A Short History of English Printing, 1476-1898 Part 6

Holder, Robert.

Holyland, James.

Huke, Gyles.

Ireland, Roger.

Jaques, John.

Judson, John.

Jugge, Richard.

Kele, John.

Keball, John.

Kevall, junior, Richard.

Kevall, Stephen.

Kyng, John.

Lant, Richard.

Lobel, Michael.

Marten, Will.

Marsh, Thos.

Markall, Thomas.

Norton, Henry.

Norton, William.

Paget, Richard.

Parker, Thomas.

Pattinson, Thomas.

Pickering, William.

Powell, Humphrey.

Powell, Thomas.

Powell, William.

Purfoot, Thomas.

Radborne, Robert.

Richardson, Richard.

Rogers, John.

Rogers, Owen.

Ryddall, Will.

Sawyer, Thomas.

Seres, William.

Shereman, John.

Sherewe, Thomas.

Smyth, Anthony.

Spylman, Simon.

Steward, William.

Sutton, Edward.

Sutton, Henry.

Taverner, Nicholas.

Tottle, Richard.

Turke, John.

Tyer, Randolph.

Tysdale, John.

Walley, Charles.

Walley, John.

Wallys, Richard.

Way, Richard.

Whitney, John.

Wolfe, Reginald.

Amongst the men whose names were not included in the charter were:--

Baker, John, made free 24th Oct. 1555.

Caley, Robert.

Chandeler, Giles, made free 24 Oct. 1555.

Charlewood, John.

Hacket, Thomas.

Singleton, Hugh.

Wayland, John Wyer, Robert.

CHAPTER V

JOHN DAY'S CONTEMPORARIES

Most notable of all the men who lived and worked with Day, was Reginald or Reyner Wolfe, of the Brazen Serpent in St. Paul's Churchyard. Much as we have to regret the scantiness of all material for a study of the lives of the early English printers, it is doubly felt in the case of Reginald Wolfe. The little that is made known to us is just sufficient to whet the appet.i.te and kindle the curiosity. It reveals to us an active business man, evidently with large capital behind him, setting up as a bookseller, under the shadow of the great Cathedral, and rapidly becoming known to the learned and the rich. We see him pa.s.sing backwards and forwards between this country and the book-fair at Frankfort, executing commissions for great n.o.bles, and at the same time acting as the King's courier. Later on we find him adding the trade of printer to that of bookseller, and I have very little doubt that it was partly to the advice and influence of Reginald Wolfe that we owe the improvement that took place in John Day's printing after his return from abroad. As a printer he stands beside Day in the excellence of his workmanship, and he was the first in England who possessed any large stock of Greek type.

Reyner Wolfe was a native of Dretunhe(?), in Gelderland, as shown by the letters of denization which he took out on the 2nd January 1533-4.

(State Papers, Hen. 8. vol. 6. No. 105.) He had been established in Saint Paul's Churchyard some years before this, however, as in a letter from Thomas Tebold to the Earl of Wiltshire, dated the 4th April 1530, he says he has arrived at Frankfort, and hopes to hear from his lordship through 'Reygnard Wolf, bookseller, of St. Pauls Churchyard, London, who will be here in two days.'

Again, in 1539, in the same series of _Letters and Papers_ (vol. xiv.

pt. 2. No. 781), is an entry of the payment of 100s. to 'Rayner Wolf'

for conveying the King's letters to Christopher Mounte, his Grace's agent in 'High Almayne'. But it was not until 1542 that he began to print. The British Museum fortunately possesses copies of all his early works as a printer, which began with several of the writings of John Leland the antiquary. The first was _Naeniae in mortem T. Viati, Equitis incomparabilis, Joanne Lelando, antiquario, auth.o.r.e_, a quarto, printed in a well-cut fount of Roman. This was followed in the same year by _Genethliacon_, a work specially written by Leland for Prince Edward, with a dedication to Prince Henry, the first part being printed in Italic and the second in Roman type. On the verso of the last leaf is the printer's very beautiful device of children throwing at an apple-tree, certainly one of the most artistic devices in use amongst the printers of that time.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 22.--Wolfe's Device.]

To this work succeeded, in 1543, the _Homilies_ of Saint Chrysostom, of which John Cheke, Professor in Greek at Cambridge University, was editor. The whole of the first part of the work, with the exception of the dedication, was in Greek letter, making thirty lines to the quarto page. The second part, which had a separate t.i.tle-page, was printed with the Italic, and the supplementary parts with the Roman types. Some very fine pictorial initial letters were used throughout the work, and the larger form of the apple-tree device occurs on the last leaf, with a Greek and Latin motto.

A very rare specimen of Wolfe's work in 1543 is Robert Recorde's _The groud of artes teachyng the worke and practise of Arithmetike moch necessary for all states of men_, a small octavo printed in black letter, but of no particular merit. In the same type and form he issued in the following year a tract ent.i.tled _The late expedicion in Scotlande_, etc. Chrysostom's _De Providentia Dei_ and _Laudatio Pacis_ were printed in the Roman and Italic founts during 1545 and 1546, and are the only record we have left of Wolfe's work as a printer during those years. In 1547 he was appointed the king's printer in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and was granted an annuity of twenty-six shillings and eightpence during his life (Pat. Rol. 19 April 1547).

In 1553 trouble arose between Wolfe and Day as to their respective rights of printing Edward the Sixth's catechism. The matter was settled by Wolfe having the privilege for printing the Latin version, and Day that in English, but neither party reaped much benefit, as upon the king's death the book was called in, having only been in circulation a few months. During Mary's reign the only important work that seems to have come from Wolfe's press was Recorde's _Castle of Knowledge_, a folio, with an elaborately designed t.i.tle-page, and a dedication to Cardinal Pole. In 1560 Wolfe became Master of the Company of Stationers, a position to which he was elected on three subsequent occasions, in 1564, 1567, and 1572. His patents were renewed to him under Elizabeth, and he came in for his share of the patronage of Matthew Parker, whose edition of Jewel's _Apologia_ he printed in quarto form in 1562. In 1563 appeared from his press the _Commonplaces of Scripture_, by Wolfgang Musculus, a folio, chiefly notable for a very fine pictorial initial 'I,' measuring nearly 3-1/2 inches square, and representing the Creation, which had obviously formed part of the opening chapter of Genesis in some early edition of the Bible. It was certainly used again in the 1577 edition of Holinshed's _Chronicle_.

Almost his last work was Matthew Paris's _Historia Major_, edited by Matthew Parker, a handsome folio with an engraved t.i.tle-page, several good pictorial initials, and his large device of the apple-tree, printed in 1571. Without doubt the printer was greatly interested in this work.