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Notes
A grant from the Faculty Research Committee of the University of Alabama in Birmingham helped to fund the research for this essay. I am also grateful to the staff at the Folger Shakespeare Library, the British Library, the Bodleian Library, the Public Record Office, and the Cambridge University Library. To the following I am indebted for special help and courtesy: Miss Ann Pegrum and Mr. P. Walne at the County Record Office, Hertford; Miss Janet Foster, Archivist at St. Bartholomew's Hospital; Miss Eleanor Boulter at the Guildhall Library; Miss Aude Fitzsimons and Dr. Richard Luckett at the Pepysian Library, Magdalene College; and especially to Miss Robin Myers, Archivist at Stationers' Hall.
I am unable to offer a solution to the puzzling reference to a John Trundle in the letter from Sir Kenelm Digby to Viscount Conway in 1636 (see McKerrow, Dictionary) other than to say that this, obviously, cannot have been the publisher who died in 1626 and that there is no evidence that the publisher had a son. In this letter, sent from Paris on the last of January, Digby describes his search for books for Conway's library: "I am promised La conqueste du sang real for you, and the Legend of Sr. Tristram. . . ." He asks Conway to let him know what he wishes and also how much he is willing to spend, "for these are of the deerest bookes here." Later, near the end of the letter, he returns to the subject of books: "But that you may see by contributing of a mite to yr. treasury, what j would do if more j could; I haue searched John Trundle his shoppe of Paris, and haue found an Almanake and a Thesis of conclusions in the Sorbone, wch. for the pictures sakes adorning them j make bold to send y.r Lo: Wherein you shall find our Regall Jupiter in his owne shape thundering, and our glorious Apollo casting influences both w.ch our almighty Cardinall Leuelleth and reflecteth. But if j giue any further scope to these droleries j shall not haue roome to sett downe that wch. is my serious and necessary businesse wth. y.r Lo: that is, to professe myselfe as j haue vowed euer to be | yr. Lo: most humble and affectionate seruant. . . ." (I quote from the original in the Public Record Office, State Papers Domestic, 16/344 fol. 120-21; Plomer quoted part of the letter in 1904, p. 161; it is quoted in full in Bligh, pp. 197-198). The reference works that I have checked on the Paris book-trade do not mention a Trundle. It is just possible, noting the joking context in which the name is mentioned, that Digby means a certain kind of bookshop rather than any particular shop. Trundle's reputation as a dealer in "droleries" supports this possibility.
Arber 2:168. All references to Arber have been checked against the originals at Stationers' Hall and corrected whenever necessary. I cite Greg, BEPD, for all entrances of plays and their identifying numbers. I have silently changed all legal-year dates to the calendar year.
According to the records, Hancock was not very active in the book trade. He made only four entries in the Registers: for a "sadd Sonnet" on 24 February 1593 (Arber, 2:627); for a play "the owlde wifes tale" on 15 April 1595 (BEPD, p. 12); for "an enterlude of Valentyne and Orsson" jointly with Thomas Gosson on 23 May 1595 (BEPD, p. 12); and for a "gigg" on 26 May 1595 (Arber, 2:298). Apparently only The Old Wives Tale has survived. It was printed by John Danter for Hancock and John Hardie "to be solde at the shop ouer gainst Saint Giles his Church with-out Criplegate. 1595" (BEPD, #137). This was evidently Hancock's address. The Parish Register of St. Giles, Cripplegate, records the christenings and burials of several of his children and servants during 1583-1592 as well as the burial of a servant of a "wyddowe Handecock, bokebynder" in 1603 (Miller, p. 27).
There is a very doubtful reference in The Tempest. Trinculo, referring to Ariel's play on tabor and pipe, says, "This is the tune of our Catch, plaid by the picture of No-body" (TLN 1483-4). But the pun on "Nobody" and "Somebody" was common at the time.
