The work is said to have cost its promoter 8000.

The t.i.tle-page to the first volume was handsomely engraved, and a highly ornamental series of initial letters were used in it.

Another Greek work that Norton completed at Eton in the same year was the _Sancti Gregorii n.a.z.ianzeni in Julianum Invectivae duae_, in quarto.

In addition to his patent for printing Greek and Latin books, Norton also acquired from Francis Rea his patent for printing grammars, and by his will he directed a sum of money to be paid out of the profits of this patent to his wife Joyce.

John Bill was the son of Walter Bill, husbandman, of Wenlock, county Salop, and on the 25th July 1592 he apprenticed himself to John Norton.

In 1601 he was admitted a freeman of the Company.

He appears to have been a man of shrewd business ability and some scholarship, as we find him writing in Latin to Dr. Wideman of Augsburg on the subject of books. He was also looked upon by the Government as an authority on matters concerning his business. Under his partnership with Bonham Norton, he secured a large share in the Royal business. John Norton bequeathed him a legacy of 10, and a similar sum to his wife.

John Bill died in 1632, and on the 26th August of that year the whole of his stock was a.s.signed to Mistress Joyce Norton, the widow of John Norton, and Master Whittaker. The list fills upwards of two pages of Arber's _Transcripts_ (vol. iv. pp. 283-285), and includes the following notable works:--

Beza's _Testament_ in Latin, Camden's _Britannia_, Comines' _History_, Cornelius Tacitus, Du Moulin's _Defence of the Catholique Faith_, Gerard's _Herball_, Goodwin's _History of Henry VIII._, Plutarch's _Works_, Rider's _Dictionary_, Spalato's _Sermons_, Usher's _Gravissimae questiones_, Verstegan's _Rest.i.tution of Decayed Intelligence_.

The reversion of John Norton's patent for Greek and Latin books had been granted in 1604 to Robert Barker (Dom. S. P. 1604), but the year following Norton's death it was granted to Bonham Norton for thirty years (Dom. S. P. I., vol. 72, No. 5), and he also seems to have acquired the patent for printing grammars.

Bonham Norton was the only son of William Norton, stationer of London, who died in 1593, by his wife Joan, the daughter of William Bonham. He took up his freedom on the 4th February 1594, and was Master of the Stationers' Company in the years 1613, 1626, and 1629, and must have been one of the richest men in the trade. He was joined with Thomas Wight in a patent for printing _Abridgements of the Statutes_ in 1599, and later with John Bill in a share of the Royal printing-house. He is frequently mentioned in wills and other doc.u.ments of this period. At the time of John Norton's death Bonham had a family of five sons and four daughters. He died intestate on the 5th April 1635, and administration of his estate was granted to his son John on the 28th May 1636 (Admon, Act Book 1636).

On the 9th May 1615 an order was made by the Court of the Stationers'

Company, upon complaint made by the master printers of the number of presses then at work, that only nineteen printers, exclusive of the patentees, _i.e._ Robert Barker, John Bill, and Bonham Norton, should exercise the craft of printing in the city of London. There is nothing in the work of these men, judged as specimens of the printer's art, to interest us, but there were some whose work was of very much better character than others.

Richard Field, the successor of Thomas Vautrollier, and a fellow-townsman of Shakespeare, has already been spoken of in an earlier chapter. He printed many important books between 1601-1624, had two presses at work in 1615, and was Master of the Company in 1620. He maintained the high character that Vautrollier had given to the productions of his press.

Felix Kingston was the son of John Kingston of Paternoster Row, and was admitted a freeman of the Stationers' Company on the 25th of June 1597, being translated from the Company of Grocers. Throughout the first half of the seventeenth century his press was never idle. He was Master of the Company in 1637.

Edward Aide was the son of John Aide of the Long Shop in the Poultry. He had two presses, and printed very largely for other men, but his type and workmanship were poor.

William and Isaac Jaggard are best known as the printers of the works of Shakespeare. They were a.s.sociated in the production of the first folio in 1623, which came from the press of Isaac Jaggard and Edward Blount, at the charges of William Jaggard, Edward Blount, J. Smethwicke, and William Aspley; the editors being the poet's friends, J. Heminge and H.

Condell.

