A Short History of English Printing, 1476-1898 Part 3

CHAPTER III

THOMAS BERTHELET TO JOHN DAY

On the death of Pynson, in 1529, the office of royal printer was conferred upon Thomas Berthelet, who was in business at the sign of the Lucretia Romana in Fleet Street. Herbert gives the first book from his press as an edition of the Statutes, printed in 1529; but there is some evidence that he was at work two or three years, and perhaps more, before this. Among the writings of Robert Copland, the printer-author, was a humorous tract ent.i.tled _The Seuen sorowes that women have when theyr husbandes be dead_ (British Museum, C. 20, c. 42 (5)), which has at the end this curious pa.s.sage:--

'Go lytle quayr, G.o.d gyve the wel to sayle To that good sheppe, ycleped Bertelet.

And from all nacyons, if that it be thy lot Lest thou be hurt, medle not with a Scot.'

This is, without doubt, an allusion to the two London printers, Thomas Berthelet and John Skot; and certain references in the prologue seem to point to the printing of the first edition of the _Seuen Sorowes_, as a year or two earlier than the date given by Herbert.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 15.--Thomas Berthelet's Device.]

There also seems to be conclusive evidence that Berthelet, or, as he was sometimes called, Bartlett, was a native of Wales. He certainly held land in the county of Hereford, and he was succeeded in business by a nephew, Thomas Powell, a Welshman. Berthelet was one of the few English printers of that period whose work is worth looking at. He had a varied a.s.sortment of types, all of them good, and his workmanship was as a rule excellent; and as very few of his books are ill.u.s.trated, we may infer that he was loth to spoil a good book with the rough and often unsightly woodcuts of that time.

Berthelet was also a bookbinder and bookseller, and some of his fine bindings for Henry VIII. and his successors are still to be seen. He was apparently the first English binder to use gold tooling.

Of his official work very little need be said. It consisted in printing all Acts of Parliament, proclamations, injunctions, and other official doc.u.ments. In the second volume of the _Transcript_ (pp. 50-60), Professor Arber has printed three of Berthelet's yearly accounts, in which the t.i.tles of the various doc.u.ments are given, with the number of copies of each that were struck off, and the nature and cost of their bindings.

In the year 1530 the divorce of Queen Katherine and the King's marriage to Anne Boleyn filled the public mind, and in connection with this event he printed, both in Latin and English, a small octavo, with the t.i.tle:

_The determinations of the moste famous and moofte excellent Vniversities of Italy and France that it is so unlefull for a man to marie his brother's wyfe that the Pope hath no power to despense therewith._

Berthelet, in 1531, printed Sir Thomas Elyot's _Boke named the Governour_, an octavo, in a large Gothic type, very bold and clear. This type, however, is seen to much better advantage in the folio edition of Gower's _Confessio Amantis_, which came from this press in 1532. In this instance the t.i.tle-page is striking, the t.i.tle being enclosed within a panel which gives it the appearance of a book cover. The text of the work was printed in double columns of forty-eight lines each.

In 1533 Berthelet appears to have purchased a new fount of this type, with which he printed Erasmus's _De Immensa Dei Misericordia_. If possible this new letter was more beautiful than the other, the lowercase 'h' finishing in a bold outward curve, which was absent in the earlier fount. These founts of Gothic closely resemble some in use in Italy at this time.

To the year 1534 belongs St. Cyprian's _Sermon_ on the mortality of man, translated by Sir Thomas Elyot, as well as a second edition of _The Boke named the Governour_.

Berthelet also brought into use during this year a woodcut border of an architectural character, with the date 1534 cut upon it. It was used only in octavo books, and he continued to use it for some years without erasing the date, a fact that has led to much confusion in the cla.s.sification of his books.

We meet with the large Gothic type again in 1535, in an edition of the _De Proprietatibus Rerum_ of Bartholomaeus Anglicus, which Berthelet printed in that year. But his most notable undertaking during the next few years was the book for regulating and settling nice points of religious belief, which had been compiled by the bishops, and was issued under the King's authority, with the t.i.tle:--

_The Inst.i.tution of a Christian Man conteyninge the Exposition or Interpretation of the commune Crede, of the Seven sacraments, of the X commandments, and of the Pater Noster, and the Ave Maria, Justyfication & Purgatory._

When the book was finished, Latimer, then Bishop of Worcester, suggested to Cromwell that the printing should be given to Thomas Gibson. But Latimer's recommendation was overlooked, and the work was given to Berthelet. It would be interesting to know how many copies of the first edition of this book he printed. It was issued both in quarto and octavo form, the quarto printed in a very beautiful fount of English black letter, modelled on the lines of De Worde's founts. The opening lines of the t.i.tle were, however, printed in Roman of four founts, and the whole page was enclosed within a woodcut border of children.

