George Eld
Encyclopedia
George Eld was a London
printer of the Jacobean era
, who produced important works of English Renaissance drama
and literature, including key texts by William Shakespeare
, Ben Jonson
, Christopher Marlowe
, and Thomas Middleton
.
Eld was the son of a carpenter from Derbyshire
. He served an eight-year apprenticeship to bookseller Robert Bolton, starting in 1592, and became a "freeman" (a full member) of the Stationers Company
on 13 January 1600. He established himself in his own printing business in 1604, at the sign of the White Horse in Fleet Lane, by marrying the widow of not one but two master printers. His shop featured two or perhaps three presses, and four compositors — a substantial operation for the time. Eld entered into a partnership with Miles Fletcher in 1617; Fletcher took over the business once Eld died of plague
in 1624.
In his two-decade career, Eld printed a wide variety of works; when the printer is identified on title pages only with initials, researchers have used Eld's characteristic title-page device, "two volutes with foliage," for supporting evidence. He is the "G. E." who printed William Camden
's Remains of a Greater Work (1605
) for Simon Waterson, John Selden
's The Duello (1610
) for John Helme, and Peter Gosselin's The State Mysteries of the Jesuits (1623
) for Nicholas Bourne.
; the two produced more than twenty titles together. These included the first quartos of Jonson's Sejanus (1605), Volpone
(1606
), and The Masque of Blackness
and The Masque of Beauty
(in one volume, 1608
). They also issued John Marston
's What You Will
(1607
), and George Chapman
's All Fools
(1605) and The Conspiracy and Tragedy of Charles, Duke of Byron
(1608).
Thorpe and Eld were also involved in two "dubious publishing enterprises" — one, a failed attempt to print a work to which they did not have the rights, and the other, a successful piracy of some work by Thomas Coryat
.
first edition of Shakespeare's Sonnets
. In 1612
, Thorpe and Eld also issued a work of modern Shakespearean controversy, the Funeral Elegy that Donald Foster proposed as a work by Shakespeare, without convincing most scholars and critics.
More Shakespeare: Eld printed the 1609 quarto of Troilus and Cressida
, for Richard Bonian and Henry Walley. Some critics have complained that the text in this volume is so poor that it should be classed as a "bad quarto
;" how much blame for this should fall on Eld, and how much is due to a faulty manuscript source that Eld had to work with, is open to question. (Eld's Sejanus text, in contrast, is excellently printed.) Eld has also been identified as the printer of John Smethwick
's third quarto of Hamlet
(1611 in literature
).
for John Wright. And for William Aspley
, he printed one of the most controversial plays of the period, Eastward Ho
(three editions, 1605).
Eld printed first editions of a range of other texts in Jacobean drama:
is a good example — Eld also published work on his own authority. He was active in drama here too:
Eld published beyond the confines of Jacobean drama as well, with works like John Healey
's 1610 translation of The City of God by St. Augustine
. (That volume bore a dedication to William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke
, signed by Thorpe.) In 1622
he issued a volume of satires by John Taylor the Water Poet
called The Water Cormorant His Complaint. He published the types of religious books that were so common in his era, like Bishop Gervase Babington
's Works, Containing Comfortable Notes on the Five Books of Moses (1615). And inevitably, Eld published and printed many now-obscure works by forgotten authors. The title page of his 1606 edition of Robert Pricket's Time's Anatomy bears the inscription "to be sold by John Hodgets" — another demonstration of the printer/publisher's need for a retail outlet for his products.
's A General Inventory of the History of France, the book that provided Chapman source material for his tragedies on then-recent French history (including the Byron plays cited above). Eld followed this with several other large histories by Grimeston, partnering with fellow stationers Adam Islip, M. Flesher, and William Stansby
: A General History of the Netherlands (A. Islip and G. Eld, 1609), The General History of Spain (A. Islip and G. Eld, 1612), The General History of the Magnificent State of Venice (G. Eld and W. Stansby, 1612), and A General History of France (G. Eld and M. Flesher, 1624).
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
printer of the Jacobean era
Jacobean era
The Jacobean era refers to the period in English and Scottish history that coincides with the reign of King James VI of Scotland, who also inherited the crown of England in 1603 as James I...
, who produced important works of English Renaissance drama
English Renaissance theatre
English Renaissance theatre, also known as early modern English theatre, refers to the theatre of England, largely based in London, which occurred between the Reformation and the closure of the theatres in 1642...
and literature, including key texts by William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
, Ben Jonson
Ben Jonson
Benjamin Jonson was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, he is best known for his satirical plays, particularly Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair, which are considered his best, and his lyric poems...
, Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe was an English dramatist, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. As the foremost Elizabethan tragedian, next to William Shakespeare, he is known for his blank verse, his overreaching protagonists, and his mysterious death.A warrant was issued for Marlowe's arrest on 18 May...
, and Thomas Middleton
Thomas Middleton
Thomas Middleton was an English Jacobean playwright and poet. Middleton stands with John Fletcher and Ben Jonson as among the most successful and prolific of playwrights who wrote their best plays during the Jacobean period. He was one of the few Renaissance dramatists to achieve equal success in...
.
Eld was the son of a carpenter from Derbyshire
Derbyshire
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...
. He served an eight-year apprenticeship to bookseller Robert Bolton, starting in 1592, and became a "freeman" (a full member) of the Stationers Company
Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers
The Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. The Stationers' Company was founded in 1403; it received a Royal Charter in 1557...
on 13 January 1600. He established himself in his own printing business in 1604, at the sign of the White Horse in Fleet Lane, by marrying the widow of not one but two master printers. His shop featured two or perhaps three presses, and four compositors — a substantial operation for the time. Eld entered into a partnership with Miles Fletcher in 1617; Fletcher took over the business once Eld died of plague
Bubonic plague
Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...
in 1624.
Printer
In Eld's historical era, most stationers concentrated on either printing or bookselling; and most publishing was done by the booksellers, who commissioned the printers to print their works. Eld was primarily a printer during his career, working on specific projects for specific booksellers.In his two-decade career, Eld printed a wide variety of works; when the printer is identified on title pages only with initials, researchers have used Eld's characteristic title-page device, "two volutes with foliage," for supporting evidence. He is the "G. E." who printed William Camden
William Camden
William Camden was an English antiquarian, historian, topographer, and officer of arms. He wrote the first chorographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and the first detailed historical account of the reign of Elizabeth I of England.- Early years :Camden was born in London...
's Remains of a Greater Work (1605
1605 in literature
The year 1605 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*January 1 - The Queen's Revels Children perform George Chapman's All Fools at Court....
) for Simon Waterson, John Selden
John Selden
John Selden was an English jurist and a scholar of England's ancient laws and constitution and scholar of Jewish law...
's The Duello (1610
1610 in literature
The year 1610 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*Thomas Bodley makes an agreement with the Stationers' Company of London to put a copy of every book registered with them into his new Bodleian.-New books:...
) for John Helme, and Peter Gosselin's The State Mysteries of the Jesuits (1623
1623 in literature
The year 1623 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*February 2 - The King's Men perform Twelfth Night at Court on Candlemas....
) for Nicholas Bourne.
Thorpe
Eld worked regularly for Thomas ThorpeThomas Thorpe
Thomas Thorpe was an English publisher, most famous for publishing Shakespeare's sonnets and several works by Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson. His publication of the sonnets has long been controversial...
; the two produced more than twenty titles together. These included the first quartos of Jonson's Sejanus (1605), Volpone
Volpone
Volpone is a comedy by Ben Jonson first produced in 1606, drawing on elements of city comedy, black comedy and beast fable...
(1606
1606 in literature
The year 1606 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*May 27 - The English Parliament passes An Act to Restrain Abuses of Players, which tightens the censorship controls on public theatre performances, most notably on the question of profane oaths.*December 26 - Shakespeare's King...
), and The Masque of Blackness
The Masque of Blackness
The Masque of Blackness was an early Jacobean era masque, first performed at the Stuart Court in the Banqueting Hall of Whitehall Palace on Twelfth Night, January 6, 1605. The masque was written by Ben Jonson at the request of Anne of Denmark, the queen consort of King James I, who wished the...
and The Masque of Beauty
The Masque of Beauty
The Masque of Beauty was a courtly masque composed by Ben Jonson, and performed to inaugurate the refurbished banqueting hall of Whitehall Palace on January 10, 1608. It was a sequel to the preceding Masque of Blackness, which had been performed three years earlier, on January 6, 1605...
(in one volume, 1608
1608 in literature
The year 1608 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*January 10 - Ben Jonson's The Masque of Beauty is performed by Queen Anne and her retinue at the Banqueting House, Whitehall, a sequel to The Masque of Blackness....
). They also issued John Marston
John Marston
John Marston was an English poet, playwright and satirist during the late Elizabethan and Jacobean periods...
's What You Will
What You Will
What You Will is a late Elizabethan comedy by John Marston, written in 1601 and probably performed by the Children of Paul's, one of the companies of boy actors popular in that period....