In addition to being the first collected edition of Shakespeare's works, this was in many respects a remarkable volume. The best copies measure 13-1/2 x 8-1/2''. The t.i.tle-page bears the portrait of the poet by Droeshout. The dedicatory epistle is in large italic type, and is followed by a second epistle, 'To the Readers,' in Roman. The verses in praise of the author, by Ben Jonson and others, are printed in a second fount of italic, and the Contents in a still smaller fount of the same letter. The text, printed in double columns, is in Roman and Italic, each page being enclosed within printer's rules. Of these various types, the best is the large italic, which somewhat resembles Day's fount of the same letter. That of the text is exceedingly poor, while the setting of the type and rules leaves much to be desired. The arrangement and pagination are erratic. The book, like many other folios, was made up in sixes, and the first alphabet of signatures is correct and complete, while the second runs on regularly to the completion of the Comedies on cc.2. The Histories follow with a fresh alphabet, which the printer began as 'aa,' and continued as 'a' until he got to 'g,' when he inserted a 'gg' of eight leaves, and then continued from 'i' to 'x' in sixes to the end of the Histories. The Tragedies begin with _Troilus and Cresside_, the insertion of which was evidently an afterthought, as there is no mention of it in the 'Contents' of the volume, and the signatures of the sheets are -- followed by ---- six leaves each. Then they start afresh with 'aa' and proceed regularly to 'hh,'

the end of the _Macbeth_, the following signature being 'kk,' thus omitting the remainder of signature 'hh' and the whole of 'ii.' In a series of interesting letters communicated to _Notes and Queries_ (8 S.

vol. viii. pp. 306, 353, 429), the make up of this volume is explained very plausibly. The copyright of _Troilus and Cresside_ belonged to R.

Bonian and H. Walley, who apparently refused at first to give their sanction to its publication. But by that time it had been printed, and the sheets signed for it to follow _Macbeth_, so that it had to be taken out. Arrangements having at last been made for its insertion in the work, it was reprinted and inserted where it is now found. It is also surmised that the original intention was to publish the work in three parts, and to this theory the repet.i.tion of the signatures lends colour.

One of the most interesting presses of the early Stuart period, both for the excellence of its work and the nature of the books that came from it, was that of William Stansby. This printer took up his freedom on the 7th January 1597, after serving a seven years' apprenticeship with John Windet. The following April he registered a book ent.i.tled _The Polycie of the Turkishe Empire_. This little quarto was, however, printed for him by his old master, John Windet, and there is no further entry in the registers until 1611, or fourteen years after the date at which he took up his freedom.

It would appear that Stansby began to print in 1609 with an edition of Greene's _Pandosto_, which was not registered. In 1611 he purchased the copyright in the books of John Windet for 13s. 40d., but three of them the Company added to its stock, with the undertaking that Stansby should always have the printing of them. One of these books was _The a.s.size of Bread_. On the 23rd February 1625 the whole of William East's copies, including music, was a.s.signed over to him. This list of books is the longest to be found in the registers, and covers every branch of literature.

About this time Stansby got into trouble with the Company for printing a seditious book, and his premises were nailed up, but eventually they were restored to him, and he continued in business until 1639, when his stock was transferred to Richard Bishop, and eventually came into the hands of John Haviland and partners.

Among his more important works may be mentioned the second and subsequent editions of Hooker's _Ecclesiastical Politie_, in folio; the _Works_ of Ben Jonson, 1616, folio; Eadmer's _Historia Novorum_,1623, folio; Selden's _Mare Clausum_, 1635, folio; Blundeville's _Exercises_, 1622, quarto; Coryate's _Crudities_,1611, quarto.

He possessed a considerable stock of type, most of it good. Some of the ornamental headbands and initial letters that he used were of an artistic character, and were used with good effect. An instance of this may be seen in his edition of Hooker, 1611, which has an engraved t.i.tle-page by William Hole, showing a view of St. Paul's. The page of Contents is surrounded on three sides by a border made up of odds and ends of printers' ornaments, yet, in spite of its miscellaneous character, the effect is by no means bad. The border to the t.i.tle-page of the fifth book was one of a series that formed part of the stock of the Company, and were lent out to any who required them. Stansby's presswork was uniformly good, and in this respect alone he may be ranked among the best printers of his time.