The octavo editions of this notable book were printed in a smaller fount of black letter, and the t.i.tle-page was enclosed within the 1534 border.

Several editions were issued in 1537, and the book was afterwards revised and reprinted under a new t.i.tle.

At the same time Berthelet was pa.s.sing through the press Sir Thomas Elyot's _Dictionary_, a work of no small labour, if one may judge from the number of founts used in printing it. It was finished and issued in 1538.

Berthelet, who, as befitted a royal printer, plainly took some pains to keep himself clear of all controversies, did not stir in the matter of Bible translation until the 1538 edition by Grafton and Whitchurch was already in the market.

In 1539, however, he published, but did not print, Taverner's edition of the Bible, and in the following year an edition of Cranmer's Bible. That of 1539 came from the press of John Byddell, and that of 1540 was printed for him by Robert Redman and Thomas Pet.i.t.

Among the Patent Rolls for the year 1543 (P. R. 36 Hen. 8. m. 12) is a grant to Berthelet of certain crown lands in London and other parts of the country, in payment of a debt of 220. His office as royal printer ceased upon the accession of Edward VI., and though many books are found with the imprint, 'in aedibus Thomas Berthelet,' down to the time of his death in 1556, he probably took very little active part in business affairs after that time.

Meanwhile Pynson's premises were taken by Robert Redman, who, from about the year 1523, had been living just outside Temple Bar. No new facts have come to light about Redman, and the reasons why he moved into Pynson's house and continued to use his devices are as puzzling as ever.

He began as a printer of law books, and printed little else. In conjunction with Pet.i.t he printed an edition of the Bible for Berthelet, and among his other theological books was _A treatise concernynge the division betwene the Spirytualtie and Temporaltie_, the date of which is fixed by a note in the Letters and Papers of Henry VIII. (vol. vi., p.

215), from which it appears that, in 1553, Redman entered into a bond of 500 marks not to sell this book or any other licensed by the King.

Redman was also the printer of Leonard c.o.xe's _Arte and Crafte of Rhethoryke_, one of the earliest treatises on this subject published in English. It has recently been republished by Professor Carpenter of Chicago, with copious notes.

Redman's work fell very much below that of his predecessor. Much of his type had been in use in Pynson's office for some years, and was badly worn. He had, however, a good fount of Roman, seen in the _De Judiciis et Praecognitionibus_ of Edward Edguardus. The t.i.tle of this book is enclosed in a border, having at the top a dove, and at the bottom the initials J. N.

Redman's will was proved on the 4th November 1540. His widow, Elizabeth, married again, but several books were printed with her name in the interval. His son-in-law, Henry Smith, lived in St. Clement's parish without Temple Bar, and printed law books in the years 1545 and 1546.

Redman's successor at the George was William Middleton, who continued the printing of law books, and brought out a folio edition of Froissart's _Chronicles_, with Pynson's colophon and the date 1525, which has led some to a.s.sume that this edition was printed by Pynson.

Upon Middleton's death in 1547, his widow married William Powell, who thereupon succeeded to the business.

Among those for whom Wynkyn de Worde worked shortly before his death was John Byddell, a stationer living at the sign of 'Our Lady of Pity,' next Fleet Bridge, who for some reason spoke of himself under the name of Salisbury. He used as his device a figure of Virtue, copied from one of those in use by Jacques Sacon, printer at Lyons between 1498 and 1522 (see _Silvestre_, Nos. 548 and 912). The same design, only in a larger form, was also in use in Italy at this time. In the collection of t.i.tle-pages in the British Museum (618, ll. 18, 19) is one enclosed within a border found in books printed at Venice, on which the figure of Virtue occurs. The only difference between it and the mark of Byddell being that the two shields show the lion of St. Mark, and the whole thing is much larger.

Byddell had probably been established as a stationer some years before the appearance of Erasmus's _Enchiridion Militis Christiani_ from the press of De Worde in 1533, with his name in the colophon. Another book printed for him by De Worde, in the same year, was a quarto edition of the _Life of Hyldebrand_. Both these works De Worde reprinted in 1534, in addition to printing for him John Roberts' _A Mustre of scismatyke Bysshoppes_. Byddell was appointed one of the executors to De Worde's will, and very shortly after his death, _i.e._ in 1535, moved to De Worde's premises, the 'Sun,' in Fleet Street.

Most of Byddell's books were of a theological character. He printed a quarto _Horae ad usum Sarum_ in 1535, a small _Primer in English_ in 1536, and a folio edition of Taverner's Bible in 1539 for Thomas Berthelet.

Among the miscellaneous books that came through his press, one or two are especially interesting. In 1538 we find him printing in quarto Lindsay's _Complaynte and Testament of a Popinjay_, a work that had first appeared in Scotland eight years before, and created considerable stir. A quarto edition of William Turner's _Libellus de Re Herbaria_ bears the same date; while among the books of the year 1540 are editions, in octavo, of _Tully's Offices_ and _De Senectute_.