(1607
1607 in literature
The year 1607 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*February 2 - The King's Men perform Barnes's The Devil's Charter at Court.*June 5 - John Hall marries Susanna, daughter of William Shakespeare....
), and George Chapman
George Chapman
George Chapman was an English dramatist, translator, and poet. He was a classical scholar, and his work shows the influence of Stoicism. Chapman has been identified as the Rival Poet of Shakespeare's Sonnets by William Minto, and as an anticipator of the Metaphysical Poets...
's All Fools
All Fools
All Fools is an early Jacobean era stage play, a comedy by George Chapman that was first published in 1605. The play has often been considered Chapman's highest achievement in comedy: "not only Chapman's most flawless, perfectly balanced play," but "also his most human and large-minded." "Chapman...
(1605) and The Conspiracy and Tragedy of Charles, Duke of Byron
The Conspiracy and Tragedy of Charles, Duke of Byron
The Conspiracy and Tragedy of Charles, Duke of Byron, Marshall of France is a Jacobean tragedy by George Chapman, a two-part play or double play first performed and published in 1608...
(1608).
Thorpe and Eld were also involved in two "dubious publishing enterprises" — one, a failed attempt to print a work to which they did not have the rights, and the other, a successful piracy of some work by Thomas Coryat
Thomas Coryat
Thomas Coryat was an English traveller and writer of the late Elizabethan and early Jacobean age. He is principally remembered for two volumes of writings he left regarding his travels, often on foot, through Europe and parts of Asia...
.
Shakespeare
Thorpe and Eld's most significant project was the 16091609 in literature
The year 1609 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*January 1 - the Children of the Blackfriars perform Middleton's A Trick to Catch the Old One at Court....
first edition of Shakespeare's Sonnets
Shakespeare's sonnets
Shakespeare's sonnets are 154 poems in sonnet form written by William Shakespeare, dealing with themes such as the passage of time, love, beauty and mortality. All but two of the poems were first published in a 1609 quarto entitled SHAKE-SPEARES SONNETS.: Never before imprinted. Sonnets 138 and 144...
. In 1612
1612 in literature
The year 1612 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*January 6 - Ben Jonson's masque Love Restored is performed.*January 12 - The King's Men and Queen Anne's Men unite for the first of two Court performances in January, with Thomas Heywood's The Silver Age*January 13 - The King's...
, Thorpe and Eld also issued a work of modern Shakespearean controversy, the Funeral Elegy that Donald Foster proposed as a work by Shakespeare, without convincing most scholars and critics.
More Shakespeare: Eld printed the 1609 quarto of Troilus and Cressida
Troilus and Cressida
Troilus and Cressida is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1602. It was also described by Frederick S. Boas as one of Shakespeare's problem plays. The play ends on a very bleak note with the death of the noble Trojan Hector and destruction of the love between Troilus...
, for Richard Bonian and Henry Walley. Some critics have complained that the text in this volume is so poor that it should be classed as a "bad quarto
Bad quarto
Bad quarto is a term and concept developed by twentieth-century Shakespeare scholars to explain some problems in the early transmission of the texts of Shakespearean works...
;" how much blame for this should fall on Eld, and how much is due to a faulty manuscript source that Eld had to work with, is open to question. (Eld's Sejanus text, in contrast, is excellently printed.) Eld has also been identified as the printer of John Smethwick
John Smethwick
John Smethwick was a London publisher of the Elizabethan, Jacobean, and Caroline eras. Along with colleague William Aspley, Smethwick was one of the "junior partners" in the publishing syndicate that issued the First Folio collection of Shakespeare's plays in 1623. As his title pages specify, his...
's third quarto of Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
(1611 in literature
1611 in literature
The year 1611 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*January 1 - Oberon, the Faery Prince, a masque written by Ben Jonson and designed by Inigo Jones, is performed at Whitehall Palace....
).
Others
Eld also printed the 1619 second quarto of Marlowe's Doctor FaustusThe Tragical History of Doctor Faustus
The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, commonly referred to simply as Doctor Faustus, is a play by Christopher Marlowe, based on the Faust story, in which a man sells his soul to the devil for power and knowledge...
for John Wright. And for William Aspley
William Aspley
William Aspley was a London publisher of the Elizabethan, Jacobean, and Caroline eras. He was a member of the publishing syndicates that issued the First Folio and Second Folio collections of Shakespeare's plays, in 1623 and 1632.-Career:...
, he printed one of the most controversial plays of the period, Eastward Ho
Eastward Hoe
Eastward Hoe or Eastward Ho, is an early Jacobean era stage play, a satire and city comedy written by George Chapman, Ben Jonson, and John Marston, printed in 1605. The play was written in response to Westward Ho, an earlier satire by Thomas Dekker and John Webster...
