William Stansby
Encyclopedia
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
.
. At Christmas 1590 William Stansby was apprenticed to the London stationer John Windet; Stansby completed his apprenticeship and became a freeman of the Stationers Company
, the guild
of London printers and booksellers, on January 7, 1597. Stansby remained with Windet, working as a journeyman in his shop at the sign of the Cross Keys, until Windet's death in 1610. Windet left a half-share of his business (well equipped with three printing presses) to Stansby, setting him up as an independent craftsman. (The other half of the business passed to Windet's two daughters.)
At the time, the Stationers Company included booksellers and printer
s as largely separate classes: publishing was generally done by the booksellers, who hired the printers to produce their books, broadsheet
s and other printed matter. Some printers did some publishing as a secondary aspect of their primary business. Stansby followed the general pattern: the majority of his books were printed for booksellers to sell in their shops, while the remainder were works that Stansby published independently.
, Stansby printed several editions of the collected Poems of Michael Drayton
(1609–30), plus several of the later editions of prose works by Robert Greene
, like Menaphon (1616
, 1631
) and Never Too Late (1621
). Stansby printed collections of the sermons of Barten Holyday
for Nathaniel Butter
. (He also printed Holyday's only play, Technogamia
, for John Parker.)
For Edward Blount
, Stansby printed an English translation of John Owen
's Latin epigrams (1619
), and Six Court Comedies (1632
), the first collected edition of the plays of John Lyly
. And for Blount and William Barret, Stansby printed Thomas Shelton
's first English translation of Cervantes
' Don Quixote (2 volumes, 1612
).
Stansby printed works by Samuel Purchas
for Henry Featherstone, and works by Joseph Hall for Featherstone and for Butter. He printed Sir Walter Raleigh
's A History of the World (1614
) for Walter Burre
. And Stansby printed a wide range of works significant in their day but now largely forgotten. Sir Dudley Digges
's The Defence of Trade (1615
), printed for John Barnes, and William Slater's Palae-Albion (1621), printed for Richard Meighen
, are two of many examples.
Also for Meighen, Stansby printed the first edition of John Clavell
's A Recantation of an Ill Led Life (1628).
In some cases, printers are identified on title pages only by initials; yet bibliographers can employ title-page colophons and other clues to make identifications. On this basis, Stansby is the "W. S." who printed the second quarto of Shakespeare's Love's Labor's Lost (1631) and the undated fourth quarto
of Hamlet
(c. 1630), both for Smethwick. In 1617 Stansby printed the tenth edition of Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis
for William Barret.
's famous travelogue Coryat's Crudities
(1611
), and Thomas Lodge
's translation of the works of Seneca
(1614, 1620). George Sandys
's translation of the Metamorphoses of Ovid
came from Stansby's presses in 1626
.
Stansby continued to publish some works and authors originally issued by his master Windet. Perhaps the important example was Richard Hooker
's Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity; Windet had published editions in 1597 and 1604, and Stansby continued with editions in 1611, 1617, 1622, and 1631–32.
Like most printers who published, Stansby had to arrange for retail sale of his works. The title page of his 1620 edition of Jonson's Epicene
specifices that the work is sold by the bookseller John Browne.
Stansby's editions of two works by John Selden
, Titles of Honour (1614, 1631) and Mare Clausum (1635), were notable for being among the earliest English books that printed Arabic and Turkish words. The former book, in both editions, used carved woodblocks for its non-English terms; the latter was the first English book that used movable type to print Arabic.
One of Stansby's later projects was the 1634 edition of Sir Thomas Malory
's Le Morte d'Arthur
, which would be the last edition of that work prior to the revival of interest in Malory and his book in the nineteenth century. Stansby eventually sold his business to stationer Richard Bishop for £700.
in Bread Street the first Friday of every month. The group included figures with whom Stansby had known links, like Thomas Coryat, Samuel Purchas, and John Donne
, as well as a range of influential figures in politics and law. (Stansby printed Donne's first book, Pseudo-Martyr, for Walter Burre
in 1610.)
