Part 1

A HISTORY OF THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

1521-1921

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS C. F. CLAY, MANAGER

LONDON: FETTER LANE, E.C. 4

NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN CO. BOMBAY } CALCUTTA } MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD. MADRAS } TORONTO: THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. TOKYO: MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

A HISTORY OF THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

1521-1921

BY

S. C. ROBERTS, M.A.

SOMETIME SCHOLAR OF PEMBROKE COLLEGE

CAMBRIDGE AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS 1921

PREFACE

As may be inferred from the title-page, this book has been written to mark the four hundredth anniversary of Cambridge printing.

Of the original authorities used in its compilation the most valuable has been the large collection of documents relating to the Press which are preserved in the Registry of the University. Access to this collection has enabled me to glean some fresh information concerning the careers of the university printers and a series of accounts and vouchers from 1697 to 1742 has brought to light several new titles of books printed at Cambridge during that period.

The making of this book, however, would not have been feasible, in the limited time at my disposal, had I not been free to use the work of the pioneers, from Christopher Wordsworth and Henry Bradshaw onwards, and the chief items of this work are recorded in the short bibliography on page xiii.

In addition, my personal obligations are many: Mr Francis Jenkinson, University Librarian, Mr Charles Sayle, Mr A. T. Bartholomew, and many other members of the Library staff have helped me ungrudgingly, both in putting their own special knowledge at my command and in guiding me to the proper authorities; the Registrary (Dr J. N. Keynes) and his staff have similarly given me ready access to the documents in their charge; Mr J. B. Peace, University Printer, provided me with the picture which serves as frontispiece and with the revised plan of the Press buildings; Mr G. J. Gray corrected several of my statements in proof and gave me the benefit of his own latest researches into the career of John Siberch before they were published; to many other friends (including my colleagues in the several departments of the Press) I am indebted for items of advice and help too many to be enumerated.

I have also to thank the Master of Trinity College for leave to reproduce the portrait of Bentley; Messrs Bowes and Bowes for the blocks used on pp. 6 and 14; and the Cambridge Antiquarian Society for leave to make use of the papers on Cambridge printing published in their _Proceedings_.

* * * * *

Those who are familiar with the _Catalogue of Cambridge Books_ and the _Biographical Notes on Cambridge Printers_ will appreciate the measure of my debt to the work of the late Robert Bowes. When, in 1913, I sent him a copy of a magazine article on the University Press, he wrote:

I am by it carried back to my pleasant work of 25 to 30 years ago, and I am very glad in my 78th year to see younger men interesting themselves in the subject.

Time has robbed me of the pleasure of offering him a work which owes much to his research.

* * * * *

Finally, it should be stated that the book attempts to trace the general history of Cambridge printing and not to enter into the finer points of bibliographical technique. Similarly, only the briefest sketch is given of the growth of Cambridge publishing in the last 50 years; to do more would be to cross the border-line between history and advertisement. In Appendix II I have carried on the work begun by Mr Jenkinson for another 100 years. The list of books, though it may claim some new titles, makes no pretension to finality; it is rather a starting-point for the professed bibliographer.

S. C. R.

_1 August 1921._

CONTENTS

PAGE

PREFACE v

BIBLIOGRAPHY xiii

I JOHN SIBERCH 1

II THE CHARTER--THOMAS THOMAS AND THE STATIONERS 15

III FROM JOHN LEGATE TO ROGER DANIEL 30

IV PRINTERS OF THE COMMONWEALTH AND RESTORATION 62

V RICHARD BENTLEY--THE FIRST PRESS SYNDICATE 74

VI EIGHTEENTH CENTURY PRINTERS 101

VII THE EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY 120

VIII THE LATEST AGE 142

APPENDIX

I UNIVERSITY PRINTERS, 1521-1921 152

II CAMBRIDGE BOOKS, 1521-1750 153

INDEX 188

ILLUSTRATIONS

THE PITT PRESS BUILDING FRONTISPIECE (From a water-colour attributed to R. B. Harraden) PAGE

PART OF HAMOND'S PLAN OF CAMBRIDGE, 1592 6

A PAGE FROM _HENRICI BULLOCI ORATIO_, THE FIRST CAMBRIDGE BOOK 9

TITLE-PAGE OF THE SECOND CAMBRIDGE BOOK FACING 10

TITLE-PAGE OF FISHER'S SERMON FACING 13

TRADE-MARK OF JOHN SIBERCH 14

ORNAMENT USED BY THOMAS THOMAS 29

PETITION OF THE UNIVERSITY TO JAMES I, 1621 37

THE REPLY TO THE PETITION 39

PRINTING HOUSE OF THOMAS BUCK FACING 50 (Cole MSS. XLIII. 260)

