John Lettou, William de Machlinia, Richard Pynson.
In 1480, printing was introduced into London by John Lettou, perhaps a native of Lithuania, of which Lettou is an old form. The first product of the press was an edition of John Kendale’s Indulgence asking for aid against the Turks, another edition having just been issued by Caxton in his large No. 2* type. As we have said, Lettou’s small neat type was very much better suited for printing indulgences, and its appearance very probably caused Caxton to make his small type No. 4, which he used in future for such work. Besides two other editions of the indulgence, Lettou printed only one book in this year, the Quæstiones Antonii Andreæ super duodecim libros metaphysice Aristotelis. It is a small folio of 106 leaves, of very great rarity, only one perfect copy being known, in the library of Sion College, London. In 1481 another folio book was printed, Thomas Wallensis super Psalterium, and probably in the same year a work on ecclesiastical procedure, known only from two leaves which were found in the binding of one of the Parker books in Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.
From the workmanship of these books we can clearly see that Lettou was a practised printer, though we know nothing as to where he learnt his art. His type, which bears no resemblance to any other used in England, is very similar to that of Matthias Moravus, the Naples printer; so similar, indeed, as to make it certain that there must have been some connexion between the two printers, or some common origin for their types. Lettou was assisted by a certain William Wilcock, at whose expense the two large books were printed.
About 1482, Lettou was joined by another printer, William de Machlinia, a native no doubt of Malines in Belgium. These two printers employed a new fount of type of the same school as the other English types, and one suitable for the printing of the law-books, which were their sole productions. In partnership they printed but five books, the Tenores Novelli, the Abridgment of the Statutes, and the Year-Books of the 33rd, 35th, and 36th years of Henry VII. The first of these books is the only one which has a colophon. It gives the names of the two printers, and states that the book was printed in the city of London, ‘juxta ecclesiam omnium sanctorum;’ a rather vague address, since, according to Arnold’s Chronicle, there were several London churches thus dedicated.
After these books had been issued, about 1483-84, John Lettou disappears, and Machlinia carried on his business alone. By himself he printed at least twenty-two books or editions. Out of all this number only four contain his name, and not one a date. He printed at two addresses, ‘By Flete-brigge,’ and in Holborn. If these two addresses refer to two different places, and we have no reason for supposing the contrary, there is no doubt that ‘By Flete-brigge’ is the earlier.
How late he continued to carry on business it is not possible to find out, as none of his books are dated. The Bull of Innocent VIII., relating to the marriage of Henry VII., which he printed, cannot have been issued till after 2nd March 1486; and the occurrence of a title-page in one of his books points to a still later date, for we know of no other book having a title-page printed in England before 1491-92.
Machlinia’s use of signatures and initial directors seems to have been entirely arbitrary, and it is impossible to arrange the books in any certain order from their typographical peculiarities.
In the ‘Flete-brigge’ type there are nine books. Two works of Albertus Magnus, the Liber aggregationis and the De secretis mulierum;[34] a Horæ ad usum Sarum, known only from fragments rescued from old bindings; the Revelation of St. Nicholas to a monk of Evesham, of which the two known copies show curious instances of wrong imposition. There are, besides, three law-books and a school-book, the Vulgaria Terencii. Of the Horæ ad usum Sarum twenty leaves are known, all printed on vellum. In size it might be called a 16mo, and was made up in gatherings of eight leaves, each gathering containing two sheets of vellum. These gatherings were folded in a peculiar way. As an ordinary rule, when we find a quire of eight leaves formed of two sheets, leaves 1, 2, 7, 8 were printed on one sheet, leaves 3, 4, 5, 6 on the other. But Machlinia adopted a different plan, and printed leaves 1, 4, 5, 8 on the one sheet, leaves 2, 3, 6, 7 on the other. It is impossible to say whether there were any cuts in the volume; there are none in the remaining fragments, but at the beginning of certain portions a woodcut border was used, which surrounded the whole page. This border was afterwards used by Pynson. A curious thing to be noticed about the type in which these books are printed, is its very strong resemblance to some of the founts of type used about the same period in Spain.
[34]The copy of this book in the University Library, Cambridge, wanting all signature c, but in fine condition, and uncut, has on the first blank leaf some early writing which refers to the year 1485, showing probably that the book was not printed after that date.