(three editions, 1605).
Eld printed first editions of a range of other texts in Jacobean drama:
- Samuel DanielSamuel DanielSamuel Daniel was an English poet and historian.-Early life:Daniel was born near Taunton in Somerset, the son of a music-master. He was the brother of lutenist and composer John Danyel. Their sister Rosa was Edmund Spenser's model for Rosalind in his The Shepherd's Calendar; she eventually married...
's The Queen's Arcadia (1606), for publisher Simon Waterson. - The anonymous Return from Parnassus (1606), for John Wright.
- The anonymous Caesar's Revenge (1606), also for John Wright.
- Barnabe BarnesBarnabe BarnesBarnabe Barnes , was an English poet. He is known for his Petrarchan love sonnets and for his combative personality, involving feuds with other writers and culminating in an alleged attempted murder.-Early life:...
's The Devil's CharterThe Devil's CharterThe Devil's Charter is an early Jacobean era stage play, a tragedy written by Barnabe Barnes. The play recounts the story of Pope Alexander VI.-Date, performance, publication:...
(1607), again for John Wright. - DayJohn Day (dramatist)John Day was an English dramatist of the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods.-Life:He was born at Cawston, Norfolk, and educated at Ely. He became a sizar of Caius College, Cambridge, in 1592, but was expelled in the next year for stealing a book...
, RowleyWilliam RowleyWilliam Rowley was an English Jacobean dramatist, best known for works written in collaboration with more successful writers. His date of birth is estimated to have been c. 1585; he was buried on 11 February 1626...
, and Wilkins'sGeorge WilkinsGeorge Wilkins was an English dramatist and pamphleteer best known for his probable collaboration with Shakespeare on the play Pericles, Prince of Tyre. By profession he was an inn-keeper, but he was also apparently involved in criminal activities.-Life:Wilkins was an inn-keeper in Cow-Cross,...
The Travels of the Three English BrothersThe Travels of the Three English BrothersThe Travels of the Three English Brothers is an early Jacobean era stage play, an adventure drama written in 1607 by John Day, William Rowley, and George Wilkins. The drama was based on the true-life experiences of the three Shirley brothers, Sir Anthony Shirley, Sir Thomas Shirley, and Robert...
(1607), once again for Wright. - Thomas TomkisThomas TomkisThomas Tomkis was an English playwright of the late Elizabethan and the Jacobean eras, and arguably one of the more cryptic figures of English Renaissance drama....
's LinguaLingua (play)Lingua, or the Combat of the Tongue and the Five Senses for Superiority is an allegorical stage play of the first decade of the 17th century, generally attributed to the academic playwright Thomas Tomkis.-Publication:...
(1607), for Simon Waterson. - Lording BarryLording Barry-Works:Barry is known as the author of one comedy, ‘Ram Alley, or Merry Tricks,’, 1611 and 1636, which was included in the second and subsequent editions of Robert Dodsley's ‘Old Plays.’ Anthony Wood says it was acted by the Children of the King's Revels before 1611....
's Ram Alley (1611), for Robert Wilson. - Chapman's The Memorable Masque of the Middle Temple and Lincoln's InnThe Memorable Masque of the Middle Temple and Lincoln's InnThe Memorable Masque of the Middle Temple and Lincoln's Inn was a Jacobean era masque, written by George Chapman, and with costumes, sets, and stage effects designed by Inigo Jones...
(1613), for George Norton. - Nathan Field's Amends for Ladies (1618), for Matthew Walbancke.
Publisher
Like some printers of his generation — Richard FieldRichard Field (printer)
Richard Field was a printer and publisher in Elizabethan London, best known for his close association with the poems of William Shakespeare, with whom he grew up in Stratford-upon-Avon.-Life and career:...
is a good example — Eld also published work on his own authority. He was active in drama here too:
- Eld printed and published both Q1 and Q2 of The Revenger's TragedyThe Revenger's TragedyThe Revenger's Tragedy is an English language Jacobean revenge tragedy, in the past attributed to Cyril Tourneur but is sometimes considered to be the work of Thomas Middleton by "Middletonians"...
(1607 and 1608). The play is now generally attributed to Middleton. - Also, Middleton's A Trick to Catch the Old OneA Trick to Catch the Old OneA Trick to Catch the Old One is a Jacobean comedy written by Thomas Middleton, first published in 1608. The play is a satire in the sub-genre of city comedy....