TITLE-PAGE OF THE FIRST CAMBRIDGE EDITION OF THE AUTHORISED VERSION FACING 54

TITLE-PAGE OF _THE TEMPLE_, 1633 57

A PAGE OF _LYCIDAS_ WITH CORRECTIONS IN MILTON'S HAND 59

ORNAMENT USED BY BUCK AND DANIEL 61

_IMPRIMATUR_ FOR A BIBLE, 1662 66

ALMANACK, 1675 71

RICHARD BENTLEY FACING 74 (From the portrait in the Master's Lodge, Trinity College)

TITLE-PAGE OF BENTLEY'S EDITION OF HORACE, 1711 83

KUSTER'S RECEIPT FOR A PORTION OF HIS FEE 90

A COMPOSITOR'S RECEIPT, 1705 93

TITLE-PAGE OF _CHRISTIAN MORALS_, 1716 94

TITLE-PAGE OF BENTLEY'S _BOYLE LECTURES_, 1735 FACING 99

JOHN BASKERVILLE FACING 106 (From an engraving, after the portrait by Miller, reproduced in Straus and Dent's _John Baskerville_)

A PAGE OF BASKERVILLE'S PRAYER-BOOK, 1762 110

RIVINGTON'S ACCOUNT WITH THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, 1767 114

THE SENATE HOUSE, THE NEW LIBRARY, AND ST MARY'S CHURCH 119 (From _Cantabrigia Depicta_, 1763)

A PAGE FROM ISAAC MILNER'S NOTE-BOOK, 1800 121

PLAN OF THE PRESS BUILDINGS FACING 128

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cole MSS. British Museum. Minute Books of the Syndics of the Press. Registry MSS. relating to the Press. University Press Accounts.

ALDIS, H. G. The Book-Trade, 1557-1625 (_Camb. Hist. of Eng. Lit._ IV). Cambridge, 1909.

ALLEN, P. S. Opus Epistolarum Des. Erasmi. 3 vols. Oxford, 1906-13.

ARBER, E. A Transcript of the Registers of the Company of Stationers of London, 1554-1640. 5 vols. Privately printed, 1875-94.

BARTHOLOMEW, A. T., Catalogue of Cambridge Books bequeathed to the University by J. W. Clark. Cambridge, 1912.

BARTHOLOMEW, A. T., and CLARK, J. W., Richard Bentley, D.D. A Bibliography. Cambridge, 1908.

BOWES, R., Biographical notes on the University printers (_C.A.S. Proc._ V. 283-363). Cambridge, 1886.

Catalogue of Cambridge Books. Cambridge, 1894.

Note on the Cambridge University Press, 1701-1707 (_C.A.S. Proc._ VI. 362). Cambridge, 1891.

On a copy of Linacre's Galen de Temperamentis (_C.A.S. Proc._ IX. 1).

BOWES, R. and GRAY, G. J. John Siberch: bibliographical notes, 1886-1905. Cambridge, 1906.

BRADSHAW, H. Henrici Bulloci Oratio. With bibliographical introduction. Cambridge, 1886.

Cambridge Historical Register to 1910. Ed. J. R. TANNER. Cambridge, 1917.

CARTER, E. History of the University of Cambridge. London, 1753.

COOPER, C. H. Annals of Cambridge. 5 vols. Cambridge, 1842-1908.

COOPER, C. H. Athenae Cantabrigienses. 3 vols. Cambridge, 1858-1913.

CRANAGE, D. H. S. and STOKES, H. P. The Augustinian Friary in Cambridge and the History of its Site (_C.A.S. Proc._ XXII. 53). Cambridge, 1921.

DARLOW, T. H. and MOULE, H. F. Historical Catalogue of the printed editions of Holy Scripture. 4 vols. London, 1903-11.

DUFF, E. G. The English Provincial Printers, Stationers and Bookbinders to 1557. Cambridge, 1912.

DYER, G. Privileges of the University of Cambridge. London, 1824.

GED, W. Biographical Memoirs of. London, 1781, and Newcastle, 1819.

Grace Book _Α_. Ed. S. M. LEATHES. Cambridge, 1897.

