drawing
down the fruit with a stick, whilst the other is taking it up off the
ground. Over sixty books have been catalogued as the work of Reginald
Wolfe. John Wolfe, originally a fishmonger, started printing about 1560,
and from that year until 1601 we have an almost continuous stream of his
books, on a very great variety of subjects. Like several others of the
early printers, he was in constant warfare with the authorities, whose
rules and restrictions of the press were a source of ever-recurring
annoyances. He appears to have had as much difficulty in managing his
“authors” as with the Stationers’ Company, for he is referred to more
than once in very uncomplimentary terms in the Martin Marprelate tracts
of the period. The Mark here reproduced from Berjeau represents a
fleur-de-lys seedling supported by two savages, with the motto “Ubique
Floret.” John Day, 1546-84, is undoubtedly one of the best known and
most prolific of the sixteenth century printers, nearly 300 books having
him as their foster-father. He appears to have started in business at
the sign of the Resurrection, a little above Holborn Conduit, but
removed in or about 1549 to Aldersgate Street; he had several shops in
various parts of the town, where his literary wares might be disposed
of, and he is remarkable in being the first English printer who used
Saxon characters, whilst he brought those of the Greek and Italic to
perfection. It is not possible to give in this place even a brief
summary of Day’s career, and it must suffice us to mention that
Archbishop Parker was among his patrons, and that the more important
books which appeared from his press included Fox’s “Acts and Monuments,”
1563, and the “Psalmes in Metre with Music,” 1571 (for the printing of
which he received a patent dated June 2, 1568). His best known device,
of which we give an example, has a double meaning; first it is a pun on
his name, and secondly an allusion to the dawn of the Protestant
religion. He used another Mark, which is a large upright parallelogram,
within the lines of which is a very elegant Greek sarcophagus bearing a
skeleton lying on a mat. At the head of the corpse are two figures
standing and looking down at it, of which the outer one is in the dress
of a rich citizen, having his left hand on his sword, and the other, who
is pointing to the body, is dressed like a doctor or a schoolmaster:
from his mouth issues a scroll rising upwards in eight folds, on four of
which are engraven in small Roman capitals, “Etsi Mors in dies
accelerat,” and the remainder of the sentence, “Post Fvnera virtus vivet
tamen,” appears in similar letters on another scroll, which is elegantly
twined round the branches of a holly placed behind the sepulchre, to
indicate by a tree that blooms at Christmas the evergreen nature of
virtue; the sarcophagus, figures, and tree stand by the side of a river,
with some distant vessels, on the left hand of which are rocky shores,
with cities, etc., and in the upper corner of the left is the sun
breaking out of the clouds; the initials I D appear on the lower left
hand. This Mark is exceedingly rare; it occurs on the last leaf of
J. Norton’s translation of the Latin “Catechism,” 1570, and also at the
end of Churton’s “Cosmographical Glass.” There are several variations of
the Mark which we reproduce on p. 79. William Seres, who was for some
time anterior to 1550 in partnership with Day (and at other times with
Anthony Scoloker, Richard Kele, and William Hill), printed over 100
books, in many of which his monogram serves the purpose of a Mark.
[Illustration: RICHARD GRAFTON.
SVSCIPITE INSITVM VERBVM IACO I
RG]
[Illustration: WILLIAM MIDDLETON.
W
WYLLYAM MYDDYLTON]
[Illustration: JOHN WOLFE.