, again the first two quartos (both 1608). A printer who published usually had to arrange for a bookseller to sell the work in question; the title page of Q2 of A Trick specifies that the book is to be "sold by Henry Rocket." Yet when the third edition of A Trick appeared in 1616, Eld was no longer the publisher; he merely printed the volume for bookseller Thomas Langley. - The PuritanThe PuritanThe Puritan, or the Widow of Watling Street, also known as The Puritan Widow, is an anonymous Jacobean stage comedy, first published in 1607. It is often attributed to Thomas Middleton, but also belongs to the Shakespeare Apocrypha due to its title page attribution to "W.S.".-Date and...
, one of the plays of the Shakespeare ApocryphaShakespeare ApocryphaThe Shakespeare Apocrypha is a group of plays that have sometimes been attributed to William Shakespeare, but whose attribution is questionable for various reasons...
, was published by Eld in 1607. Another play now generally assigned to Middleton, Eld attributed it to "W. S." - Eld published Northward HoNorthward HoNorthward Ho is an early Jacobean era stage play, a satire and city comedy written by Thomas Dekker and John Webster, and first published in 1607. Northward Ho was a response to Eastward Ho by Ben Jonson, George Chapman, and John Marston, which in its turn was a response to Westward Ho Northward...
, by Thomas Dekker and John WebsterJohn WebsterJohn Webster was an English Jacobean dramatist best known for his tragedies The White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi, which are often regarded as masterpieces of the early 17th-century English stage. He was a contemporary of William Shakespeare.- Biography :Webster's life is obscure, and the dates...
, in 1607.
Eld published beyond the confines of Jacobean drama as well, with works like John Healey
John Healey (translator)
John Healey was an English translator. Among scanty biographical facts, he was ill, according to a statement of his friend the printer Thomas Thorpe, in 1609, and was dead in the following year.-Works:...
's 1610 translation of The City of God by St. Augustine
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo , also known as Augustine, St. Augustine, St. Austin, St. Augoustinos, Blessed Augustine, or St. Augustine the Blessed, was Bishop of Hippo Regius . He was a Latin-speaking philosopher and theologian who lived in the Roman Africa Province...
. (That volume bore a dedication to William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke
William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke
William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, KG, PC was the son of Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke and his third wife Mary Sidney. Chancellor of the University of Oxford, he founded Pembroke College, Oxford with King James. He was warden of the Forest of Dean, and constable of St Briavels from 1608...
, signed by Thorpe.) In 1622
1622 in literature
The year 1622 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*February 28 - Loiola, a Latin comedy mocking the Jesuits, is acted at Cambridge; the performance is repeated before King James I on March 12.*March 12 - Teresa of Ávila The year 1622 in literature involved some significant...
he issued a volume of satires by John Taylor the Water Poet
John Taylor (poet)
John Taylor was an English poet who dubbed himself "The Water Poet".-Biography:He was born in Gloucester, 24 August 1578....
called The Water Cormorant His Complaint. He published the types of religious books that were so common in his era, like Bishop Gervase Babington
Gervase Babington
Gervase Babington was the Bishop of Llandaff , Bishop of Exeter and Bishop of Worcester from 1597-1610.-External links:...
's Works, Containing Comfortable Notes on the Five Books of Moses (1615). And inevitably, Eld published and printed many now-obscure works by forgotten authors. The title page of his 1606 edition of Robert Pricket's Time's Anatomy bears the inscription "to be sold by John Hodgets" — another demonstration of the printer/publisher's need for a retail outlet for his products.
Grimeston
In 1607, Eld printed and published Edward GrimestonEdward Grimeston
Edward Grimeston was an English sergeant-at-arms and one of the most active translators of his day.-Life:He was sworn in as sergeant-at-arms to assist the Speaker in the Parliament of England on March 17, 1609/10. He married a daughter of Armiger Strettly. He had a son, Edward, and Sir Harbottle...
's A General Inventory of the History of France, the book that provided Chapman source material for his tragedies on then-recent French history (including the Byron plays cited above). Eld followed this with several other large histories by Grimeston, partnering with fellow stationers Adam Islip, M. Flesher, and William Stansby
William Stansby
William Stansby was a London printer and publisher of the Jacobean and Caroline eras, working under his own name from 1610. One of the most prolific printers of his time, Stansby is best remembered for publishing the landmark first folio collection of the works of Ben Jonson in 1616.-Life:As for...
: A General History of the Netherlands (A. Islip and G. Eld, 1609), The General History of Spain (A. Islip and G. Eld, 1612), The General History of the Magnificent State of Venice (G. Eld and W. Stansby, 1612), and A General History of France (G. Eld and M. Flesher, 1624).