In one instance, Stansby got himself into much more serious trouble. Probably in 1620, Stansby printed a topical pamphlet for Nathaniel Butter: titled A Plain Demonstration of the Unlawful Succession of Ferdinand II, Because of the Incestuous Marriage of His Parents, the work criticized the 1619 accession of the new Holy Roman Emperor
. This was one of a series of pamphlets Stansby printed on the controversy that sparked the opening of the Thirty Years' War
. The title page of the pamphlet on Ferdinand II
bore the false claim that it was printed "at the Hague" — but the Stuart
authorities were not fooled; first Butter, and then Stansby, were arrested for violating the regime's strict censorship policy, and Stansby's presses were damaged. Petitions for mercy from both Butter and Stansby survive in the extant records; in his, Stansby places all the blame for the affair on Butter. Both men spent some months in prison over the matter, but were eventually released.
While a prison sentence is a more substantive matter than mere fines for breaking guild rules, Butter and Stansby were far from the only stationers who were incarcerated for their professional activities. Other prominent stationers of the era, like John and Edward Allde
, Nicholas Okes
, and Thomas Archer, shared similar fates.
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...
and Caroline
Caroline era
The Caroline era refers to the era in English and Scottish history during the Stuart period that coincided with the reign of Charles I , Carolus being Latin for Charles...
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
Ben Jonson folios
The folio collections of Ben Jonson's works published in the seventeenth century were crucial developments in the publication of English literature and English Renaissance drama. The first folio collection, issued in 1616, treated stage plays as serious works of literature instead of popular...
collection of the works of 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...
in 1616
1616 in literature
The year 1616 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*Nicolaus Copernicus' De revolutionibus is placed on the Index of Forbidden Books by the Roman Catholic Church....
.
Life
As for many individuals of his time, Stansby's date of birth is unrecorded — though the event likely occurred shortly before his baptism on July 8, 1572. He was one of fourteen children of Richard Stansby, a cutler from ExeterExeter
Exeter is a historic city in Devon, England. It lies within the ceremonial county of Devon, of which it is the county town as well as the home of Devon County Council. Currently the administrative area has the status of a non-metropolitan district, and is therefore under the administration of the...
. At Christmas 1590 William Stansby was apprenticed to the London stationer John Windet; Stansby completed his apprenticeship and became a freeman 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...
, the guild
Guild
A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...
of London printers and booksellers, on January 7, 1597. Stansby remained with Windet, working as a journeyman in his shop at the sign of the Cross Keys, until Windet's death in 1610. Windet left a half-share of his business (well equipped with three printing presses) to Stansby, setting him up as an independent craftsman. (The other half of the business passed to Windet's two daughters.)
At the time, the Stationers Company included booksellers and printer
Printer (publisher)
In publishing, printers are both companies providing printing services and individuals who directly operate printing presses. With the invention of the moveable type printing press by Johannes Gutenberg around 1450, printing—and printers—proliferated throughout Europe.Today, printers are found...
s as largely separate classes: publishing was generally done by the booksellers, who hired the printers to produce their books, broadsheet
Broadsheet
Broadsheet is the largest of the various newspaper formats and is characterized by long vertical pages . The term derives from types of popular prints usually just of a single sheet, sold on the streets and containing various types of material, from ballads to political satire. The first broadsheet...
s and other printed matter. Some printers did some publishing as a secondary aspect of their primary business. Stansby followed the general pattern: the majority of his books were printed for booksellers to sell in their shops, while the remainder were works that Stansby published independently.
Printer
As a printer Stansby worked for many of the booksellers of his era; he also worked repeatedly for several stationers over the years. For John SmethwickJohn 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...
, Stansby printed several editions of the collected Poems of Michael Drayton
Michael Drayton
Michael Drayton was an English poet who came to prominence in the Elizabethan era.-Early life:He was born at Hartshill, near Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England. Almost nothing is known about his early life, beyond the fact that in 1580 he was in the service of Thomas Goodere of Collingham,...
(1609–30), plus several of the later editions of prose works by Robert Greene
Robert Greene (16th century)
Robert Greene was an English author best known for a posthumous pamphlet attributed to him, Greene's Groats-Worth of Wit, widely believed to contain a polemic attack on William Shakespeare. He was born in Norwich and attended Cambridge University, receiving a B.A. in 1580, and an M.A...
, like Menaphon (1616
1616 in literature
The year 1616 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*Nicolaus Copernicus' De revolutionibus is placed on the Index of Forbidden Books by the Roman Catholic Church....