For the defective copies, see note 6, below. I have not been able to trace the following titles: (1) the report of a sea battle, entered 17 June 1605 (Arber, 3:293); (2) "Diuerse Lamentable fiers," entered 7 March 1607 (Arber, 3:343), though one of these may be included in Fire From Heaven; (3) "Powles walkes or a gallant Dismasked," entered by Trundle and Richard Serger on 8 January 1608 (Arber, 3:367). A similar title had been printed by Creede to be sold by Matthew Lawe in 1604 (STC 17781); (4) an account of a murderer, "Morgan Colman," entered by Trundle and Joseph Hunt on 22 May 1609 (Arber, 3:410); (5) "The cold winter," entered conditionally on 12 March 1615 (Arber, 3:564). This may be The Cold Year, printed for Thomas Langley in 1615 (STC 26091); (6) "newes out of Lancashire," entered conditionally 12 September 1615 (Arber, 3:572); (7) "Guy of Warwick," entered 15 January 1620 and assigned to Langley on 13 December 1620 (BEPD, pp. 31-2), first extant edition 1661 (BEPD, #818); (8) "Judei oborantis Effigies," entered conditionally on 24 August 1620 (Arber, 4:40); (9) "The first & 2. pte of Tom Thombe," assigned to Langley 13 December 1620 (Arber, 4:44); (10) "Liue within Compasse" is apparently STC 20583, published by John Wright in the 1630's. Trundle may have published earlier editions of this title. He assigned it along with "Keepe within Compasse" to Wright on 24 January 1623 (Arber, 4:90). This assignment refers to "two copies," and the fee was charged accordingly. However, the entrance to Trundle was for one title, "Keep or liue within Compas," with a single fee paid (Arber, 3:642); (11) "A Catechisme called A Briefe exicon of the Christian faith. by J. C." and "A Sermon called, The foode of the soule. by A.D.," assigned to John and Cuthbert Wright on 5 July 1623 (Arber, 4:101). The latter title was apparently printed by Miles Flesher in 1624 (STC 6161). Trundle probably published some lost editions of Deaths Knell. The ninth and tenth editions of this title were published by his widow (STC 19684 and .1), and the title was then assigned to the ballad partners (Arber, 4:213). The same may be true of the "2d. part of Dr Merryman," also included in this assignment (cp. STC 21366).
The following titles were printed for Trundle with his address in the imprint: (1) Nobody and Somebody, entered 12 March 1606 (BEPD, p. 21, #229); (2) Two Faces under a Hood (STC 18495.5), cancel title-page, entered as The Bible Bearer, 22 April 1607 (Arber, 3:347); (3) Fire from Heaven (STC 13507), entered 14 August 1613 (Arber, 3:531); (4) Three Bloody Murders, 1613 (STC 18287), not entered; (5) Keep within Compass (STC 14898.5 et seq., several defective issues or editions), entered 19 February 1619 (Arber, 3:642); (6) Westward for Smelts (STC 25292), entered 15 January 1620 (Arber, 3:663); A Rod for Runaways, 1625 (STC 6520, two editions), not entered; (7) Three to One (STC 19529), entered 18 July 1626 (Arber, 4:163). The following were printed for him but have no address in the imprint: (1) Greenes Tuquoque, 1614 (BEPD, #323), not entered; (2) True and Wonderful (STC 20569, with the imprint reading: "Printed at London, by John Trundle"), entered 24 August 1614 (Arber, 3:553). Trundle entered The Life and Death of Gamaliel Ratsey on 2 May 1605 (Arber, 3:287), but the surviving copy lacks the title-page (STC 20753).
A curious entry occurs in the Register on 13 August 1608. William Welby entered "a booke called A marte for souldyours Coates procured by the Labour of John Trondell" (Arber, 3:388). Arber's italics make the "procured . . ." look like part of the title, but no such distinction, of course, is made in the original. I am not certain how to interpret this entry. Even if it means that the copy was procured by "Trondell," the publisher had no monopoly on the name. But the entry is certainly intriguing.
Two editions were printed for Trundle and Gosson and give no address; one edition, Room for Company, entered by Trundle on 22 October 1614 (Arber, 3:554), was "Imprinted at London for E. W." (STC 21315.4); and The Penitent Sonnes Teares, entered by Trundle and Richard Hodgkin or Hodgkinson on 16 September 1624 (Arber, 4:123), was printed for Trundle (STC 24435.5).
