A Short History of English Printing, 1476-1898Plomer, Henry R. (Henry Robert)
History
A Short History of English Printing, 1476-1898
Plomer, Henry R. (Henry Robert)
England -- Imprints; Printing -- England -- History
Their work in 1548 included a second edition of the _Consultation_ of
Hermann, the bishop of Cologne, Robert Crowley's _Confutation of Myles
Hoggarde_, a sermon of Latimer's, a metrical dialogue aimed at the
priesthood and entitled _John Bon and Mast Person_, and, as a relief to
so much theological literature, the _Herbal_ of William Turner.
The types used in printing these books were not a whit better than
anybody else's, in fact if anything they were a shade worse. There was
the usual fount of large black letter, not by any means new, another
much smaller letter of the same character, and a fount of Roman
capitals, very bad indeed. Whether these types belonged to Day or to
Seres it is impossible to say, but I think the smaller of the two
belonged to Day, as it is sometimes found in his later books.
The workmanship was no better than the types. There was no pagination in
these books, and no devices, and the setting of the letterpress was very
uneven.
In 1548 Seres seems to have joined partnership with another London
printer, Anthony Scoloker, and to have moved to a house in St. Paul's
Churchyard, called Peter College; but his name still continued to appear
with Day's down to the year 1551, when the partnership was dissolved,
Day moving to Aldersgate, but retaining his shop in Cheapside.
[Illustration: FIG. 18.--From a Bible printed by John Day. London, 1551.
4to.]
The most important undertaking of the partnership was a folio edition of
the Bible in 1549. This was printed in the smaller of the two founts of
black letter in double columns, with some good initials and a great
many woodcuts that had evidently been used before, as they extend beyond
the letterpress. Another edition printed by Day alone appeared in 1551,
in which a good initial E, showing Edward VI. on his throne, is found.
On the accession of Queen Mary, Day went abroad and his press was silent
for several years; meanwhile the ancient brotherhood of Stationers was
incorporated by Royal Charter as the 'Worshipful Company of Stationers.'
The existence of the brotherhood has been traced to very early times,
and it is frequently mentioned in the wills of printers and booksellers
in the first half of the sixteenth century. By the Charter of 1556 it
now received the Royal authority to make its own laws for the regulation
of the trade, although, as Mr. Arber has pointed out, the charter
'rather confirmed existing customs than erected fresh powers.' There is
abundant evidence that the Queen's main reason for granting the charter
was the wish to keep the printing trade under closer control.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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