Early Printed BooksDuff, E. Gordon (Edward Gordon)
History
Early Printed Books
Duff, E. Gordon (Edward Gordon)
Incunabula -- Bibliography; Printing -- History -- Origin and antecedents
Among the books which appeared in 1494, the _Fall of Princis_,
translated by Lydgate from Boccaccio, is the most remarkable. It is
printed throughout in the smaller type of the _Chaucer_, and at the
head of each part is a woodcut of particularly good execution. The
copy of this book in the British Museum, unfortunately imperfect,
was rescued from the counter of a small shop where it was being used
to make little bags or ‘twists’ to hold pennyworths of sweets. Each
leaf has been divided into four pieces. A _Grammar of Sulpitius_ and
a _Book of Good Manners_ were also printed with a date in this year.
In 1495 no dated books were issued, but the _Petronylla_ and _The Art
and Craft to know well to Dye_ must have been issued about this time.
In 1496, Pynson printed a small supplement to the first edition of
the _Hymns and Sequences_ printed at Cologne by Quentell, and in the
following year he issued a complete edition of the book, and an edition
of the _Horæ ad usum Sarum_. In the same year (1497) he printed six of
Terence’s plays, each signed separately so that they could be issued
apart. About this year were issued two interesting folios, _Reynard the
Fox_, and a _Speculum vite Christi_, with illustrations. In 1500 was
issued the _Book of Cookery_, of which the only known copy is in the
library at Longleat, and the splendid _Sarum Missal_, printed at the
expense of Cardinal Morton, and generally known as the Morton Missal.
Of updated books printed about this time we may notice especially,
editions of _Guy of Warwick_, _Maundeville’s Travels_, _Informatio
Puerorum_, a few small school-books, and a number of year-books and
other legal works.
About 1502-3, Pynson changed his residence from outside Temple Bar to
the George in Fleet Street, where he continued to the end of his life.
His career as a printer is curiously different from Wynkyn de Worde’s.
The latter was the popular printer, publishing numbers of slight books
of a kind likely to appeal to the public. Pynson, on the other hand,
was in a more official position as King’s printer, and seems to have
been generally chosen as the publisher of learned books. Wynkyn de
Worde printed ten slight books for every one of a more solid character;
with Pynson the average was about equal.
From 1510 onwards we find frequent entries relating to Pynson in all
the accounts of payments made by Henry VIII., and these show that
he was clearly the royal printer, and in receipt of an annuity. In
September 1509, he issued the _Sermo fratris Hieronymi de Ferraria_,
which contains the first Roman type used in England. In 1513 appeared
the _Sege and Dystruccyon of Troye_, of which there are several copies
known, printed upon vellum.
Pynson’s will is dated 18th November 1529, and was proved on 18th
February 1530. He was succeeded in business by Robert Redman, who had
been for a few years previously his rather unscrupulous rival.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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