Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 22.djvu/317

 in May 1538 he proceeded to Paris to reprint the English Bible at the press of Francois Regnault. Coverdale, and probably Whitchurch, accompanied him. In November 1538 Coverdale's corrected English translation of the New Testament, with the Latin text, was 'prynted in Paris by Fraunces Regnault … for Richard Grafton and Edward Whitchurch, cytezens of London,' with a dedication to Cromwell. This is the earliest book bearing Grafton's name. But Grafton and Whitchurch chiefly concentrated their attention on the folio Bible, known as 'the Great Bible.' A license to print the book in Paris had been obtained at Henry VIII's request from Francis I. Bonner, then English ambassador in Paris, gave Grafton every assistance. Coverdale was assiduous in correcting the proofs. When the work was almost completed the officers of the inquisition raised a charge of heresy. An order was issued by the French government, 13 Dec. 1538, stopping the work and forfeiting the presses and type. Grafton escaped hastily to England. Many printed sheets were destroyed by the French authorities, but the presses and the types were afterwards purchased by Cromwell and brought to England. There the work was completed and published in 1539. Grafton and Whitchurch appear as the printers, but no place is mentioned. A London haberdasher named Anthony Marler shared with them the pecuniary risk. The price was fixed at 10s. a copy unbound, and 12s. bound. The engraved title-page is ascribed to Holbein. A royal proclamation ordered every parish to purchase a copy before the Feast of All Hallows 1540. A second edition, with a 'prologe' by Cranmer, appeared in April 1540. Half the edition seems printed by Grafton, and bears his name as printer. Whitchurch printed the other half. The third, fourth, and fifth editions (July 1540, November 1540, and May 1541) in the British Museum bear Whitchurch's imprint only. Some copies of the sixth and seventh editions (November and December 1541) were issued by Grafton alone. Grafton printed the Great Bible for the last time in 4to in 1553. A New Testament in English after Erasmus's text appeared in 1540 with the imprint of both Grafton and Whitchurch, but the Psalter in both Latin and English was printed in the same year in London by Grafton alone. 'The Prymer' in both English and Latin (1540) was 'printed in the House late the Graye Freers by Rychard Grafton and Edward Whytchurch.' Grafton's earliest official publication was a proclamation printed jointly with Whitchurch, dated 6 May 1541, directing the 'Great Bible' 'to be read in every church.' A proclamation (24 July 1541) commanding certain sacred feasts to be kept as holy days also bears the imprint of Grafton and Whitchurch. In 1542 Grafton printed such secular literature as an account of Charles V's campaign in Barbary, 'The Order of the Great Turckes Court,' and Erasmus's 'Apophthegms.'

Soon after Cromwell's fall Grafton is said to have suffered six weeks' imprisonment for having printed a 'ballade' in Cromwell's praise; but the story is told by Burnet and Strype without precise details. He is also said to have been summoned before the council for resisting the Act of Six Articles; but he soon regained the royal favour. On 28 Jan. 1543-4 Grafton and Whitchurch received jointly an exclusive patent for printing church service books (, Fœdera, xiv. 766). In the colophon of a primer printed 29 May 1545 Grafton was described as 'printer to the Prince's Grace,' i.e. to Prince Edward. On 28 May (37 Hen. VIII) he and Whitchurch received jointly an exclusive right to print primers in Latin and English. On 8 May 1546 Grafton printed, as sole printer to the prince's grace, 'The Gospelles and Epistles of all the Sundaies and Sainctes Dayes that ar red in the Churche all the whole yere' (Notes and Queries, 6th ser. xii. 108). Grafton remained Prince Edward's printer till his accession as Edward VI. On 22 April 1547 he was granted the sole right of printing the statutes and acts of parliament, and he was known as king's printer throughout the reign.

Grafton was the printer of the first Book of Common Prayer in 1549, and of the edition of 1552. In 1552 and 1553 he printed 'Actes of Parliament,' and his general books include Patten's 'Diary of the Expedition into Scotland,' 1548; John Marbeck's 'Concordance,' 1550, a fine folio; 'Vita et Obitus Henrici et Caroli Brandoni,' 1551; Thomas Wilson's 'Rule of Reason,' 1552 and 1553; 'Caius of the Sweat,' 1552; and Wilson's 'Arte of Rhetorique,' 1553, 4to. According to Norton's preface to Grafton's 'Chronicle,' Grafton aided the king in his charitable foundations, and devoted to them much of his private property. His printing office was, as early as 1540, within the precincts of the dissolved Grey Friars, afterwards Christ's Hospital. In 1560 Grafton is described by Machyn as 'chief master' of Christ's Hospital. It has been therefore suggested that Grafton resided there in an official capacity.

On the accession of Lady Jane Grey, Grafton printed her proclamation, and described himself in the colophon as 'reginæ typographus.' For this act he was deprived by