Printers' Marks Part 3

R F Richard Fakes]

Notwithstanding the similarity in their surnames it is not at all certain that Richard Fawkes (1509-1530), who also appears as Faukes, Fakes, and Faques, was related to the last-mentioned printer. His books are now of excessive rarity. The unicorn (regardant on either side of the device) appears for the first time in an English mark. Henry Pepwell (1505-1539), of the Holy Trinity in St. Paul's Churchyard, was a bookseller rather than a printer, and all his earlier books were printed in Paris; his Mark, in which occurs the heraldic device representing the Trinity, was suggested by the sign of his shop. The most important example of the thirty books which issued from the little-known press of Peter Treveris, who was apparently putting forth books from 1514 to 1535, is "The Grete herball whiche geveth parfyt knowlege and und[er]standing of all maner of herbes," etc., 1526, a finely printed folio ("at the signe of the Wodows"), of which a second edition appeared in 1529. The earlier edition contains, on the recto of the sixth leaf, a full-page woodcut of the human skeleton, with anatomical explanations, whilst the last leaf contains a full-page woodcut of the printer's Mark, with the imprint at the foot. Herbert supposes that the sign of the "Wodows," mentioned by Treveris in the colophon, might possibly be put for wode hommes or wild men, and alludes to the supporters used in the device. Treveris printed for several booksellers, notably John Reyves, of St. Paul's Churchyard, and for Lawrence Andrewe, of Fleet Street. In this printer's Mark, and in fact nearly every other sixteenth century example, there is a very evident French influence, whilst many of the examples are the most transparent imitations of Marks used by foreign printers. Of the three used by John Scott or Skot, who was printing books from about 1521 to 1537, two were mere copies of the Marks used by Denis Roce of Paris. We give an ill.u.s.tration of one example; the second is of the same design, but with a very rich stellated background, and the motto, "A l'aventure, tout vient a point qui peut attendre." His own device was an exceedingly simple long strip, with the letters Iohn Skot in antique Roman characters. An example of the last mark will be found in "The Golden Letanye in Englysshe," printed by Skot in "Fauster Land, in Saynt Leonardes parysshe"; but examples of this press are excessively rare, only one, "Thystory of Jacob and his XII Sones," fourteen leaves, in verse, and printed about 1525, being in the British Museum, and another tract, "The Rosary," 1537, being in the Althorp Library now transferred to Manchester.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PETER TREVERIS.

P T PETRVS TREVERIS]

[Ill.u.s.tration: JOHN SCOTT.

I S IOHN SCOTT]

[Ill.u.s.tration: ROBERT COPLAND.

-- Melius est nomen bonum q[uam] diuitie mnlte. Prou. xxu.

R ROBERT COPLAND]

Robert Copland, who was a beneficiaire and pupil of Wynkyn de Worde, was a translator as well as a printer and stationer, and his shop was at the sign of the Rose Garland in Fleet Street. Although he carried on business from 1515 to about 1548, only a few of his books are now known, none of which appear to be in the British Museum. The majority were purely ephemeral. The most interesting phase of this printer's career occurs in connection with one or two books printed by Wynkyn de Worde, notably "The a.s.sembly of Foules," 1530, at the end of which is "Lenvoy of Robert Copland boke prynter," one of the three verses running thus:

"Layde upon shelfe, in leues all torne With Letters, dymme, almost defaced cleane Thy hyllynge rote, with wormes all to worne Thou lay, that pyte it was to sene Bounde with olde quayres, for ages all hoorse and grene Thy mater endormed, for lacke of thy presence But nowe arte losed, go shewe forth thy sentence."

The three Marks of Copland make allusion to the roses which appeared as a sign to his shop. The most elaborate design is an upright parallelogram within which appears a flourishing tree springing out of the earth, and supporting a shield suspended from its branches by a belt and surrounded by a wreath of roses; on the left-hand side is a hind regardant collared with a ducal coronet standing as a supporter, and on the right is a hart in a similar position and with the same decorations; there are four scrolls surrounding the centre-piece, on the top one is "Melius est," on the right-hand one "nomen bonum," on the bottom one "q diuitie," and on the left-hand one "multe. Prou. xxii," _i.e._ "A good name is better than much riches." The second device, of which we also give an example, is self-explanatory, and is perhaps the more original. It has also an additional interest from the fact that it was used by William Copland, 1549-1561, who was probably a son of Robert, and who simply altered the mark to the extent of subst.i.tuting his own Christian name for that of Robert in the scroll at the bottom of the device. Over sixty books by this printer are described by bibliographers, and many of them are in the British Museum. Robert Wyer, whose shop was at the sign of St. John the Evangelist, in St. Martin's parish, in the rents of the Bishop of Norwich, near Charing Cross, was another printer whose works were more remarkable for their number than for their typographic excellence. His earliest dated work is the "Expositiones Terminarum Legum Anglorum," 1527, and his latest "A Dyalogue Defensyue for Women," 1542, but as to nearly sixty others of his works no date is attached, he may have commenced earlier than the first date and continued after the second. The marks of Wyer consisted of two or three representations of St. John the Divine writing, attended by an eagle holding the inkhorn; he is seated on a rock in the middle of the sea intended to represent the Isle of Patmos. Laurens, or Lawrence, Andrewe, by Ames stated to be a native of Calais, printed a few books during the third decade of the sixteenth century, and resided near the eastern end of Fleet Street at the sign of the Golden Cross. His Mark consisted of a shield which is contained within a very rudely cut parallelogram; the escutcheon is supported by a wreath beneath an ornamental arch, and between two curved pillars designed in the early Italian style, with a background formed of coa.r.s.e horizontal lines.