, 1631
1631 in literature
The year 1631 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*January 9 - Love's Triumph Through Callipolis, a masque written by Ben Jonson and designed by Inigo Jones, is staged at Whitehall Palace....
) and Never Too Late (1621
1621 in literature
The year 1621 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*August 26 - Barten Holyday's allegorical play Technogamia, originally produced at Christ Church, Oxford in 1618, is staged before King James at Woodstock Palace...
). Stansby printed collections of the sermons of Barten Holyday
Barten Holyday
Barten Holyday or Holiday was a clergyman, author and poet. He earned a Doctor of Divinity degree, and entered the clergy in 1615; he was appointed archdeacon of Oxford by King Charles I in 1626. Technogamia was his only play. In 1618, the year it was produced, Holyday served as Sir Francis...
for Nathaniel Butter
Nathaniel Butter
Nathaniel Butter was a London publisher of the early 17th century. The publisher of the first edition of Shakespeare's King Lear in 1608, he has also been regarded as one of the first publishers of a newspaper in English....
. (He also printed Holyday's only play, Technogamia
Technogamia
Technogamia, or the Marriages of the Arts is a Jacobean era stage play, an allegory written by Barten Holyday that was first performed and published in 1618.-Performances:...
, for John Parker.)
For Edward Blount
Edward Blount
Edward Blount was a London publisher of the Elizabethan, Jacobean, and Caroline eras, noted for his publication, in conjunction with William and Isaac Jaggard, of the First Folio of Shakespeare's plays in 1623....
, Stansby printed an English translation of John Owen
John Owen (epigrammatist)
John Owen was a Welsh epigrammatist, most known for his Latin epigrams, collected in his Epigrammata.He is also cited by various Latinizations including Ioannes Owen, Joannes Oweni, Ovenus and Audoenus....
's Latin epigrams (1619
1619 in literature
The year 1619 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*Richard Burbage dies in March; his place as the star of the King's Men is filled by Joseph Taylor.*René Descartes has a dream that helps him develop his ideas on analytical geometry....
), and Six Court Comedies (1632
1632 in literature
The year 1632 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*On February 14, Tempe Restored, a masque written by Aurelian Townshend and designed by Inigo Jones, is performed at Whitehall Palace....
), the first collected edition of the plays of John Lyly
John Lyly
John Lyly was an English writer, best known for his books Euphues,The Anatomy of Wit and Euphues and His England. Lyly's linguistic style, originating in his first books, is known as Euphuism.-Biography:John Lyly was born in Kent, England, in 1553/1554...
. And for Blount and William Barret, Stansby printed Thomas Shelton
Thomas Shelton
Thomas Shelton was the English translator of Don Quixote. Shelton's was the first translation of the novel into any language.-Life:...
's first English translation of Cervantes
Cervantes
-People:*Alfonso J. Cervantes , mayor of St. Louis, Missouri*Francisco Cervantes de Salazar, 16th-century man of letters*Ignacio Cervantes, Cuban composer*Jorge Cervantes, a world-renowned expert on indoor, outdoor, and greenhouse cannabis cultivation...
' Don Quixote (2 volumes, 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...
).
Stansby printed works by Samuel Purchas
Samuel Purchas
Samuel Purchas , was an English travel writer, a near-contemporary of Richard Hakluyt.Purchas was born at Thaxted, Essex, and graduated at St John's College, Cambridge, in 1600; later he became a B.D., and with this degree was admitted at Oxford in 1615. In 1604 he was presented by James I to the...
for Henry Featherstone, and works by Joseph Hall for Featherstone and for Butter. He printed Sir Walter Raleigh
Walter Raleigh
Sir Walter Raleigh was an English aristocrat, writer, poet, soldier, courtier, spy, and explorer. He is also well known for popularising tobacco in England....
's A History of the World (1614
1614 in literature
The year 1614 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*Sir Francis Bacon's dual role as MP and attorney-general is objected to by Parliament.*Izaak Walton owns an ironmonger's shop in Fleet Street, London.*Lope de Vega becomes a priest....
) for Walter Burre
Walter Burre
Walter Burre was a London bookseller and publisher of the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras, best remembered for publishing several key texts in English Renaissance drama....