_Β_ Parts I, II. Ed. MARY BATESON. Cambridge, 1903, 1905.

_Γ_ Ed. W. G. SEARLE. Cambridge, 1908.

_Δ_ Ed. J. VENN. Cambridge, 1910.

GRAY, G. J. Bibliography of the works of Sir I. Newton. Ed. 2. Cambridge, 1907.

Index to the Cole MSS. Cambridge, 1912.

John Siberch. Cambridge, 1921.

The earlier Cambridge stationers and bookbinders, and the first Cambridge printer. Oxford, 1904.

GRAY, G. J. and PALMER, W. M. Abstracts from the Wills of Printers, Binders, and Stationers of Cambridge, 1504-1699. London, 1915.

HART, H. Charles, Earl Stanhope and the Oxford University Press (Collectanea III). Oxford, 1896.

HERBERT, W. Typographical antiquities. Begun by Joseph Ames. 3 vols. London, 1785-90.

JENKINSON, F. J. H. On a letter from P. Kaetz to J. Siberch (_C.A.S. Proc._ VII. 188). Cambridge, 1890.

On a unique fragment of a book printed at Cambridge early in the sixteenth century (_C.A.S. Proc._ VII. 104). Cambridge, 1890.

LOFTIE, W. J. A Century of Bibles. London, 1872.

MONK, J. H. The Life of Richard Bentley, D.D. London, 1830.

MULLINGER, J. B. The University of Cambridge. 3 vols. Cambridge, 1873-1911.

NEWTH, S. On Bible Revision. London, 1881.

NICHOLS, J. Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century. 6 vols. London, 1812.

POLLARD, A. W. Fine Books. London, 1912.

REED, T. B. A history of the old English letter foundries. London, 1887.

ROBERTS, W. The Earlier History of English Bookselling. London, 1889.

SAYLE, C. E. Early English printed books in the University Library, Cambridge (1475-1640). 4 vols. Cambridge, 1900-7.

STOKES, H. P. Cambridge Stationers, Printers, Bookbinders, &c. Cambridge, 1919.

The Esquire Bedells of the University of Cambridge (_C.A.S. Publications_, 8º Series, XLV). Cambridge, 1911.

STRAUS, R. and DENT, R. K. John Baskerville. London, 1907.

WILLIS, R. and CLARK, J. W. Architectural History of the University of Cambridge. 4 vols. Cambridge, 1886.

WORDSWORTH, C. The Correspondence of Richard Bentley. 2 vols. London, 1842.

Scholae Academicae. Cambridge, 1877.

I

JOHN SIBERCH

Excursions into the realm of legend have long served as the traditional method of approach of the academic historian to his subject. True, the story of the foundation of the university of Cambridge by "one Cantaber, a Spaniard, about 370 years before Christ," or, as Fisher described him in 1506, "Cantaber, a king of the East Saxons, who had been educated at Athens," is now definitely rejected as unhistorical; but it was only in 1914 that the name of Sigebert, King of the East Angles, was removed from the list of royal benefactors[1].

University printing, like the university itself, has its Apocrypha. Edmund Carter, writing in 1753, includes a short section on _University Printers_:

Printing had not been long used in _England_ before it was brought hither, but by whom it is difficult to ascertain, tho' it may be supposed that _Caxton_, (who is said to be the first that brought this curious art into _England_, and was a _Cambridgeshire_ Man, born at _Caxton_ in that County, from which he takes his Name) might Erect a Press at _Cambridge_, as well as at _Westminster_, under the care of one of his Servants; (for it is Conjectured, he brought several from _Germany_ with him). The first Book we find an Account of, that was Printed here, is a Piece of _Rhetoric_, by one _Gull. de Saona_, a Minorite; Printed at _Cambridge_ 1478; given by Archbp. Parker to _Bennet_ College Library. It is in Folio, the Pages not Numbered, and without ketch Word, or Signatures.

Alas for Carter's pious suppositions! Caxton, according to his own testimony, was born in Kent and Cambridge can claim only to be the place of compilation of the _Rhetorica_; the phrase at the end of the book, _Compilata in Universitate Cantabrigiae_, no doubt led to the entry being made in the catalogue in the form _Rhetorica nova, impressa Cantab, fo._ 1478, and the mistake persisted for two centuries.

