8 E. R. McDix on 



prove that both were printed at the same press and by the same 

 printer, or with type drawn from the same fount. The third 

 item is not now known to exist, and the authority for it is the 

 Venerable Archdeacon Cotton, at one time librarian of the Cashel 

 Diocesan Library and a celebrated bibliographer. He refers to 

 the little book and states it was in the Library of Trinity College, 

 Dublin, but it was stolen from there. At the date of the printing 

 of these three books, namely, in the reign of Queen Mary, the 

 printers of books on the Protestant side, such as these were, 

 would undoubtedly have been in danger of prosecution and per- 

 secution of some kind if pi-inted openly in London or most parts 

 of England, and at the time it was not uncommon to find false 

 imprints on books printed secretly in England which were liable 

 to be seized by the Government of the day. Therefore great 

 doubt has been thrown on the allegation that these three books 

 were printed in Waterford, and it is supposed to be merely a false 

 imprint. But, on the other hand, we have to remember that 

 there was no persecution of any kind in Ireland during that reign, 

 and an English printer coming to Waterford by boat could easily 

 have brought his press with him, the presses of the time being 

 comparatively small and capable of being carried about, and could 

 have set it up in Waterford and there printed books which could, 

 without much difficulty, have been conveyed to Bristol or some 

 other English port. Therefore I hesitate to join in the opinion 

 that the books were not printed here, and am rather inclined to 

 the belief that they wei'C. 



I may also mention that Mr. H. R. Plomer, another dis- 

 tinguished English Bibliographer, has given reasons in " The 

 Library " (for 1910) and referred to in " The Irish Book Lover," 

 for thinking that Hugh Singleton, a London bookseller and 

 printer, and connected in a business way with Humphrey Powell, 

 may have come over to Ireland and done some of his printing 

 here, and even printed the thi'ce " Waterford " books of 1555. 

 However some direct evidence is necessary before this can be 

 ac-cepted as a fact, 



