THOMAS VAUTROLLIER.
Richard Grafton, 1537–72, who was a scholar and an author, is one of the best known of the sixteenth century printers, and, although he issued a large number of books, confined himself to a single Mark, which was a rebus or pun upon his name. Grafton was for several years in partnership with Edward Whitchurche, and also with John Butler. The most important works accomplished by the two first named were the first issue of the Great or Cromwell’s Bible, 1539, and Coverdale’s version of the New Testament, 1538–9, in Latin and English; the latter being partly printed in Paris by Regnault, and completed in London: as nearly the entire impression was burnt by order of the Inquisition, it is of great rarity and value. Grafton, who was printer to Edward VI. both before and after his accession to the throne, issued a magnificent edition of Halle’s “Chronicle,” 1548, and an “Abridgement of the Chronicles” by himself in 1562, which in ten years reached a fourth edition. Grafton found printing a much more hazardous calling than the grocery business to which he had been brought up, for he was constantly in difficulties, which on one occasion nearly cost him his life. The idea which found expression in Grafton’s Mark naturally suggested itself to William Middleton, or Myddleton, 1525–47, who succeeded to the business of Robert Redman, and issued books from the sign of the “George next to St. Dunstan’s Church in Fleet Street.” He had two devices, of which we give the larger and more important: in the smaller the shield is supported on either side by an angel. About forty of William Middleton’s books have been described, one of the most notable being John Heywood’s “Four P’s, a very merry Enterlude of a Palmer, a Pardoner, a Poticary, and a Pedler.” Reginald or Reynold Wolfe, 1542–73, was the King’s Printer and a learned antiquary. Wolfe was probably of foreign extraction, for there were several early sixteenth century printers of the same surname in France, Germany, and Switzerland. His printing-office was in St. Paul’s Churchyard, at the sign of the Brazen Serpent, which emblem he used as a device, a subject which, as we have already seen, was frequently employed for a similar purpose abroad. Wolfe’s other device, of which there are two sizes, consisted of an elegant cartouche German shield, on which is represented a fruit-tree and two boys, one of whom is drawing down the fruit with a stick, whilst the other is taking it up off the ground. Over sixty books have been catalogued as the work of Reginald Wolfe. John Wolfe, originally a fishmonger, started printing about 1560, and from that year until 1601 we have an almost continuous stream of his books, on a very great variety of subjects. Like several others of the early printers, he was in constant warfare with the authorities, whose rules and restrictions of the press were a source of ever-recurring annoyances. He appears to have had as much difficulty in managing his “authors” as with the Stationers’ Company, for he is referred to more than once in very uncomplimentary terms in the Martin Marprelate tracts of the period. The Mark here reproduced from Berjeau represents a fleur-de-lys seedling supported by two savages, with the motto “Ubique Floret.” John Day, 1546–84, is undoubtedly one of the best known and most prolific of the sixteenth century printers, nearly 300 books having him as their foster-father. He appears to have started in business at the sign of the Resurrection, a little above Holborn Conduit, but removed in or about 1549 to Aldersgate Street; he had several shops in various parts of the town, where his literary wares might be disposed of, and he is remarkable in being the first English printer who used Saxon characters, whilst he brought those of the Greek and Italic to perfection. It is not possible to give in this place even a brief summary of Day’s career, and it must suffice us to mention that Archbishop Parker was among his patrons, and that the more important books which appeared from his press included Fox’s “Acts and Monuments,” 1563, and the “Psalmes in Metre with Music,” 1571 (for the printing of which he received a patent dated June 2, 1568). His best known device, of which we give an example, has a double meaning; first it is a pun on his name, and secondly an allusion to the dawn of the Protestant religion. He used another Mark, which is a large upright parallelogram, within the lines of which is a very elegant Greek sarcophagus bearing a skeleton lying on a mat. At the head of the corpse are two figures standing and looking down at it, of which the outer one is in the dress of a rich citizen, having his left hand on his sword, and the other, who is pointing to the body, is dressed like a doctor or a schoolmaster: from his mouth issues a scroll rising upwards in eight folds, on four of which are engraven in small Roman capitals, “Etsi Mors in dies accelerat,” and the remainder of the sentence, “Post Fvnera virtus vivet tamen,” appears in similar letters on another scroll, which is elegantly twined round the branches of a holly placed behind the sepulchre, to indicate by a tree that blooms at Christmas the evergreen nature of virtue; the sarcophagus, figures, and tree stand by the side of a river, with some distant vessels, on the left hand of which are rocky shores, with cities, etc., and in the upper corner of the left is the sun breaking out of the clouds; the initials I D appear on the lower left hand. This Mark is exceedingly rare; it occurs on the last leaf of J. Norton’s translation of the Latin “Catechism,” 1570, and also at the end of Churton’s “Cosmographical Glass.” There are several variations of the Mark which we reproduce on [p. 79]. William Seres, who was for some time anterior to 1550 in partnership with Day (and at other times with Anthony Scoloker, Richard Kele, and William Hill), printed over 100 books, in many of which his monogram serves the purpose of a Mark.
| RICHARD GRAFTON. | WILLIAM MIDDLETON. |
JOHN WOLFE.
| JOHN DAY. |
Like so many other of the early printers, Richard Jugge, 1548–77, whose shop was at the sign of the Bible at the north door of St. Paul’s, was a University man, having studied at King’s College, Cambridge. “He had a license from Government to print the New Testament in English, dated January, 1550; and no printer ever equalled him in the richness of the initial letters and general disposition of the text which are displayed therein.” On the accession of Elizabeth to the throne, he printed the proclamation, November 17, 1558. About seventy books are catalogued as coming from his press. His elegant Mark consists of a massive architectural panel, adorned with wreaths of fruit, and bearing in the centre an oval within which is a pelican feeding her young, surrounded by the mottoes, “Love kepyth the Lawe, obeyeth the Kynge, and is good to the commen welthe,” and “Pro Rege Lege et Grege.” On the left of the oval stands a female figure having a serpent twined round her right arm, with the word “Prudentia” underneath, whilst the second female figure, with a balance and a sword, is called “Justicia”; in the bottom centre in a small cartouche panel is the name R. Jugge in the form of a monogram. This Mark was also used by J. Windet and by Alexander Arbuthnot, of Edinburgh, of which we give the example of the last named. Hugh Singleton, 1548–82, appears to have earned as much notoriety among his contemporaries for his “rather loose” principles as for the books which he printed. He was often in conflict with the authorities, and very narrowly escaped severe punishment for printing one of Stubbs’ outbursts, for which the author and Page the publisher had their right hands cut off with a butcher’s knife and a mallet in 1581; Singleton was pardoned. His Mark, of which there are variations, is sufficiently self-explanatory, although it may be mentioned that for a time he dwelt at the Golden Tun in Creed Lane. Walter Lynne, 1547–50, who was a scholar and an author, had a shop at “Sommer’s Key near Billingsgate” and printed about twenty sermons and other religious tracts in octavo, employed the device given as an initial to the present chapter. John Wyghte, or Wight, resembled Singleton somewhat in his facility for running his head against established customs, and was on one occasion fined for keeping his shop open on St. Luke’s Day, and on another for selling pirated books. His shop was at the sign of the Rose, St. Paul’s Churchyard, and his books—beginning with an edition of the Bible—range from the year 1551 to 1596. His device was a portrait of himself, which varies considerably both in size and in other respects. Perhaps the most curious and interesting work which he published was “A Booke of the arte and manner how to plant and graffe all sortes of trees,” 1586, translated from the French by Leonard Mascall, and dedicated to Sir John Paulet.