History of Early Printing in Ireland 7 



Tower by the Crane," but in his last work in 1566 his address is 

 given as " St. Nicholas Street." 



Between 1551 and 1561 we have no evidence of where 

 Powell lived. He may have returned to London and come back 

 again here. His name appears among other members of the 

 London Company of Stationers, to whom Queen Mary and King 

 Philip granted their first Charter about the year 1556, and his 

 name appears again in the Confirmation of the Charter granted 

 by Queen Elizabeth in 1559. Even if he returned to London it 

 is probable that he left his press here with somebody to work it 

 for him. 



In the magnificent volumes recording all the Proclamations 

 relating to England, Ireland and Scotland from the earliest date 

 to modern times, prepared by the eminent bibliographer, Mr. 

 Robert Steele, at the cost of the Earl of Crawford and Balcarres, 

 in the section dealing with Ireland " appears notes of any Pro- 

 clamations which Mr. Steel met with in his almost exhaustive 

 research, but he did not find any others extant as printed by 

 Humphrey Powell, although he had evidence from MSS. of 

 Proclamations having been issued in the period. What became 

 of Humphrey Powell ultimately is not known. There were 

 several printers of that surname in England, and, at a later date, 

 some of them came over to Dublin, and there still exists in 

 Dublin a press called the " Powell " press. 



Before passing on I might allude to the disputed printing of 

 three books at Waterford in or about the year 1555. False 

 imprints, of course, were common probably when printers were 

 liable to imprisonment or fine, but as the printing presses of that 

 time were easily portable owing to their comparatively small size, 

 I do not see any difficulty whatever in assuming that a printer 

 who wished to escape penalties of the law in London may have 

 taken refuge in Waterford for a time, and there printed the 

 works in question. Let me refer to them a little more in detail. 



Only two of these works are known to exist, and only one 

 has an imprint, but the type of both is identical, and this would 