There is one other possible connection between Trundle and Butter. On 14 October 1614 Edward Allde, Trundle, and Thomas Snodham paid a fine of fifteen shillings "for printing a booke called the warres in Germany wthout license" (Jackson, p. 455). According to Jackson (p. 68, n. 1), this title refers to STC 11796, which was printed for Butter in that year. Jackson suggests that "Trundle evidently sold the book, and not Butter whose name it bears" (p. 68, n. 3). If this is the title in question, however, Trundle's habits suggest that he had something to do with the procurement of the copy, not the selling of it.
STC 14526.5. This shop may have belonged to Thomas Archer. In 1603 a newsbook was printed by Allde "for Thomas Archer and are to be solde at the little shop by the Exchange" (STC 18742). But this is apparently the sole instance in which Archer was associated with this exact address; his usual address was "Popes-head Pallace, neere the Royall-Exchange" (STC 18472, 6537, and 18455, all in 1607; STC 24080 in 1608). I have seen the "little shop at the Exchange" in one further imprint, a newsbook printed by Thomas Dawson in 1608 (STC 18258). RSTC says that Archer sold this edition.
Edgar was involved in fourteen publications during 1603-1608. He entered the titles of six of these alone and seven of them jointly (Trundle entered the remaining title). The editions, however, were sold at shops identified with other stationers. For example, Satans Sophistrie Answered was sold at "the signe of the Swanne in Pauls Churchyard," Cuthbert Burby's address (STC 19747.5 et seq). The Arte of Prophecying, entered by Edgar and Burby (Arber, 3:334), was also sold at Burby's address (STC 19735.4). A Mad World My Masters, entered by Edgar and Walter Burre, was sold at Burre's shop "in Paules Churchyard, at the signe of the Crane. 1608" (BEPD, p. 25, #276). And Hodgets sold three editions for Edgar: a newsbook (STC 1900, 1605); The Woman Hater (BEPD, #245, 1607); and The Three English Brothers (STC 18592). From the evidence of imprints, it does not appear that Edgar actually owned a shop until 1609 when he set up in St. Paul's Churchyard at the Sign of the Windmill (STC 24395 and STC 7469).
Barnaby Rich mentions St. Pauls and the Exchange as the daily haunts of the "News-monger" (My Ladies Looking Glasse, 1616, Giv [STC 20991.7]. Quoted in Herford and Simpson, 10:265.) It is possible that A Bloody Tragedy was issued with a variant or cancel-title-page giving Trundle's or another's address. RSTC locates only one extant copy of this edition.
BEPD, #235. Hodgets had moved to St. Paul's Churchyard by 1604. Earlier he was located in Fleet Street, near Fetter Lane end, at the sign of the Flower de Luce (imprints in STC 12294, 1601, and STC 18972, 1602). Most imprints between 1604-08 do not specify where his shop was located in the Churchyard. STC 1486, however, places him as "dwelling in Paules Churchyard a little be-neath Paules Schoole, 1605." Although most imprints after 1608 give no address, STC 24028 is "to be sould at the signe of the Kings Armes in Pauls Church-Yard. 1616."
