A Short History of English Printing, 1476-1898

by Henry R. Plomer

These sheets, which usually consisted of from four to eight quarto pages, contained news of the movements and actions of the opposing armies, and the proceedings of the Parliament at Westminster, or of the King's Council at Oxford or wherever he happened to be. They were published sometimes twice and even three times a week. The political pamphlets were bitter and scurrilous attacks by each party against the other, or the hare-brained prophecies of so-called astrologers, such as William Lilly, George Wharton, and John Gadbury. These two classes formed more than half the printed literature of those unhappy times, and the remainder of the output of the press was pretty well filled up with sermons, exhortations, and other religious writings. The rapidity with which the literature was turned out accounts for the wretched and slipshod appearance it presents. Any old types or blocks were brought into use, and there is evidence of blocks and initial letters which had formed part of the stock of the printers of a century earlier being brought to light again at this time. Unfortunately the evil did not stop here, for careless workmanship, indifference, and want of enterprise, are the leading characteristics of the printing trade during the latter half of the seventeenth century. But as, even in this darkest hour of the nation's fortunes, the soul of literature was not crushed, and the voice of the poet could still make itself heard, so it is a great mistake to suppose that there were no good printers during the period covered by the Civil Wars and the Commonwealth.

Take as an example the little duodecimo entitled Instructions for Forreine Travell, which came from the pen of James Howell, and was printed by T. B., no doubt Thomas Brudnell, for Humphrey Moseley. Some of the founts, especially the larger Roman, are very unevenly and badly cast, but on the whole the presswork was carefully done. The same may also be said of the folio edition of Sir R. Baker's Chronicle, published in 1643. In this case we do not know who was the printer; but the ornaments and initials lead us to suppose that it was the work of William Stansby's successor. The prose tracts again that Milton wrote between 1641-45 are certainly far better printed than many of their contemporaries, and prove that Matthew Simmons, who printed most of them, and who was one of the Commonwealth men, deserved the position he afterwards obtained. The first collected edition of Milton's poems was published by Humphrey Moseley in 1645. This was a small octavo, in two parts, with separate title-pages, and a portrait of the author by William Marshall, and came from the press of Ruth Raworth. In 1646 there appeared A Collection of all the Incomparable Peeces written by Sir John Suckling and published by a freend to perpetuate his memory. This came from the press of Thomas Walkley, who had issued the first edition of Aglaura and the later plays of the same writer. Walkley also printed in small octavo, for Moseley, the Poems of Edmond Waller, but his work was none of the best.

A printer of considerable note at this time was William Dugard, who in 1644 was chosen headmaster of Merchant Taylors' School, and set up a printing-press there. In January 1649 he printed the first edition of the famous book Eikon Basilike, and followed it up by a translation of Salmasius' Defensio Regia, for which the Council of State immediately ordered his arrest, seized his presses, and wrote to the Governors of the school, ordering them to elect a new schoolmaster, 'Mr. Dugard having shewn himself an enemy to the state by printing seditious and scandalous pamphlets, and therefore unfit to have charge of the education of youths' (Dom. S. P. Interregnum, pp. 578-583). Sir James Harrington, member of the Council of State, and author of Oceana, who seems to have known something about Dugard, interceded with the Council on his behalf, and at the same time persuaded him to give up the Royalist cause. So his presses were restored to him, and henceforward he appears to have devoted himself with equal zeal to his new masters.

He was the printer of Milton's answer to Salmasius, published by the Council's command, of a book entitled Mare Clausum, also published by authority, of the Catechesis Ecclesiarum, a book which the Council found to contain dangerous opinions and ordered to be burnt, and of a tract written by Milton's nephew, John Phillips, entitled Responsio ad apologiam. His initials are also met with in many other books of that time.

His press was furnished with a good assortment of type, and his press-work was much above the average of that period.

Among other books that came from the London press during this troubled time, we may single out three which have found a lasting place in English literature. The first is Robert Herrick's Hesperides, printed in the years 1647-48; the second a volume of verse, by Richard Lovelace, entitled Lucasta, Epodes, Odes, Sonnets, Songs, etc., printed in 1649 by Thomas Harper; the last Izaak Walton's Complete Angler, which came from the press of John Maxey in 1653. All were small octavos, indifferently printed with poor type, and no pretensions to artistic workmanship.

In 1649, the year of Charles I.'s execution, the Council of State, in consequence of the number of 'scandalous and seditious pamphlets' which were constantly appearing, in spite of all decrees and acts to the contrary, ordered certain printers to enter into recognizances in two sureties of £300, and their own bond for a similar amount, not to print any such books, or allow their presses to be used for that purpose. Accordingly, in the Calendar of State Papers for the year 1649-50 (pp. 522, 523), we find a list of no less than sixty printers in London and the two Universities who entered into such sureties. In almost every case the address is given in full, in itself a gain, at a time when the printer's name rarely appeared in the imprint of a book. This list has already been printed in Bibliographica (vol. ii. pp. 225-26), but as it is of the greatest interest for the history of printing during the remainder of the century, it is inserted here (see Appendix No. 1.).

While it does not include all the printers having presses at that time, yet, if we remember that under the Star Chamber decree of 1637 the number in London was strictly limited to twenty, it shows how rapid the growth of the trade was in those twelve years. Of the original twenty, only three seem to have survived the troubles and dangers of the Civil Wars—Bernard Alsop, Richard Bishop, and Thomas Harper, though the places of three more were filled by their survivors—Elizabeth Purslowe standing in the place of her husband, Thomas Purslowe; Gertrude Dawson succeeding her husband, John Dawson; and James Flesher or Fletcher in the room of his father, Miles Flesher. John Gresmond and James Moxon were type-founders, Henry Hills and John Field were appointed printers to the State under Cromwell, and Thomas Newcomb was also largely employed, and shared with the other two the privilege of Bible printing. Roger Norton was the direct descendant of old John Norton, who died in 1590. Of Roycroft and Simmons we shall hear a good deal later on, as indeed we shall of many others in this list. The only names that hardly seem to warrant insertion in the list as printers are those of John and Richard Royston. Although they were for many years stationers to King Charles II., we cannot hear of any printing-presses in their possession.

With the quieter time of the Commonwealth, several notable works were produced, though the annual output of books was much below the average of the seven years preceding. Foremost among the publications of that time must be placed Sir William Dugdale's Monasticon Anglicanum, the first volume of which appeared in 1655.

As a monument of study and research this book will always remain a standard work of English topography; and it was not unworthily printed. The preparation of the numerous plates for the illustrations, and the setting up of so much intricate letterpress, must have been a very onerous work. This first volume, a large and handsome folio, came from the press of Richard Hodgkinson, and was printed in pica Roman in double columns, with a great deal of italic and black letter intermixed. The types were as good as any to be found in England at that time, and the press-work was carefully done. The engravings were chiefly the work of Hollar, aided by Edward Mascall and Daniel King, and are excellently reproduced. The whole work occupied eighteen years in publication, the second volume being printed by Alice Warren, the widow of Thomas Warren, in 1661, and the third and last by Thomas Newcomb in 1673; but these later volumes differed very little in appearance from the first, the same method of setting and the same mixture of founts being adhered to.