The last of the year’s books was a Psalter printed in red and black and issued on September 1, of which there is a copy in the British Museum.
For the year 1550 there are four books, and of these one St Ambrose, Of opression, said to be translated by Oswen himself, is known only from the entry in Herbert, derived from Maunsell’s catalogue. The other three, Zwingli’s Short pathway to the Scriptures, The godly sayings of the old, ancient faithful fathers translated by John Veron, and Gribald’s Notable and marvellous epistle, are known, the first two from copies in the University Library and elsewhere, the last from a copy in the Bodleian. To the end of this year we may ascribe a very rare little octavo, Almanack and prognostication for the year of our Lord 1551. Practised by Simon Heringius and Lodowyke Boyard. In April 1551 a new edition was issued of Bullinger’s Dialogue between the rebel Anabaptist and the true Christian, which is known from copies in the Bodleian and Brasenose College Library. Herbert had quoted an earlier edition of 1549, of which no copy is known and which is perhaps due to some confusion with the present edition. Bullinger’s Most sure and strong defence of the baptism of children, translated by John Veron, was also issued this year, and a copy is in the Bodleian. The third and last book of 1551 was issued in May, Hooper’s Godly and most necessary annotations in the XIII. chapter to the Romans, of which there is a copy in the University Library.
From May 1551 until May 1553, exactly two years, no dated book is known from Oswen’s Worcester press, except the folio Prayer-book of 1552. Nor is there any undated book to be ascribed to these years, for Oswen’s books, so far as we know, are all dated. This is another of those unaccountable gaps that we so often find in the career of a printer.
The last two Worcester books were issued in 1553, a Homily to be read in time of pestilence, written by Bishop Hooper and dated May 18, and the Statutes of the seventh year of Edward VI. A copy of the Homily is in the University Library. It is a handsomely printed thin quarto, and has on the title-page besides four border-pieces, a woodcut of the Royal arms with supporters, and another of the youthful king seated on his throne. The Statutes are described by Herbert from a copy in his own possession, but where it is at present is not known.
Oswen printed altogether at Worcester some twenty-one books, so that it heads the list of provincial presses as regards numbers. The press is also noticeable for the comparative excellence of the printing and the variety of good border-pieces and initial letters, very much superior to the material used by most of the contemporary printers. From the class of books he issued we can well understand the cessation of his press as soon as Mary succeeded to the throne.
There remain three books to be noticed which appear to be connected with Oswen. These are John Sawtry’s Defence of the marriage of priests, another book with a similar title by Philip Melanchthon, and lastly a Treatise of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The colophon of the first runs: “Printed at Awryk by Jan Troost, 1541 in August,” that of the second, “Printed at Lipse by Ubryght Hoff,” while the title-page says, “Translated out of latyne into englisshe by Lewes Beuchame in the yere of the Lorde 1541 in August.” The colophon of the last runs: “At Grunning 1541 April 27.” The three books are obviously from the same press; initials, borders, type, all agree, and copies are in some cases bound together. They are no less obviously printed in England, but by whom? The only clue so far is an initial M which appears identical with one used by Oswen, while on the other hand the borders do not occur in any of Oswen’s books though he uses a large selection. Again, why should all three books be dated 1541 which, if they were the work of Oswen, must be a false date. Though admitting the clue which connects them with Oswen, it would be safer for the present until more evidence is forthcoming to class them under “printer unidentified.”
At present, though a good start has been made in the Catalogue of Early English Books in the University Library, a very great deal remains to be done, and if done at all to be done very carefully, on the subject of books with fictitious imprints or with none at all. Hitherto if there was anything the least strange in the appearance of a book, or if its subject were of a controversial nature, it was promptly docketed “printed at a secret press on the Continent.” That many such books were printed at Continental presses is quite clear, but in the majority of cases any danger in connexion with such books was not to the printer, but to the person who introduced them into this country. In consequence the foreign printers rarely tried to deceive, and once their types are properly identified, it is not difficult to ascribe foreign printed books to their right printers. But on the other hand, I suspect that a considerable number of books now generally ascribed to Continental presses were really produced in this country. The wording of various enactments against seditious books makes it clear that the authorities of the period at any rate considered that numbers were printed in this country, and if that is so we must look for them outside the ordinary and known productions of our regular printers. If we take away all the unsigned books which may be clearly ascribed to foreign presses, a very large number will still remain about which we know, for the present at any rate, little or nothing.
Canterbury was the last of the provincial towns to start a press, and its first book was an edition of the Psalter printed in 1549. One or two early writers, however, quoted a book printed there about 1525. The title runs: A goodly narration how St Augustine the Apostle of England raysed two dead bodies at Longcompton, collected out of divers authors, translated by John Lidgate, Monke of Bury. Printed at St Austens at Canterburie in 4to. No copy of the book is at present known, but it is conjectured that, like another book connected with Canterbury, The history of King Boccus and Sydracke, it may have been printed by a London printer, “at the coste and charge of Dan Robert Saltwoode, monke of St Austen’s at Cantorbery.”
John Mychell, the first printer, seems to have begun his career in London, where he printed two books, the Life of St Margaret and the Life of St Gregory’s mother, at a printing office with a long and interesting history, The long shop in the Poultry. He probably worked there between the tenancies of Richard Kele, who left it in 1546, and his apprentice Alde, who worked there later. Mr Allnutt, in an article on Provincial Presses, asserts that he quitted Canterbury for London in the reign of Queen Mary and quotes these two books as proof, but that would mean that he came to London after 1555, in which case we might expect to find some mention of him in the Stationers’ Registers, and at that time, too, the long shop in the Poultry was occupied by another printer. I think it may be taken for certain that he went from London to Canterbury.
Mychell’s first Canterbury book, the Psalter or psalms of David after the translation of the great Bible, printed in 1549, is an extremely rare book. The only copy quoted by bibliographers is one which was in Dr Lort’s sale in 1791. This copy passed to Lord Spencer and is now in the Rylands Library. It was reissued again in 1550 and a copy is in the University Library. The only known copy of the other book issued in 1550, John Lamberd’s Treatise of predestination, is also in the University Library. In 1552 and 1553 there were at least three issues of a Breviat Chronicle compiled or at any rate edited by Mychell himself.