Another of the printers referred to in the list was somewhat of a refractory character, a printer of popular books at the risk of imprisonment, a cla.s.s of men who were to figure largely in the events of the next few years. Nicholas Okes is known best, perhaps, as the printer of some of the writings of Dekker, Greene, and Heywood; but in 1621 he printed, without license, _Wither's Motto_, a tract from the pen of George Wither, which had been published by John Marriot a short time before. This satire aroused the ire of the Government, and all connected with it at once made the acquaintance of the nearest jail. In the State Papers for that year are preserved the examination of the author, the booksellers, and the printer, Nicholas Okes. One of the witnesses declared that Okes told him that he had printed the book with the consent of the Company, and that the Master (Humphrey Lownes) had declared that if he was committed they would get him discharged. Another declared that Okes had printed two impressions of 3000 each, using the same t.i.tle-page as that to the first edition, and that one of the wardens of the Company (Matthew Lownes) continued to sell the book, and called for more copies. The only defence Okes made was that he believed the book to be duly licensed, and when challenged as to why he printed Marriot's name on the t.i.tle-page, declared he simply printed the book as he found it. (S. P. Dom. James I., vol. cxxii. Nos. 12 _et seq._)

On the 10th December 1623 an end was put for the time to the disputes that had for so long a period been raised by the Stationers' Company to the rights of the printers of the University of Cambridge.

The Company's last attempt to suppress Cantrell Legg, and prevent him from printing grammars and prayer-books, led to an appeal to the King, who made short work of the matter by ordering the two parties to come to an agreement. The terms of the settlement were:--

1. That all books should be sold at reasonable prices.

2. That the University should be allowed to print, conjointly with the London stationers, all books except the Bible, Book of Common Prayer, grammar, psalms, psalters, primers, etc., but they were only to employ one press upon privileged books.

3. That the University should print no almanacs then belonging to the Stationers, but they might print prognostications brought to them first.

4. That the Stationers should not hinder the sale of University books.

5. That the University printer should be at liberty to sell all grammars and psalms that he had already printed, and such as had been seized by the Company were to be restored.

To the last clause a note was added to the effect that Bonham Norton was prepared to buy them at reasonable prices.

On the accession of Charles I. plague paralysed trade and made gaps in the ranks of the Stationers' Company. During the autumn of 1624 and the following year several noted printers died, probably from this cause.

Chief among these were George Eld, Edward Aide, and Thomas Snodham. Eld was succeeded by his partner, Miles Flessher or Fletcher, and Aide by his widow, Elizabeth. Thomas Snodham had inherited the business of Thomas East. The copyright in these pa.s.sed to William Stansby, one of his executors; but the materials of the office, that is the types, woodcut letters, and ornaments, and the presses, were sold to William Lee for 165, and shortly afterwards pa.s.sed into the possession of Thomas Harper. They included a fount of black letter, and several founts of Roman and Italic of all sizes, and one of Greek letter, all of which had belonged to Thomas East, and were by this time the worse for wear.

But the plague was at the worst only a temporary hindrance; the censorship of the press the printers had always with them, and this, which had been comparatively mildly used during the late reign, was now in the hands of men who wielded it with severity. During the next fifteen years the printers, publishers, and booksellers of London were subjected to a persecution hitherto unknown. During that time there were few printers who did not know the inside of the Gatehouse or the Compter, or who were not subjected to heavy fines. For the literature of that age was chiefly of a religious character, and its tone mainly antagonistic to Laud and his party. All other subjects, whether philosophical, scientific, or dramatic, were sorely neglected. The later works of Bacon, the plays of Shirley and Shakerley Marmion, and a few cla.s.sics, most of which came from the University presses, are spa.r.s.ely scattered amongst the flood of theological discussion. The history of the best work in the trade in London is practically the history of three men--John Haviland, Miles Fletcher, and Robert Young, who joined partnership and, in addition to a share in the Royal printing-house, obtained by purchase the right of printing the _Abridgements to the Statutes_, and bought up several large and old-established printing-houses, such as those of George Purslowe, Edward Griffin, and William Stansby. Bernard Alsop and Thomas Fawcett were also among the large capitalists of this time, while Nathaniel b.u.t.ter, Nicholas Bourne, and Thomas Archer were also interested in several businesses beside their own. From the press of Haviland came editions of Bacon's _Essays_, in quarto, in 1625, 1629, 1632; of his _Apophthegmes_, in octavo, in 1625; of his _Miscellanies_, an edition in quarto, in 1629, and his _Opera Moralia_ in 1638. From the press of Fletcher came the _Divine Poems_ of Francis Quarles, in 1633, 1634, and 1638, and the _Hieroglyphikes of the life of Man_, by the same author, in 1638; while amongst Young's publications, editions of _Hamlet_ and _Romeo and Juliet_ appeared in 1637. Bernard Alsop and his partner printed the plays of Beaumont and Fletcher, Decker, Greene, Lodge, and Shirley, the poems of Brathwait, Breton, and Crashaw, and the writings of Fuller and More.

