INDUSTRIES 



since it is impossible to conceive of the name 

 being used in two different meanings by the 

 same printer, and thus, despite the attractive- 

 ness of Dr. Scott's theory, the St. Albans press 

 must still be credited to Hertfordshire. 



The second St. Albans press was that of John 

 Hertford, Harford, Herford or Hereford. In 

 the year 1534 appeared a small quarto with the 

 title : ' Here begynnethe ye glorious lyfe and 

 passion of Seint Albon, prothomartyr of 

 Englande, and also the lyfe and passion of Saint 

 Amphabel, whiche conuerted saint Albon to the 

 fayth of Christe,' of which John Lydgate was 

 the author. This title is above a woodcut of a 

 figure holding a cross, and on either side are two 

 border pieces which are recognized as having 

 formed part of the plant of a London printer, 

 possibly Wynkyn de Worde. The type is 

 ordinary black letter, not new, but in very fair 

 condition. Neither printer's name nor place 

 occurs on it. This book was printed at the 

 request of Robert Cotton, abbot of the monas- 

 tery, and it would seem as if Herford's press 

 was situated within the abbey precincts. 



His next venture, ' The confutacyon of the 

 first parte of Frythes boke . . . put forth by 

 John Gwnneth, clerke, 1536,' 8vo, was the work 

 of one of the monks of the abbey, who in the 

 previous year had signed a petition to Sir 

 Francis Brian on the state of the monastery .i» 

 This again has no printer's name, but has at 

 the end a device containing the letters R.S. 

 intertwined, standing no doubt for his patron 

 Richard Stevenage, who was at that time 

 chamberer of the abbey, and was created abbot 

 on the deprivation of Robert Cotton in 1538. 



Of the three books printed by Herford in 

 that year two were expressly printed for Richard 

 Stevenage. These were, ' A Godlye disputation 

 between Justus and Peccator and Senex and 

 Juvenis,' written by Dionysius de Leeuwis, 

 and ' An epistle agaynste the enemies of poor 

 people,' both octavos, of which no copies are 

 now known. The title-page of the first is 

 among the Bagford MSS. and bears the im- 

 print : ' Imprinted at St. Albans by me Jo. 

 Hereford for M. Richard Stevenage.' ^^ The third 

 work bearing the date 1538 was ' The Rule of 

 an honest Life,' written by Martin, Bishop of 

 Dumience. 



The reign of Richard Stevenage as abbot was 

 a short one, for on 5 December 1539 he delivered 

 the abbey over to Henry the Eighth's com- 

 missioners. Shortly before that event, on 

 12 October, Stevenage wrote to Cromwell, and 

 in this letter occurs the following passage : 

 ' Sent John Pryntare to London with Harry 

 Pepwell, Bonere [i.e. Bonham] and Tabbe of 

 Powles Churchyard, stationers, to order him at 



your pleasure. Never heard of the little book 

 of detestable heresies till the stationers shewed 

 it me.'i^ The John Pryntare here referred to 

 can be none other than John Herford, and the 

 book which caused the trouble is probably one 

 entitled ' A very declaration of the bond and 

 free wyll of man. The obedyence of the gospell, 

 and what the very gospell meneth.' The book 

 has no name of printer or date, but only the 

 name of the place. A copy of it is in the John 

 Rylands library at Manchester.^* In all, seven 

 books were printed at this second St. Albans 

 press. What punishment was inflicted on 

 Herford is unknown, but the suppression of the 

 abbey prevented him from returning to St. 

 Albans, and he accordingly set up in London in 

 1544, where he remained until his death in 1548. 



After the cessation of this second St. Albans 

 press an interval of nearly 130 years elapses 

 before we again meet with printing in Hert- 

 fordshire. The reason is to be found in the 

 successive Acts and decrees which, beginning 

 with the Star Chamber decree of 1583 and 

 continuing until the close of the 17th century, 

 forbade any printer to set up a press in any part 

 of England except London and the two Univer- 

 sities. The city of York was added to the 

 privileged places by an Act of the Common- 

 wealth passed in 1649, and during the period 

 of the Civil War printing was carried on in a 

 few towns such as Bristol, Exeter, Shrewsbury 

 and York, but this was done by the represen- 

 tative of the King's Printer and by Royal Com- 

 mand. After the fire of London the repressive 

 Acts fell into abeyance, and very slowly through- 

 out the 1 8th century printing became general. 



The following account of the third Hertford- 

 shire press, that of Stephen Austin of Hertford, 

 from which has developed the well-known firm 

 of Stephen Austin & Sons, Ltd., Oriental 

 printers, is from notes kindly supplied by the late 

 Mr. Vernon Austin, the descendant of Stephen 

 Austin, and Mr. Harrison, the managing 

 director. The firm was founded in 1768 by 

 Stephen Austin, who was apprenticed to George 

 Kearsley, of Ludgate Hill, London, the printer 

 and puljlisher of the newspaper known as the 

 North Briton, which was started by John 

 Wilkes, M.P. for Aylesbury, and Alderman of 

 London, in opposition to the administration of 

 Lord Bute, an opposition which was continueA 

 against the successive representatives of his 

 policy, and which eventually culminated in the 

 celebrated letters of ' Junius.' In the notoriouts 

 No. 45 of the North Briton, published in April 

 1763, the speech of King George III, with 

 which the session of ParUament had been 

 closed, was severely criticized to the extent of 

 asserting that the ministry had made the king 



10 L. and P. Hen. Fill, ix, 1 155. 



" Ames, Typographical Antiq. (ed. Herbert), 1436. 



12 L. and P. Hen. Fill, xiv (2), 315. 

 " DufF, Century, 70. 



261 



