'The Tragidie of Ferrex and Porrex, set forth without addition or alteration, but altogether as the same was showed on stage before the Queens Maiestie about nine yeares past, viz. the xviii day of Januarie 1561, by the gentlemen of the Inner Temple.'
Another important work of this year (1570) was Roger Ascham's Scholemaster, in quarto. In 1571 Day was busy with Church matters. There was just then much talk of Church discipline, and it shows itself in the Reformatio Legum Ecclesiasticarum, a quarto of some 300 pages, published by him this year. In this book we find a new device used by Day. It represents two hands holding a slab upon which is a crucible with a heart in it, surrounded by flames, the word 'Christus' being on the slab. From the wrists hangs a chain, and in the centre of this is suspended a globe, and beneath that again is a representation of the sun. Round the chain is a ribbon with the words 'Horum Charitas.' This device was placed on the title-page, which was surrounded by a neat border of printers' ornaments.
The Booke of certaine Canons, 4to, was another publication of this year for the due ordering of the Church. This, like most public documents, was in a large black letter. There were also 'Articles of the London Synod of 1562.' As a specimen of the religious sermons or discourses of the time, we have a very good example in another of Day's publications in 1571, a reprint of The Poore Mans Librarie, a discourse by George Alley, Bishop of Exeter, upon the First Epistle of St. Peter, which made up a very respectable folio, printed in Day's best manner, and with a great number of founts.
But Day's prosperity roused the envy of his fellow-stationers, and they tried their best to hinder the sale of his books and cause him annoyance. This opposition took a violent form in 1572, when Day, whose premises at Aldersgate had become too small to carry on his growing business, his stock being valued at that time between £2000 and £3000, obtained the leave of the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's to set up a little shop in St. Paul's Churchyard for the sale of his books. The booksellers appealed to the Lord Mayor, who was prevailed upon to stop Day's proceedings, and it required all the power and influence of Archbishop Parker, backed by an order of the Privy Council, to enable the printer to carry out his project.[4]
The Archbishop meanwhile had been busy furnishing replies to Nicholas Sanders' book De Visibili Monarchia, and amongst those whom he selected for the work was Dr. Clerke of Cambridge, who accordingly wrote a Latin treatise entitled Fidelis Servi subdito infideli Responsio. From a letter written by the Archbishop to Lord Burleigh at this time, we learn that John Day had cast a special fount of Italian letter for this book at a cost of forty marks.[5]
By Italian letter is here meant Roman, and not Italic, as Mr. Reed supposes, for the Responsio was printed in a new fount of that type, clear, even, and free from abbreviations.
In the same year (1572) Day printed at the Archbishop's private press at Lambeth his great work De Antiquitate Britannicae Ecclesiae in folio, in a new fount of Italic, with preface in Roman, and the titles and sub-titles in the larger Italic of the Cosmographicall Glasse. It was a special feature of Day's letter-founding that he cut the Roman and Italic letters to the same size. Before his time there was no uniformity; the separate founts mixed badly, and spoilt the appearance of many books that would otherwise have been well printed.
The De Antiquitate is believed to have been the first book printed at a private press in England. The issue was limited to fifty copies, and the majority of them were in the Archbishop's possession at the time of his death.
But while he encouraged printing in one direction, Matthew Parker rigorously persecuted it in another. Just at this time there was much division among Protestants on matters of doctrine and ceremonial, and one Thomas Cartwright published, in 1572, a book entitled A Second Admonition to the Parliament, in which he defended those who had been imprisoned for airing their opinions in the first Admonition. This book, like many others of the time, was printed secretly, and strenuous search was made by the Wardens of the Stationers' Company, Day being one, to discover the hidden press. The search was successful, but unpleasant consequences followed for John Day. One of the printers of the prohibited book turned out to be an apprentice of his own, named Asplyn. He was released after examination, and again taken into service by his late master. But the following year the Archbishop reported to the Council that this man Asplyn had tried to kill both Day and his wife.
Day's work in 1573 included a folio edition of the whole works of William Tyndale, John Frith, and Doctor Barnes, in two volumes. This was printed in two columns, with type of the same size and character as that used in the 'Works' of Becon, some of the initial letters closely resembling those found in books printed by Reginald Wolfe. In the same year Day issued a life of Bishop Jewel, for which he cut in wood a number of Hebrew words.