There was a strong tendency, which we shall discuss more at length later, for the bookseller to get control of the situation. Copyrights generally belonged to the booksellers. They purchased them from the authors and held them as against the printers. It must be remembered that an author could not obtain a copyright, as copyright was secured by registration in the Stationers’ Company and this registration could be made only by a bookseller or a printer. Consequently the author was obliged to content himself with what the purchaser of his work was willing to give him. The bookseller naturally got his printing done as cheaply as he could and printers cut prices then just as they do now, and got poor as a result, just as they do now.
CHAPTER III
John Day and the Dark Ages of English Printing
One name stands out among English printers of this period, that of John Day, who has been described as “one of the best and most enterprising of printers.” Day was born in 1522 and began to print in 1546. His business career lasted for thirty-eight years. He died in 1584, at the age of 62. Day began his business life at a period when English printing was very poor. His first books were as bad as those of his contemporaries. They were printed from worn type, the presswork was bad, they were without pagination, and he did not even use a device such as was customary among printers at that time. His first important work was a Bible, printed in 1549. This Bible was illustrated by wood-cuts which were very evidently second-hand, as they extended beyond the letter-press on the page. On the accession of Queen Mary I, in 1553, he went abroad, possibly for religious reasons, but probably not, as Day, like most printers of this particular time, found no difficulty in conforming himself to the religious views of the government. As a rule they accepted the peculiar position of Henry VIII which has already been described, printed Protestant books under Edward VI, Catholic books under Mary, and Protestant books under Elizabeth. They seem to have been quite content, in other words, to take what was brought them and to accept whatever government regulations might be in existence.
This attitude on the part of the printers reflects the general attitude of the English people at this time. There is very little doubt that the mass of the people were neither staunchly Catholic nor aggressively Protestant. While there were earnest and aggressive spirits in both parties, it seems quite clear that the vast majority of the people were ready to accept either Catholicism or Protestantism as a state church. England did not become aggressively Protestant until well into the reign of Elizabeth. Unfortunately for the interests of religion and of religious toleration, the church question became a political question, and when Spain and the other Catholic powers attempted to overthrow the government of England and make England dependent upon Spain, patriotism and Protestantism came to be regarded by the English as synonymous terms. Here, as elsewhere, the Reformation was a political more than a religious question.
Just when Day returned to England is not clear, but it was before the death of Queen Mary, as he was a charter member of the Stationers’ Company, which was chartered in the last year of her reign, and published a book dated the same year. Evidently Day studied abroad. Very probably that was his purpose in travel, for we find that in 1559 his books began to show excellence and they improved in quality until we find him soon producing the best printing which had yet been done in England. From this time on his work was marked by accuracy, taste, and a high grade of excellence in both typography and presswork.
He was greatly encouraged and at times assisted by Matthew Parker, who was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1559 to 1575. Parker was by no means a great man, but he was just the sort of man whom the autocratic Elizabeth wished to have for Archbishop of Canterbury. He was moderate in his views and easygoing in temperament, a scholar and collector of beautiful things and a patron of the arts and sciences. Parker not only encouraged and patronized Day but employed him to print on the private press which the Archbishop had set up at Lambeth. Day’s best piece of work was an edition of Asser’s “Life of Alfred the Great” which he printed for Parker in 1574.
Day published and printed the first edition of Foxe’s “Book of Martyrs,” a huge folio volume of 2008 pages. In 1578 Day published a book in Latin and Greek. The Greek was the best face yet seen in England and was equal to the work of Estienne. Other notable achievements of Day were the printing of the Psalter with musical notes, the cutting of Hebrew words in wood to be used in printing the life of Bishop Jewel, published in 1573, and the cutting of a font of Saxon type which appears to have been the first used in England. This font contained twenty-six capitals and twenty-seven lowercase letters. The capitals consisted of eighteen old roman letters and eight Saxon characters, two of which were diphthongs. The lowercase contained fifteen roman and twelve Saxon characters. Day also cut italic types to match roman, the first time this had been done. Day’s work was mainly religious, although he published some of the first English plays and some other works of general literature.
As usual with men of great excellence, Day suffered much from the antagonism of jealous rivals, but this antagonism was not sufficient to deprive him of success. The excellence of his work was rewarded not only by success in business but by the award of a large number of privileges which were sources of great profit. We have seen, however, that he relinquished a large number of these at the time of Wolfe’s revolt. Those that he saved seem to have been by far the most profitable.
A few other printers of this period need mention for various reasons. The best work after that of Day was done by Vautrollier. Tottell, whose name is variously spelled in the records of the time, printed many things of great value to English literature. He was an enterprising printer of contemporary publications. Robert Darker, king’s printer to James I, printed the statutes, proclamations, and editions of the Book of Common Prayer of that period and deserves to be remembered as the original printer of the so-called Authorized Version of the Bible, published in 1611. This English text, sometimes called the Authorized and sometimes called the King James Version, was the only text of the English Bible received among English-speaking people until the revision made in the latter part of the eighteenth century. It may be worth while to note that this version is not uncommonly erroneously referred to as the St. James Version. There is absolutely no justification for this common error. The book was authorized by King James and for that reason is known as the Authorized or King James Version. King James, however, was no saint. The authorization was simply a license or permission. Darker published the book as a commercial venture at his own expense. He used the same type and the same ornaments as those used in the Bishop’s Bible, an English translation published in 1568.
John Norton, another one of the group of printers favored by James I, cut some of the best Greek types which have ever appeared in England. He was a worthy successor in this field of John Day. William and Isaac Jaggard printed the famous folio edition of Shakespeare’s plays in 1623. Typographically it was a poor piece of work, but as a literary landmark it is of the utmost importance.