. And Stansby printed a wide range of works significant in their day but now largely forgotten. Sir Dudley Digges
Dudley Digges
Sir Dudley Digges , of Chilham Castle, Kent , was a Member of Parliament, elected to the Parliament of 1614 and that of 1621, and also a "Virginia adventurer," an investor who ventured his capital in the Virginia Company of London...
's The Defence of Trade (1615
1615 in literature
The year 1615 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*January 6 - Mercury Vindicated from the Alchemists, a masque written by Ben Jonson and designed by Inigo Jones, is performed at Whitehall Palace....
), printed for John Barnes, and William Slater's Palae-Albion (1621), printed for Richard Meighen
Richard Meighen
Richard Meighen was a London publisher of the Jacobean and Caroline eras. He is noted for his publications of plays of English Renaissance drama; he published the second Ben Jonson folio of 1640/1, and was a member of the syndicate that issued the Second Folio of Shakespeare's collected plays in...
, are two of many examples.
Also for Meighen, Stansby printed the first edition of John Clavell
John Clavell
John Clavell was a highwayman, author, lawyer, and doctor.He is known for his poem A Recantation of an Ill Led Life, and his play The Soddered Citizen...
's A Recantation of an Ill Led Life (1628).
In some cases, printers are identified on title pages only by initials; yet bibliographers can employ title-page colophons and other clues to make identifications. On this basis, Stansby is the "W. S." who printed the second quarto of Shakespeare's Love's Labor's Lost (1631) and the undated fourth quarto
Book size
The size of a book is generally measured by the height against the width of a leaf, or sometimes the height and width of its cover. A series of terms is commonly used by libraries and publishers for the general sizes of modern books, ranging from "folio" , to "quarto" and "octavo"...
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...
(c. 1630), both for Smethwick. In 1617 Stansby printed the tenth edition of Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis
Venus and Adonis (Shakespeare poem)
Venus and Adonis is a poem by William Shakespeare, written in 1592–1593, with a plot based on passages from Ovid's Metamorphoses. It is a complex, kaleidoscopic work, using constantly shifting tone and perspective to present contrasting views of the nature of love.-Publication:Venus and Adonis was...
for William Barret.
Publisher
As a publisher, Stansby's most significant work was certainly the 1616 Jonson folio, which represented the first instance of a collected edition of the stage plays of a contemporary dramatist. He also published Thomas CoryatThomas 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...
's famous travelogue Coryat's Crudities
Coryat's Crudities
Coryat's Crudities: Hastily gobled up in Five Moneth's Travels is a travelogue published in 1611 by Thomas Coryat of Odcombe, an English traveller and mild eccentric.- History :...
(1611
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....
), and Thomas Lodge
Thomas Lodge
Thomas Lodge was an English dramatist and writer of the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods.-Early life and education:...
's translation of the works of Seneca
Seneca the Younger
Lucius Annaeus Seneca was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, dramatist, and in one work humorist, of the Silver Age of Latin literature. He was tutor and later advisor to emperor Nero...
(1614, 1620). George Sandys
George Sandys
George Sandys was an English traveller, colonist and poet.-Life:He was born in Bishopsthorpe, the seventh and youngest son of Edwin Sandys, archbishop of York. He studied at St Mary Hall, Oxford, but took no degree...
's translation of the Metamorphoses of Ovid
Ovid
Publius Ovidius Naso , known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who is best known as the author of the three major collections of erotic poetry: Heroides, Amores, and Ars Amatoria...
came from Stansby's presses in 1626
1626 in literature
The year 1626 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*Izaak Walton marries Rachel Floud.*John Beaumont is made a baronet.-New books:*Francis Bacon - The New Atlantis*Robert Fludd - Philosophia Sacra...
.
Stansby continued to publish some works and authors originally issued by his master Windet. Perhaps the important example was Richard Hooker
Richard Hooker
Richard Hooker was an Anglican priest and an influential theologian. Hooker's emphases on reason, tolerance and the value of tradition came to exert a lasting influence on the development of the Church of England...
's Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity; Windet had published editions in 1597 and 1604, and Stansby continued with editions in 1611, 1617, 1622, and 1631–32.
Like most printers who published, Stansby had to arrange for retail sale of his works. The title page of his 1620 edition of Jonson's Epicene
Epicoene, or the Silent Woman
Epicœne, or The silent woman, also known as The Epicene, is a comedy by Renaissance playwright Ben Jonson. It was originally performed by the Blackfriars Children, a group of boy players, in 1609...
specifices that the work is sold by the bookseller John Browne.