The latest date found in any book of Byddell's printing is 1544, after which Edward Whitchurch is found at the 'Sun,' in Fleet Street, whither he moved after dissolving partnership with Richard Grafton.

The early history of these two men has a powerful interest, not only for students of early English printing, but for all English-speaking people.

To their enterprise and perseverance the nation was indebted for the second English Bible.

Some very interesting and highly valuable evidence respecting the history of these men has been brought to light of recent years, perhaps the most valuable being Mr. J. A. Kingdon's _Incidents in the Lives of Thomas Poyntz and Richard Grafton_, privately printed in 1895.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 16.--Richard Grafton's Device.]

From the affidavit of Emmanuel Demetrius [_i.e._ Van Meteren], discovered in 1884 at the Dutch Church in Austin Friars,[3] it seems clear that in 1535 Edward Whitchurch was working with Jacob van Metern at Antwerp in printing Coverdale's translation of the Bible.

Richard Grafton was the son of Nicholas Grafton of Shrewsbury. The first record we have of him is his apprenticeship to John Blage, a grocer of London, in 1526. He was admitted a freeman of the Company in 1534, and at that time seems to have employed himself chiefly in furthering the project of an English translation of the whole Bible. On the 13th August 1537, Grafton sent to Archbishop Cranmer a copy of the Bible printed abroad. The text was a modification of Coverdale's translation ostensibly by Thomas Mathew, but in reality by John Rogers the editor.

In 1538, Coverdale, Grafton, and Whitchurch were together in Paris, busy upon a third edition of the Bible. In June of that year they sent two specimens of the text to Cromwell, with a letter stating that they followed the Hebrew text with Chaldee or Greek interpretations. The printing was done at the press of Francis Regnault, but before many sheets had been struck off, the University of Paris seized the press and 2000 copies of the printed sheets, while the promoters had to make a hasty escape to this country. The presses and types were afterwards bought by Cromwell, and the work was subsequently finished and published in 1539. The work had an engraved t.i.tle-page, ascribed to Holbein, and the price was fixed at ten shillings per copy unbound, and twelve shillings bound.

Before leaving Paris, Grafton and Whitchurch had issued an edition of Coverdale's translation of the New Testament, giving as their reason that James Nicholson of Southwark had printed a very imperfect version of it.

In 1540 Grafton and Whitchurch printed in 'the house late the graye freers,' _The Prymer both in Englysshe and Latin_, to be sold at the sign of the Bible in St. Paul's Churchyard. In the same year they printed with a prologue by Cranmer, a second edition of the Great Bible, half of which bore the name of Grafton and half of Whitchurch, and in all probability the subsequent editions were published in the same way.

Two very good initial letters were used in the New Testament, and seem to have been cut especially for Whitchurch. On the 28th January 1543-44 Grafton and Whitchurch received an exclusive patent for printing church service books (Rymer, _Fdera_, xiv. 766), and a few years later they are found with an exclusive right for printing primers in Latin and English. Upon the accession of Edward VI. Grafton became the royal printer, but upon the king's death he printed the proclamation of Lady Jane Grey, and was for that reason deprived of his office by Queen Mary.

The remainder of his life he spent in the compilation of English _Chronicles_ in keen rivalry with John Stow.

Richard Grafton died in 1573. He was twice married. By his first wife, Anne, daughter of ---- Crome of Salisbury, he had four sons and one daughter, Joan, who married Richard Tottell, the law printer. By his second wife, Alice, he left one son, Nicholas.

Grafton used as his device a tun with grafted fruit-tree growing through it.

Among the noted booksellers and printers in St. Paul's Churchyard at this time must be mentioned William Bonham. As yet it is not clear whether he belonged to the Ess.e.x family of that name, or to another branch that is found in Kent.

From a series of doc.u.ments discovered at the Record Office relating to John Rastell and his house called the Mermaid in Cheapside, it appears that in the year 1520 William Bonham was working in London as a bookseller, and on two different occasions was a sub-tenant of Rastell's at the Mermaid. Yet not a single dated book with his name is found before 1542, at which time he was living at the sign of the Red Lion in St. Paul's Churchyard, and issued a folio edition of Fabyan's _Chronicles_, besides having a share with his neighbour, Robert Toye, in a folio edition of Chaucer. Even at this time William Bonham held some sort of office in the Guild or Society of Stationers, for from a curious letter written by Abbot Stevenage to Cromwell in 1539, about a certain book printed in St. Albans Abbey, he says he has sent the printer to London with Harry Pepwell, Toy, and 'b.o.n.e.re' (_Letters and Papers_, H.