Nor is Oxford without a controversial prologue to the story of its printing. In the first Oxford book the date appears in the colophon as MCCCCLXVIII and for long it was sought to establish the claim that Oxford printing preceded Caxton. But though it has been contended that the ground for the claim "has not yet entirely slipped away," it is now generally accepted by bibliographers that the printer omitted an X from the date, which should in fact be MCCCCLXXVIII.

"The oldest of all inter-university sports," said Maitland, "was a lying match."

* * * * *

To return to Cambridge, we are on firmer, though not very spacious, ground, when we come to the name of John Siberch, the first Cambridge printer. "True it is," says Thomas Fuller, "it was a great while before Cambridge could find out the right knack of printing, and therefore they preferred to employ Londoners therein ... but one Sibert, University Printer, improved that mystery to good perfection."

Of the life of Siberch, either at Cambridge or elsewhere, we know little. He was the friend of several great humanists of the period, including Erasmus; he was in Louvain, evidently, in 1518. "I was surprised," writes Erasmus to John Caesarius on 5 April of that year, "that John Siberch came here without your letter."

The earliest appearance of his name on a title-page is in 1520, when Richard Croke's _Introductiones in rudimenta Graeca_ was printed at Cologne "expensis providi viri domini Ioannis Laer de Siborch."[2] His full name, then (of which there are many forms), is John Lair and his place of origin Siegburg, a small town south-west of Cologne.

A discovery made by Mr Gordon Duff in the Westminster Abbey Library in 1889 makes it almost certain that Siberch was already in England when Croke's book was printed; for in a copy of a book bound by Siberch there was found, besides two printed fragments and a letter from Petrus Kaetz[3], a portion of the manuscript of the _Rudimenta Graeca_. It seems clear, therefore, that Siberch was in England when proofs and 'copy' of the work were sent to him.

Richard Croke (afterwards the first Public Orator) was at this time the enthusiastic leader of Greek studies in Cambridge. He had earned fame as a teacher at Cologne, Louvain, Leipzig, and Dresden and, in succession to his friend Erasmus, was appointed Reader in Greek to the university in 1519. His text-book could not be printed in England, because there was as yet no Greek fount owned by an English printer; and it is quite probable, as Mr Duff suggests, that John Siberch, himself settled in Cambridge, had undertaken to have Croke's work printed by a friend, possibly by his old master, in Cologne. Possibly, too, Croke may have previously met Siberch in Germany and, with Erasmus, have been responsible for his coming to Cambridge. This, of course, is conjectural, but of the friendship between Erasmus and Siberch there is no doubt, since, in a letter from Erasmus to Dr Robert Aldrich, written on Christmas Day 1525, there is a message sent to "veteres sodales Phaunum, Omfridum, Vachanum, Gerardum, et Joannem Siburgum, bibliopolas."

From this it would naturally be inferred that Siberch was still in Cambridge in 1525, but his name does not appear in the Subsidy Roll of 1523-24 and it is probable, therefore, that, unknown to Erasmus, he left in the early part of 1523[4].

Siberch, then, probably lived in Cambridge from 1520 to 1523, a period during which the labours of the first Cambridge humanists were beginning to bear fruit. In 1497, the Lady Margaret, mother of Henry VII, had appointed as her confessor John Fisher, Master of Michaelhouse; and "to the wealth and liberality of the one," in Mullinger's words, "and the enlightened zeal and liberality of the other the university is chiefly indebted for that new life and prosperity which soon after began to be perceptible in its history."

To the Lady Margaret were due the foundation of St John's and Christ's Colleges and the Professorship and Preachership which bear her name; Fisher, afterwards Bishop of Rochester and President of Queens' College, was the first holder of the Divinity chair and it was at his invitation that Erasmus, who had taken a degree in divinity in Cambridge in 1506, came to live, in 1509 or 1510, in the turret-chamber of Queens'. Though it is, perhaps, as the first teacher of Greek (himself for the most part self-taught and not, as Gibbon says, the importer of Greek from Oxford) that Erasmus is most famous, the result of his first lectures was disappointing:

So far I have lectured on the grammar of Chrysoloras, but to few hearers; perhaps I shall have a larger audience when I begin the grammar of Theodorus, perhaps I shall take up a theological lectureship.

This last hope was fulfilled in 1511, when Erasmus was elected to the Lady Margaret's professorship of divinity. His letters are full of petulant complaints which may be taken as seriously as those of Gray in later years. He sees no hope of lecture-fees since his conscience will not let him rob 'naked men,' and only by touting does it appear possible to get pupils. The college beer is bad and the townsmen boorish. So he retires to his garret in Queens' and applies himself to his work on the New Testament (_Novum Instrumentum_) and his edition of St Jerome, both of which were to play an important part in preparing the way for the Reformation in England.

