Page:A dictionary of printers and printing.djvu/285

 376

HISTORY OF PRINTING.

strete by Saint Dunstones Chyrche at the sign of the Geoige, by me, &c. Redman's will is dated the 2lst of October, 1540, and the probate on the 4th of November following, and is as follows : — " Robert Redman, stationer and freeman of London, in the parish of St. Dunstan's in the West, made his will the 21st day of October, 1540. His estates he left to his familv. Forty pence to be given to the poor, at the day of his death . Elizabeth, his wife, to be sole executrix; William Peyghan, and his son-in-law, Henry Smith, to be overseers of his will; and they have for their labour at the discretion of his executrix.

The number of works printed by Redman amount to seventy-six, chiefly law books. In 1540, he printed the Byble in Englytthe, folio; and in the same year, the Byhle in five parts or vnhimes, 16mo. And in 1538, an edition of the English New Testament, 4to. Cum priviUgio ad imprimendum solum.

The principal device used by Redman, was that which we have given in the account of Pinson, page 247 ante, but somewhat improved. He had likewise an engraving of his sig^n.

Elizabeth REnMtN the widow of the above, who afterwards carried on his typographical profession. Her maiden name was Pyckerynge, and she was subsequently married to Ralph Cholmondley, Esq. It is not known how long she continued to print; seven works bear her imprint, and her devices were the same as those used by her husband.

Matthew Cromer, a printer at Antweip, ex- ecuted the New Testament in English, with cuts.

1540. The earliest specimen of copper-plate printing known in this country, is found in a work entitled the Byrth of Mankynd, otherwise called the Woman's Book, dedicated to queen Catharine, and printed by Thomas Rayuald, in this year, with many small copper engravings, without name, in 4to.*

Tbomas Raynald was an ingenius printer, who resided in the parish of St. Andrew, in the Waredrop or Wardrobe; but in 1649, he kept a shop at the sign of the Star, in St. Paul's church yard. It has been imagined that he was a pbv- sician, and the author of this celebrated work.

The art of engraving upon copper must have travelled so slowly into England, that Sir John Harrington, in his translation of Arioslo, pub- lished in the year 1591, informs us, " that he never but once saw pictures cut in brass for any book except his own, and that book was Mr. Broughtons treatise on the Revelations; the others which he had seen in England with pic- tures, were Livy, Gesner, Alciat's Emblems, and a book de speclris, in Latin; and in the English tongue, the Chronicles, the book of Hawking

• T. F. Atkinson. Esq. of Oak House, near Manchester, has a CTirions old portrait In his inssession with the fol- lowing: inscription underneath : —

ITSTVS LiPSlTS ISCAKOS WAS TRI OLORT Or HIS TIKI,

TUK riSST IWDUCTOR Or rRINTINO AT TBI RCIUMO FRISS

AOBD 30.

R. Oajrvood, fecit. P. Stent, exe. No date. After diligent search no Information can be obtained of this wortbf, to whom we are so much indebted.

and Hwnting, and Whitney's Emblems; but tha the figures in these books were cut in wood.' He further observes, that according to Bagford the rolling-press was first brought into Englan< by John Speed, who procured one from Antwerj in the year 1610; but that Sir John Harringtoi had seen pictures cut in brass in England ir 1591; Bagford must have been mistaken, or soiii< other machine must have been used for the sain< purpose. Prints are to be found almost as sooi as printing; but it must be observed, they arc only cut in wood; the printers themselves usin^ such for their devices and rebuses. Caxton'i Golden Legend, printed in 1473, has in the be-

f inning a group of saints, and many other cuts ispersed uut>ugh the body of the work. The second edition of the Game of Chess, and the Death of Arthur, has also cuts. Wynkyn dt Worde, prefixed to the title of his Statutes, 1491. a plate with the king's arms, crests, &c. The same printer exhibited several books adorned with cuts. The subsequent printers continued to ornament their books with wooden cuts. One considerable work, published by John Rastell, called the Pastyme of the People, 1529, and Rastell's Chronicle, were distinguished by prints of such uncommon merit for that age, as to hare been ascribed to that celebrated artist, Hans Holbein. Grafton's Chronicle, printed in 156S contiined many, as those of William I. Henry VIII. queen Elizabeth, and others which are recorded by Ames. But though portraits were used in books, Mr. Walpole, in his Catalogue of Engravers,ob8erres, that he could find no trace of single prints being wrought off in that age. Those which composed part of the collection of Henry VIII. were probably the productions of foreign artists. The same author further says, that It was not till Raphael had formed Marc Antonio, that engraving placed itself by the side of painting.

1540. The Oratorio commenced with the priests of the Oratory, a brotherhood founded at Rome, in this year, by St. Philip Neri, who in order to draw youth to church, had hymns, psalms, and spiritual songs, or cantatas, sung either in chorus, or by a single favourite voice. These pieces were divided into two parts, the one performed before the sermon, and the other after it. Sacred stories, or events from scripture, written in verse, and by way of dialogue, were set to music, and the first part being performed, the sermon succeeded, which the people were induced to stay and hear, that they might be present at the performance of the second part. The subjects in early times were the good Samari- tan, the Prodigal Son, Tobit with the ang^l, his father, and his wife, and similar histories, which by the excellence of the composition, the band of instruments, and the performance, brought the Oratory into great repute; and hence this species of musical drama obtained the general appellation of Oratorio. Dr. Bumey says, it is certain that the modern tragedy is taken from the mysteries, and that the Oratorio is only a mystery, or morality in music.

VjOOQ IC