Stansby's editions of two works by 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...
, Titles of Honour (1614, 1631) and Mare Clausum (1635), were notable for being among the earliest English books that printed Arabic and Turkish words. The former book, in both editions, used carved woodblocks for its non-English terms; the latter was the first English book that used movable type to print Arabic.
One of Stansby's later projects was the 1634 edition of Sir Thomas Malory
Thomas Malory
Sir Thomas Malory was an English writer, the author or compiler of Le Morte d'Arthur. The antiquary John Leland as well as John Bale believed him to be Welsh, but most modern scholars, beginning with G. L...
's Le Morte d'Arthur
Le Morte d'Arthur
Le Morte d'Arthur is a compilation by Sir Thomas Malory of Romance tales about the legendary King Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, and the Knights of the Round Table...
, which would be the last edition of that work prior to the revival of interest in Malory and his book in the nineteenth century. Stansby eventually sold his business to stationer Richard Bishop for £700.
Sirenaics
William Stansby has been associated with the "Sirenaics" or "Sirenaical Gentlemen," a mysterious group that drew their name from their meeting place the Mermaid TavernMermaid Tavern
The Mermaid Tavern was a tavern on Cheapside in London during the Elizabethan era, located east of St. Paul's Cathedral on the corner of Friday Street and Bread Street. It was the site of the so-called Friday Street Club...
in Bread Street the first Friday of every month. The group included figures with whom Stansby had known links, like Thomas Coryat, Samuel Purchas, and John Donne
John Donne
John Donne 31 March 1631), English poet, satirist, lawyer, and priest, is now considered the preeminent representative of the metaphysical poets. His works are notable for their strong and sensual style and include sonnets, love poetry, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs,...
, as well as a range of influential figures in politics and law. (Stansby printed Donne's first book, Pseudo-Martyr, for Walter Burre
Walter Burre
Walter Burre was a London bookseller and publisher of the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras, best remembered for publishing several key texts in English Renaissance drama....
in 1610.)
Controversy
The records of the Stationers Company show that Stansby was repeatedly fined, throughout his career, for small infractions of the guild's rules — for printing copy to which he did not own the rights; for violating rules governing apprentices; even for speaking harsh words to colleagues. This sort of record was not atypical of stationers of the time; printing was a rough-and-tumble trade.In one instance, Stansby got himself into much more serious trouble. Probably in 1620, Stansby printed a topical pamphlet for Nathaniel Butter: titled A Plain Demonstration of the Unlawful Succession of Ferdinand II, Because of the Incestuous Marriage of His Parents, the work criticized the 1619 accession of the new Holy Roman Emperor
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
. This was one of a series of pamphlets Stansby printed on the controversy that sparked the opening of the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
. The title page of the pamphlet on Ferdinand II
Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor
Ferdinand II , a member of the House of Habsburg, was Holy Roman Emperor , King of Bohemia , and King of Hungary . His rule coincided with the Thirty Years' War.- Life :...
bore the false claim that it was printed "at the Hague" — but the Stuart
House of Stuart
The House of Stuart is a European royal house. Founded by Robert II of Scotland, the Stewarts first became monarchs of the Kingdom of Scotland during the late 14th century, and subsequently held the position of the Kings of Great Britain and Ireland...
authorities were not fooled; first Butter, and then Stansby, were arrested for violating the regime's strict censorship policy, and Stansby's presses were damaged. Petitions for mercy from both Butter and Stansby survive in the extant records; in his, Stansby places all the blame for the affair on Butter. Both men spent some months in prison over the matter, but were eventually released.
While a prison sentence is a more substantive matter than mere fines for breaking guild rules, Butter and Stansby were far from the only stationers who were incarcerated for their professional activities. Other prominent stationers of the era, like John and Edward Allde
Edward Allde
Edward Allde was an English printer in London during the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. He was responsible for a number of significant texts in English Renaissance drama, including some of the early editions of plays by William Shakespeare.-Life:Edward Allde was part of a family of professional...
, Nicholas Okes
Nicholas Okes
Nicholas Okes was an English printer in London of the Jacobean and Caroline eras, remembered for printing works of English Renaissance drama...
, and Thomas Archer, shared similar fates.