When weary of study, "for lacke of better exercise he would take his horse and ryde about the Market Hill." But he has words of praise for the Cambridge school of theology:

In the University of Cambridge instead of sophistical arguments, their theologians debate in a sober, sensible manner and depart wiser and better men.

It was to this Cambridge and, probably, to this patron in Cambridge that John Siberch came. The single reference to his place of residence and to his position in the university occurs in the _Annals_ of Dr Caius:

The space (he writes) between the gate of humility and the gate of Virtue was formerly occupied by a tenement called the King's Arms. This was once the residence of John Sibert, alias Siberch, the University Printer, who printed some books of John Lydgate and others, and of Erasmus when he was residing at Cambridge.

The "tenement called the King's Arms" explains the use by Siberch of the royal arms as a printer's device; but although _cum gratia et privilegio_ appears on the title-page of several books printed by him, there is no official confirmation of his having held the office of university printer[5].

There are entries, however, in _Grace Books_ and in the _Audit Book_ of the university which show that in 1520 or 1521 the university advanced to him the sum of twenty pounds:

Obligatur doctor Manfeld loco et vice magistri Norres pro summa pecunie quam recepit Johannes bibliopola ab universitate[6].

Probably, Mr Duff suggests, this sum of money--a larger amount than a university stationer's fee--may have been advanced with a view to helping Siberch in the establishment of a press.

The debt is entered in the proctors' accounts until the year 1524-25 and in _Grace Book B_ it is recorded under the date 1538-9 that John Law, an alien priest, with Drs Ridley, Bulloke, Wakefield, and Maundefelde owed £20 sterling to the university, for which they had given a bond with their signature and seals; reference is made to this bond in the _Audit Book_ under the dates 1546, 1549, and 1553. From the description of Siberch as "presbiter alienigena" Mr Duff infers that Siberch eventually forsook printing for the Church.

Such are the fragmentary references that have survived concerning the career of the first Cambridge printer.

* * * * *

Fortunately, however, eight complete specimens of his book-printing have been preserved:

I The first Cambridge book (of which a page is shown in facsimile) reflects the atmosphere of the time. It is the _Oratio_ delivered by Henry Bullock, D.D., Fellow of Queens' College and afterwards Vice-Chancellor, in honour of the visit of Cardinal Wolsey to the university in the autumn of 1520. The 'frequentissimus cetus' before whom the oration was given included the imperial ambassadors and several bishops.

The cardinal was lodged at Queens' College and both town and university delighted to honour him, as may be seen from the following items from the proctors' accounts:

To the Vicechancellor for expences in going round the town with the mayor, to cleanse the streets against the coming of the Cardinal, 2_s_ 2_d_.

Gifts to the Cardinal: for wine £3 6_s_ 8_d_; for carrying the same to Queens coll. 12_d_; for 2 oxen, £3 7_s_ 8_d_; for 6 swans, 28_s_ 8_d_; for 6 great pikes, 33_s_ 4_d_; for 6 shell fish, 4_s_ 4_d_; for a river fish called a breme, 6_s_ 8_d_.

For repairing the streets on the Cardinal's coming, 13_d_.

To 2 scholars who carried an altar on the coming of the Cardinal, 4_d_.

The style of the oration is even more lavish than the ceremonial preparations. "Scarcely from the obsequious senates of Tiberius and Domitian did the incense of flattery rise in denser volume or in coarser fumes."[7]

Bradshaw pointed out that the type used for the printing of the _Oratio_ appears to be quite new. Many of the lines are wavy and irregular and there are no woodcut initials or ornaments of any kind. The second imprint, at the end of the book, runs: _Impressa est haec oratiūcula Cantabrigiae, per me Ioannem Siberch, post natum saluatorem, Millesimo quingentesimo uicesimoprimo. Mense Februario._ A second impression was printed a few months later and issued with Siberch's third book.

Four libraries possess copies: the British Museum; the Bodleian Library; Lambeth Palace; and Archbishop Marsh's Library, St Patrick's, Dublin. Cambridge unfortunately has no copy.

II The second Cambridge book is the rarest of all those printed by Siberch, only one copy (John Selden's, bequeathed to the Bodleian Library in 1659) having been preserved.