But the most notable books of this period were not those enumerated above, but rather those which brought their authors, printers, and publishers within the clutches of the law, and the story of the struggle for freedom of speech is one of the most interesting in the history of English printing. Three men--Henry Burton, rector of St. Matthews, Friday Street; William Prynne, barrister of Lincoln's Inn; and John Bastwick, surgeon, are generally looked upon as the chief of the opposition to Laud and his party; but there were a number of other writers on the same subject, whose works brought them into the Court of High Commission. Thus, on the 15th February 1626, Benjamin Fisher, bookseller, John Okes, Bernard Alsop, and Thomas Fawcett, printers, were examined concerning a book which they had caused to be printed and sold, called _A Short View of the Long Life and reign of Henry the Third_, of which Sir Robert Cotton was the author. Fisher stated in his evidence that five sheets of this book were printed by John Okes, and one other by Alsop and Fawcett, which in itself is an indication of the immense difficulty that must have attended the discovery of the printers of forbidden books. The ma.n.u.script Fisher declared he had bought from Alsop, who, in his turn, said that he bought it of one Ferdinando Ely, 'a broker in books,' for the sum of twelvepence, and printed what was equivalent to a thousand copies of the one sheet delivered to him, 'besides waste.' Nicholas Okes declared that his son John had printed the book without his knowledge and while he (Nicholas) was a prisoner in the Compter. Ferdinando Ely was a second-hand bookseller in Little Britain.

No very serious consequences seem to have followed in this instance; but in the following year (1628), Henry Burton was charged by the same authorities with being the author of certain unlicensed books, _The Baiting of the Pope's Bull_, _Israel's Fast_, _Trial of Private Devotions_, _Conflicts and Comforts of Conscience_, _A Plea to an Appeal_, and _Seven Vials_. The first of these was licensed, but the remainder were not. They were said to have been printed by Michael Sparke and William Jones; Sparke was a bookseller, carrying on business at the sign of the Blue Bible, in Green Arbour, in little Old Bayley, and he employed William Jones to print for him. The parties were then warned to be careful, but on 2nd April 1629 Sparke was arrested and thrown into the Fleet, and with him, at the same time, were charged William Jones, Augustine Mathewes, printers, and Nathaniel b.u.t.ter, printer and publisher. b.u.t.ter's offence was the issuing of a newspaper or pamphlet called _The Reconciler_; Sparke was charged with causing to be printed another of Burton's works, ent.i.tled _Babel no Bethel_, and Spencer's _Musquil Unmasked_; while Augustine Mathewes was accused of printing, for Sparke, William Prynne's _Ant.i.thesis of the Church of England_. Each party put in an answer, and of these, Michael Sparke's is the most interesting. He declared that the decree of 1586 was contrary to Magna Charta, and an infringement of the liberties of the subject, and he refused to say who, beside Mathewes, had printed Prynne's book; it afterwards turned out to be William Turner of Oxford, who confessed to printing several other unlicensed books. A short term of imprisonment appears to have been the punishment inflicted on the parties in this instance.

Both in 1630 and 1631 several other printers suffered imprisonment from the same cause, and Michael Sparke, who appears to have given out the work in most cases, was declared to be more refractory and offensive than ever.

In 1632 appeared William Prynne's noted book, _The Histrio-Mastix_, _The Player's Scourge or Actor's Tragedie_, a thick quarto of over one thousand closely printed pages, which bore on the t.i.tle-page the imprint, '_printed by E. A. and W. J. for Michael Sparke_.' This book, as its t.i.tle implies, was an attack on stage-plays and acting. There was nothing in it to alarm the most sensitive Government, and even the licenser, though he afterwards declared that the book was altered after it left his hands, could find nothing in it to condemn. But, as it happened, there was a pa.s.sage concerning the presence of ladies at stage-plays, and as the Queen had shortly before attended a masque, the pa.s.sage in question was held to allude to her, and accordingly Prynne, Sparke, and the printers--one of whom was William Jones--were thrown into prison, and in 1633 were brought to trial before the Star Chamber.

The printers appear to have escaped punishment; but Prynne was condemned to pay a fine of 1000, to be degraded from his degree, to have both his ears cropped in the pillory, and to spend the rest of his days in prison; while Sparke was fined 500, and condemned to stand in the pillory, but without other degradation.