Hodgets entered and published the following titles: (1) Ratseys Ghost (Arber, 3:291, STC 20753a); (2) a newsbook (Arber, 3:302, STC 13971); The Romish Spider (Arber, 3:313, STC 5704); and (4) The Dutch Courtezan (BEPD, p. 20, #214). (This entrance was conditional, and the title was later assigned by Edgar to Hodgets. BEPD, p. 28.) In addition to the titles mentioned in the text, he sold for other stationers: (1) A news report from Bergen-op-zoom (STC 1900), entered by Eleazar Edgar 12 October 1605 (Arber, 3:303); (2) A Defense of Church Government (STC 7081), entered by Henry Rocket 11 November 1606 (Arber, 3:332); (3) The Woman Hater (BEPD, #245), entered by Edgar and Robert Jackson 20 May 1607 (BEPD, p. 23); and (4) A report of the travels of the Shirley brothers (STC 18592), entered by Edgar 8 June 1607 (Arber, 3:352). He apparently also sold several editions of The Honest Whore in 1604-1605 (BEPD, #204), which had been entered to Thomas Man, Junior, in 1604 (BEPD, p. 20). Some of these imprints read "for" Hodgets, others "sold by" him. Another title, Westward Ho, was entered by Rocket on 2 March 1605, but the entry was crossed out (BEPD, p. 20). Hodgets sold an edition of this play in 1607 (BEPD, #257), though he may have been acting for William Jaggard, the printer of the edition. He probably also sold two other editions for Jaggard. A Woman Killed with Kindness was not entered, but Jaggard printed the first edition "to be sold" by Hodgets in 1607, and the title was reprinted by Isaac Jaggard in 1617 (BEPD, #258). Lady Pecunia was also not entered. John Jaggard had published the first edition in 1598, and in 1605, William Jaggard reprinted the title "to bee sold" by Hodgets (STC 1486). Hodgets evidently changed his manner of work in 1611. (There is no record of activity in 1609-1610.) During 1611-1624, he regularly entered copy which was then printed "for" him. And on 19 April 1613 he took over twenty-two copyrights which Edgar transferred in part or whole to him (Arber, 3:520-21).
In addition to the six editions noticed in the text, Marchant sold the following titles: (1) Londons Dove (STC 18588.5), entered by Joseph Hunt 12 May 1612 (Arber, 3:485). The imprint of one issue reads "for" Hunt, the other "for" Hunt, "sold by" Marchant. (2) Epithalamia (STC 25901), entered conditionally by William Welby 10 February 1613 (Arber, 3:515). (3) Epithalamium (STC 23722), not entered, two issues, one "for" Samuel Rand, the other "for" Rand, "sold by" Marchant. [These two books, as well as The Marriage Triumph, were all celebrations of the marriage of Prince Frederick and Princess Elizabeth. The fact that Marchant undertook to sell all three of these editions suggests that he, and apparently the publishers who employed him, was confident of his system of distribution.] (4) A Cast over the Water (STC 23741), not entered. The imprint reads "for" William Butler and gives his address but specifies that Marchant is the seller. (5) A newsbook (STC 18254). This imprint reads "for" Richard Lea and indicates both his shop and that of Marchant as the places of sale. (6) Theeues Falling Out (STC 12235), not entered, first published under a different title by Thomas Gubbin in 1592. The imprint here reads "for T. G. and are to be sould by R. [sic] Marchant at the Cross in Pauls Churchyard. 1615."
STC 24090. According to RSTC, the "widow" referred to in the imprint was Alice Gosson, Henry's mother. Henry Gosson used the Pannier Alley address several times during the years 1615-1622. In addition to the two instances noted in the text, this address occurs in the imprints of STC 24588, 1615; STC 23748.5, 1617; and STC 23742, 1622. Gosson also had a shop on London Bridge during these years: see imprints in STC 11403, 1608; STC 12724, [1610]; STC 5193, 1613; STC 19997, [1616]; STC 6993, 1617; STC 20746, 1619; STC 15120, [1620]; and STC 25088, [1620].
According to imprints, during the years 1605-1631 John Wright sold seventeen editions the titles of which had been entered by other stationers. During 1615-1640 Edward Wright sold nine editions the titles of which had either been registered by another or the imprints of which indicate "for" another and/or "sold by" Wright.
The number of "anomalous" title-pages that occur in plays published or sold by Hodgets causes Greg to suspect that Hodgets was "being used either as a cat's-paw or as a stalking-horse" (First Folio, p. 74, Note O). But variant imprints and cancel title-pages appear in editions other than plays and in instances in which there seems to be no reason for concealment (see, for example, STC 5704 and 5705, STC 7081 and 7082, STC 18592 and 18593). They may simply reflect some change in the business arrangement, or, on the other hand, they may be due to the manner of distribution.
