634 PRINTING 



The spirit and taste of the patrons of the first printers are shown in the character 

 of their earliest works, religious books and romances constituting the greater part of 

 the productions of the father of English printing. But the art, although at first coun- 

 tenanced by the clergy, was soon looked upon with extreme jealousy by the Church. 

 Efforts were made towards the publication of the Word of God ; but for the first 60 or 

 70 years all copies of the Scriptures were printed in the Latin or some other language, 

 not understood by the generality of the people. A new era had, however, arrived. 

 The doctrines of the Reformation had proclaimed the Bible as man's best guide and 

 teacher, and the people yearned to possess Bibles. "Wickliffe's translation was never 

 printed. The part of the Sacred Writings in the English language first produced by 

 the printing press was the New Testament, translated by William Tindal, assisted by 

 Miles Coverdale, afterwards Bishop of Exeter: it was printed at Antwerp, in 1526 ; 

 but as it gave offence to Wolsey and the Church, the whole impression was bought up 

 and burnt. The first complete English Bible printed by authority was Tindal's 

 version, revised and compared with the original by Coverdale, and afterwards exam- 

 ined by Cranmer, who wrote a preface for it. Of this edition, hence called ' Cran- 

 mer's Bible,' 500 copies were printed by Grafton and Whitchurch, to whom Henry 

 VIII., in letters patent, dated November 13, 1539, granted the sole right of printing 

 the Bible for five years. It was ordered by royal proclamation to be set up in all 

 churches throughout the kingdom, under a penalty of 40s. a month in every case of 

 neglect. So great was the demand for copies of the Scriptures in the 16th century, 

 that we have in existence 326 editions of the English Bible, or parts of the Bible, 

 printed between 1526 and 1600. 



The progress of the art in the first century of its existence was remarkable ; but the 

 earliest English printers did not attempt what the Continental ones were doing for the 

 ancient classics. ' Down to 1540, no Greek book had appeared from an English press; 

 Oxford had only printed a part of Cicero's Epistles ; Cambridge no ancient writer 

 whatever. Only three or four old Koman writers had been reprinted, at that period, 

 throughout England. But a great deal was done for public instruction by the course 

 which our early printers took ; for, as one of them says : " Divers famous clerks and 

 learned men translated and made many noble works into our English tongue, whereby 

 there was much more plenty and abundance of English used than there was in times 

 past." The English nobility were, probably, for more than the first half-century of 

 English printing, the great encouragers of our press: they required translations and 

 abridgments of the classics, versions of French and Italian romances, old chronicles, 

 and helps to devout exercises. Caxton and his successors abundantly supplied these 

 wants, and the impulse to most of their exertions was given by the growing demand 

 for literary amusement on the part of the great. Caxton, speaking of his " Boke 

 Eneydos," says : " This present book is not for a rude uplandish man to labour therein, 

 nor read it ; but only for a clerk and a noble gentleman, that feeleth and under- 

 standeth in feats of arms, in love, and in noble chivalry." But a great change was 

 working in Europe ; the " rude uplandish man," if he gave promise of talent, was 

 sent to school. The priests strove with the laity for the education of the people ; and 

 not only in Protestant but in Catholic countries were schools and universities every- 

 where founded. Here, again, was a new source of employment for the press 

 A, B, C's, or Absies, Primers, Catechisms, Grammars, Dictionaries, were multiplied in 

 every direction. Books became, also, during this period, the tools of professional 

 men. There were not many works of medicine, but a great many of law. The people, 

 too, required instruction in the ordinances they were called upon to obey ; and thus 

 the Statutes, mostly written in French, were translated and abridged by Baste!!, oar 

 first law-printer. 



' After all this rush of the press of England towards the diffusion of existing know- 

 ledge, it began to assist in the production of new works, but in very different directions. 

 Much of the poetry of the sixteenth century, which our press spread around, will last 

 for ever : its controversial divinity has, in great part, perished. Each, however, was 

 a natural supply, arising out of the demand of the people ; as much as the chronicles, 

 and romances, and grammars were a natural supply ; and as the almanacks, and 

 mysteries, and ballads, which the people then had, were a natural supply. Taken 

 altogether, the activity of the press of England, during the first period of our enquiry, 

 was very remarkable. Ames and Herbert have recorded the names of 350 printers in 

 England and Scotland, or of foreign printers engaged in producing books for England, 

 that flourished between 1471 and 1600. The same authors have recorded the titles of 

 nearly 10,000 distinct works printed amongst us during the same period. Many of 

 these works, however, were only single sheets, but on the other hand, there are, 

 doubtless, many not here registered.' Dividing the total number of books printed 

 during these 130 years, we find that the average number of distinct works produced 

 each year was 75.' Penny Magazine* 