During this year John Bastwick also issued two books directed against Episcopacy, both of which are now scarce. One was ent.i.tled _Elenchus Religionis Papisticae_, and the other _Flagellum Pontificis_. They were printed abroad, and as a punishment their author was condemned to undergo a sentence little less severe than that pa.s.sed upon Prynne, who, in spite of his captivity, continued to write and publish a great number of pamphlets. Amongst these was one ent.i.tled _Instructions to Church Wardens_, printed in 1635. In the course of the evidence concerning this book, mention was made of a special initial letter C, which was said to represent a pope's head when turned one way, and an army of soldiers when turned the other, and to be unlike any other letter in use by London printers at that time.

For printing this and other books, Thomas Purslowe, Gregory Dexter, and William Taylor of Christchurch were struck from the list of master printers.[11]

In 1637 appeared Prynne's other notorious tract, _Newes from Ipswich_, a quarto of six leaves, for which he was fined by the Star Chamber a further sum of 5000, and condemned to lose the rest of his ears, and to be branded on the cheek with the letters S. L. (_i.e._ scurrilous libeller), a sentence that was carried out on the 30th June of this year with great barbarity. The imprint to this tract ran 'Printed at Ipswich,' but its real place of printing was London, and perhaps the name of Robert Raworth, which occurs in the indictment, may stand for Richard Raworth, the printer whom Sir John Lambe declared to be 'an arrant knave.' Or the printer may have been William Jones,[12] who about this time was fined 1000 for printing seditious books.

In 1634 the King wrote to Archbishop Laud to the effect that Doctor Patrick Young, keeper of the King's library, who had lately published the _Clementis ad Corinthios Epistola prior_ in Greek and Latin, and in conjunction with Bishop Lindsell of Peterborough, now proposed to make ready for the press one or more Greek copies every year, if Greek types, matrices, and money were forthcoming. The King expressed his desire to encourage the work, and therefore commanded the Archbishop that the fine of 300, which had been inflicted upon Robert Barker and Martin Lucas in the preceding year, for what was described as a base and corrupt printing of the Bible in 1631 (the omission of the word 'not' from the seventh commandment, which has earned for the edition the name of the _Wicked_ Bible), should be converted to the buying of Greek letters. The King further ordered that Barker and Lucas should print one work every year at their own cost of ink, paper, and workmanship, and as many copies as the Archbishop should think fit to authorise. The Archbishop thereupon wrote to the printers, who expressed their willingness to fall in with the scheme, and a press, furnished with a very good fount of Greek letter, was established at Blackfriars. But the result was not what might have been expected. Partly owing to the political troubles that followed its foundation, and partly perhaps to delay on the part of the printers, the only important works that came from this press were Dr. Patrick Young's translation of the book of Job, from the Codex Alexandrinus, a folio printed in 1637, and an edition in Greek of the Epistles of St. Paul, with a commentary by the Bishop of Peterborough, also a folio, which came from the same press in 1636. The Greek letter used in this office cannot be compared for beauty or delicacy of outline with that which Norton had used in the _Chrysostom_ of 1610.

On the 11th July 1637 was published another Star Chamber Decree concerning printers. Professor Arber, in his fourth volume (p. 528), states that the appearance of a tract ent.i.tled _The Holy Table, Name and Thing_ must ever be a.s.sociated with this decree; but it may be doubted whether it was not rather to general causes, such as the growing power of the press, the long-continued attack upon the Prelacy by pamphleteers, which no fear of mutilation or imprisonment could stop, than any one particular tract, which led to that severe and crushing edict.

This act, which was published on the 11th July 1637, consisted of thirty-three clauses, and after reciting former ordinances, and the number of 'libellous, seditious, and mutinous' books that were then daily published, decreed that all books were to be licensed: law books by the Lord Chief Justices and the Lord Chief Baron; books dealing with history, by the princ.i.p.al Secretaries of State; books on heraldry, by the Earl Marshal; and on all other subjects, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of London, or the Chancellors or Vice-Chancellors of the two Universities. Two copies of every book submitted for publication were to be handed to the licensee, one of which he was to keep for future reference. Catalogues of books imported into the country were to be sent to the Archbishop of Canterbury or Bishop of London, and no consignments were to be opened until the representatives of one of these dignitaries and of the Stationers' Company were present. The name of the printer, the author, and the publisher was to be placed in every book, and, with a view to encouraging English printing, it was decreed further that no merchant or bookseller should import any English book printed abroad. No person was to erect a printing-press, or to let any premises for the purpose of carrying on printing, without first giving notice to the Company, and no joiner or carpenter was to make a press without similar notice.

The number of master printers was limited by this decree to twenty, and those chosen were:--

Felix Kingston.

Adam Islip.

Thomas Purfoote.

Miles Fletcher.

Thomas Harper.

John Beale.