Three of his books are in the British Museum. The Museum possesses only one book with the imprint of Andrew Hester, who was a bookseller of the "White Horse," St. Paul's Church Yard, and this is an edition of Coverdale's Bible, "newly oversene and correcte," which appears to have been printed for him by Froschover, of Zurich, 1550. Among English Marks of the period, Hester's possesses the merit of being original.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ROBERT COPLAND.

R C Robert Coplande.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: ROBERT WYER.

ROBERT WYER]

[Ill.u.s.tration: ANDREW HESTER.

S E AH R]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THOMAS BERTHELET.

LVCRECIA ROMANA THOMAS BERTHELETVS]

One of the most prolific of the printers of the first half of the sixteenth century was Thomas Berthelet, who succeeded Pynson in the office of King's Printer, at a salary of 4 yearly, and who (or his immediate successors, for he died at the end of 1555) issued books from 1528 to 1568, of which nearly 150 are known to bibliographers, sixty being in the British Museum. His shop was at the sign of the "Lucretia Romana," a charming engraving--the most carefully executed of its kind used in this country up to that time--of which, with his own name on a scroll, he used as a Mark. Several of his books were printed in Paris.

He issued a large number of works in cla.s.sical literature, and among the more notable of his publications were Chaloner's translation of Erasmus's "Praise of Folly," 1549, Gower's "De Confessione Amantis," and the "Inst.i.tution of a Christen Man," with a woodcut border to the t.i.tle by Holbein. John Byddell, otherwise Salisbury, 1533-44, was another printer whose Mark was derived from the sign of the shop in which he carried on business, namely, "Our Lady of Pity," next Fleet Bridge, but he afterwards removed to the Sun near the Conduit, which was probably the old residence of Wynkyn de Worde, for whom he was an executor. The Lady of Pity is personified as an angel with outstretched wings, holding two elegant horns or torches, the left of which is pouring out a kind of stream terminating in drops, and is marked on the side with the word "Gratia"; that on the right contains fire and is lettered "Charitas": the lower ends of these horns are rested by the angel upon two rude heater shields, on the left of which is inscribed "Johan Byddell, Printer," and on the other is a mark which includes the printer's initials; round the head of the figure are the words, "Virtus beatos efficit." This is merely a copy of one of the Marks used by J. Sacon, a Lyonese printer, 1498-1522. Byddell's books were distinctly in keeping with the seriousness of his sign, and among others we find such t.i.tles as "News out of h.e.l.l," 1536, "Olde G.o.d and the Newe," 1534, "Common Places of Scripture," 1538, etc., besides two "Primers." Thomas Vautrollier, who printed books at Edinburgh and London from about 1566 to 1605, had four Marks, in all of which an anchor is suspended from the clouds, and two leafy boughs twined, with the motto "Anchora Spei," and with a framework which is identical with that of Guarinus, of Basle.

Vautrollier was a native of France; nearly all his books were in Latin.

In 1584 he printed an edition of Giordano Bruno's "s.p.a.ccio de la Bestia Trionfante," with a dedication to Sir Philip Sidney, and for which he had to flee the country, for the imprint, "Stampato in Parigi," was an obvious and unsuccessful attempt to hoodwink the authorities. In the following year he printed at Edinburgh "A Declaration of the Kings Majesties intention and meaning toward the lait Actis of Parliament."

J. Norton, 1593-1610, also used the same Mark.

[Ill.u.s.tration: JOHN BYDDELL.

I B -- IOHAN BYDDELL.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THOMAS VAUTROLLIER.

ANCHORA SPEI.]

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 sh.o.r.es, 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 Gla.s.s." 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: RICHARD GRAFTON.

SVSCIPITE INSITVM VERBVM IACO I RG]

[Ill.u.s.tration: WILLIAM MIDDLETON.

W WYLLYAM MYDDYLTON]

[Ill.u.s.tration: JOHN WOLFE.

VBIQVE FLORET]

[Ill.u.s.tration: JOHN DAY.