In 1625 Trundle republished this broadside, with new statistics, under the title The Red-Crosse: or, Englands Lord Have Mercy upon Vs (STC 20823). The text with slight variation repeats that of the earlier plague bill, including the accounts of the history of the plague. There are several issues of this later edition. The copy at the Guildhall Library presents the deaths through 7 July; the two copies (printed on both sides of the same sheet) at the British Library give the statistics through 28 July (Lutton, III.69) and 4 August (Lutton, III.68). As well as the revised statistics, Lutton III.69 includes a preservative against the plague (strong tobacco) and a prescription for those infected (bayberries); Lutton III.68 omits the latter. (I have not seen the copy at the New York Public Library.) Gosson brought out still another edition in 1636 (STC 20824).
A more astute or imaginative bibliographer might be able to make more out of the coincidence of dates than I am able to. The two extant issues of the plague bill were printed in October 1603. Hamlet, Q1, can be dated as sometime after 19 May 1603 from the title-page statement: "As it hath beene diuerse times acted by his Highnesse seruants. . ." (BEPD, #197). Thus the edition appeared sometime in the ten-month interval between this date and the new legal year in March. RSTC also identifies Roberts (with William Jaggard) as the printer of STC 22869, a newsbook that Trundle had entered in 1605. This edition was, however, printed for Butter.
It is possible that Dekker wrote The Cold Yeare, 1615, which may be "the cold winter" entered by Trundle conditionally in that year (Arber, 3:564). Trundle also entered "Guy of Warwicke" as by Dekker and John Day in 1620 (BEPD, p. 31).
With regard to Trundle's access to play manuscripts, it is of interest to note that the defendants in the Markham suit were "chiefly Actors." These were, of course, Markham's subscribers, but the only publishers mentioned are Trundle and Henry Gosson. See Bentley, 2: "Players," passim.
Shaaber says that "this monster was too much even for the credulity of a credulous age and was laughed out of existence" (p. 154), perhaps alluding to Jonson's view that this was the kind of "Newes, that when a man sends them downe to the Shieres where they are said to be done, were never there to be found" (Herford and Simpson ed., 11. 49-51). Braitwait's reference occurs in Whimzies (STC 3591), B3 (quoted in Herford and Simpson, 10:600). The 1652 ballad is reproduced in Spufford (p. 95) and indicates that the story, or perhaps a shorter version in a ballad, had been reprinted. Unfortunately the ballad which tells "the manner of the killing of the serpent in Sussex," entered by Henry Gosson twelve days after Trundle's entry (Arber, 3:553), appears not to have survived.
The effect that was probably hoped for is described by Dekker in A Rod for Run-awayes where a "Farmers Sonne in Essex," being read to from a Trundle broadside, "fell into a swound, and the Calfe had much a doe to be recouered" (C1v).
This account, published by John Thomas, gives the victim's name as "Margret Hooper of Edenbyres" in Durham (Wing M2889; see Herford and Simpson, 10:266). Evidently a good news item never went out of date. The "Printer" in Jonson's News from the New World admits that he indulges in this practice (ll. 65-67, Herford and Simpson ed. See the similar reference in The Staple of Newes, 1.5.59-61).
Compare the entry on 17 June 1605 in which Trundle brought to the Hall "The copy of A letter" concerning a sea fight near Dover. It is to be his copy "yf he gett sufficient Aucthoritie . . . And shewe his aucthority to the wardens Then yt is to be entred for his copy Or yf any other bringe the Aucthority. yet it is to be the said Jo. Trundelles copy."
Shaaber queries whether Trundle also published an edition of The Iust Downfall (STC 18920). The surviving copy of this edition lacks the imprint, but the "I. T." (John Taylor?) associated with it refers to the author of the funeral elegy first published by Gosson in 1615 (STC 2361.5) and added to this edition. Some of Trundle's titles do, however, appear in this collection, which was published, according to surviving copies, by Richard Higgenbotham. (See RSTC.) There is no record that Trundle assigned these titles to Higgenbotham, but there is a connection between the two in the assignment of another broadside on 26 February 1616 (Arber, 3:583).
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