ARISE FOR IT IS DAY]

Like so many other of the early printers, Richard Jugge, 1548-77, whose shop was at the sign of the Bible at the north door of St. Paul's, was a University man, having studied at King's College, Cambridge. "He had a license from Government to print the New Testament in English, dated January, 1550; and no printer ever equalled him in the richness of the initial letters and general disposition of the text which are displayed therein." On the accession of Elizabeth to the throne, he printed the proclamation, November 17, 1558. About seventy books are catalogued as coming from his press. His elegant Mark consists of a ma.s.sive architectural panel, adorned with wreaths of fruit, and bearing in the centre an oval within which is a pelican feeding her young, surrounded by the mottoes, "Love kepyth the Lawe, obeyeth the Kynge, and is good to the commen welthe," and "Pro Rege Lege et Grege." On the left of the oval stands a female figure having a serpent twined round her right arm, with the word "Prudentia" underneath, whilst the second female figure, with a balance and a sword, is called "Justicia"; in the bottom centre in a small cartouche panel is the name R. Jugge in the form of a monogram. This Mark was also used by J. Windet and by Alexander Arbuthnot, of Edinburgh, of which we give the example of the last named.

Hugh Singleton, 1548-82, appears to have earned as much notoriety among his contemporaries for his "rather loose" principles as for the books which he printed. He was often in conflict with the authorities, and very narrowly escaped severe punishment for printing one of Stubbs'

outbursts, for which the author and Page the publisher had their right hands cut off with a butcher's knife and a mallet in 1581; Singleton was pardoned. His Mark, of which there are variations, is sufficiently self-explanatory, although it may be mentioned that for a time he dwelt at the Golden Tun in Creed Lane. Walter Lynne, 1547-50, who was a scholar and an author, had a shop at "Sommer's Key near Billingsgate"

and printed about twenty sermons and other religious tracts in octavo, employed the device given as an initial to the present chapter. John Wyghte, or Wight, resembled Singleton somewhat in his facility for running his head against established customs, and was on one occasion fined for keeping his shop open on St. Luke's Day, and on another for selling pirated books. His shop was at the sign of the Rose, St. Paul's Churchyard, and his books--beginning with an edition of the Bible--range from the year 1551 to 1596. His device was a portrait of himself, which varies considerably both in size and in other respects. Perhaps the most curious and interesting work which he published was "A Booke of the arte and manner how to plant and graffe all sortes of trees," 1586, translated from the French by Leonard Mascall, and dedicated to Sir John Paulet.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A. ARBUTHNOT.

ALEXANDER ARBVTHNET LOVE KEPYTH THE LAWE OBEYETH THE KYNGE AND IS GOOD TO THE COMMEN WELTHE PRO LEGE REGE, ET GREGE PRVDENCIA IVSTICIA]

[Ill.u.s.tration: HUGH SINGLETON.

H S]

[Ill.u.s.tration: JOHN WIGHT.

I W WELCOM THE WIGHT: THAT BRINGETH SVCH LIGHT]

The employment of the Geneva arms as a Printer's Mark is confined, in this country, to Rowland Hall, who, at the death of Edward VI., accompanied several refugees to Geneva, where he printed the Psalms, Bible, and other works of a more or less religious character; his books range from 1559 to 1563, and about two dozen are known to bibliographers, and half of this number are in the British Museum. His Mark has a double interest; first, from his residence in Geneva, and secondly from the fact that the sign of his shop, "The Half Eagle and Key," was a still further acknowledgment of the protection which he enjoyed in Geneva. This was not his only Mark, but it is the only one to which we need refer. The name of Richard Tottell, 1553-97, is much better remembered in connection with the epoch-making little book, "Songes and Sonettes," 1557, the first miscellany of English verse, than either of the other seventy or eighty publications which bear his imprint. His shop was in Fleet Street at the sign of the Hand and Star, the same idea serving him as a Mark: the hand and star in a circle, with a scroll on either side having the words "c.u.m privilegio," the whole being placed under an arch supported by columns ornamented in the Etruscan style. One of the most curious of the large number of books which came from the press of Henry Bynneman, 1567-87, is "The Mariners boke, containing G.o.dly and necessary orders and prayers, to be observed in every ship, both for mariners and all other whatsoever they be that shall travaile on the sea, for their voyage," 1575; a still more curious production of his press has the following t.i.tle, "Of ghostes and spirites walkyng by night, and strange noyes, crackes and sundry fore warnynges, which commonly happen before the death of men, great slaughters, and alterations of kyngdomes," 1572. Bynneman had served with Reynold Wolfe, and when he started in business on his own account met with much encouragement from Archbishop Parker, who allowed him to have a shop or shed at the north-west door of St. Paul's. He appears to have had two Marks, one of which was derived from the sign of his shop, "The Mermaid," with the motto, "Omnia tempus habent," and the other (here reproduced) of a doe pa.s.sant, and the motto, "Cerva charissima et gratissimus hinnulus pro." Thomas Woodc.o.c.k, 1576-94, who dwelt at the sign of the Black Bear, in St. Paul's Churchyard, was a bookseller rather than a printer; his Mark is an evident double pun on his surname.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ROWLAND HALL.

POST TENEBRAS LVX]

[Ill.u.s.tration: HENRY BYNNEMAN.