Publishing, Politics, and Culture The King's Printers in the Reign of James I and VI

by Rees, Graham; Wakely, Maria

• ISBN13: 9780199576319
• ISBN10: 0199576319
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-02-22
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This book presents the fullest account so far published of any London printing firm in the reign of James I. The King's Printing House stood at the top of the publishing trade-responsible for printing the Bible, and other works promoted by James. The office of King's Printer, held by Robert Barker, attracted the predatory attentions of the book-trade partnership of John and Bonham Norton, and John Bill. The ensuing bitter rivalries involved sharp practice, anddownright thuggery-with dramatic lawsuits to match. Barker was up against individuals who understood better than he that they were in business to promote the king's politico-cultural programme, and extend his influence at home and abroad. That is exactly what the Nortons and Bill did, and so effectivelythat Bill, with his unique experience of the domestic and continental book trade, eventually became the greatest London publisher of his generation.

Author Biography

Graham Rees was born in Salisbury on 31 December, 1944. He was educated at St. Albans School, and Birmingham University (School of English, and Shakespeare Institute). He has been Research Professor in the School of English at Queen Mary University of London since 1998. Director of the British Academy Oxford Francis Bacon, and of the AHRC King's Printer Project, he is a specialist in the history of early-modern science, and philosophy. He is a historian of the book, textual critic, and editor of Francis Bacon's Latin philosophical works. Maria Wakely was born in Stoke-on-Trent in 1953. She is an AHRC-funded Research Fellow at Queen Mary University of London. She gained her PhD (The Historical Consciousness of Ulysses), in 1996, and worked as a visiting Lecturer at Wolverhampton University until 1998. She worked for Prof. Graham Rees on The Oxford Francis Bacon Project from 1991 until 2002, initially in a voluntary capacity, and then as an AHRB-funded research assistant. She has been a member of The Oxford Francis Bacon Advisory Board since 1999. Since 2002 she has been working with Prof. Rees on the AHRC King's Printer Project (funded by The Leverhulme Trust, and then by the AHRC). She has organized several conferences in London, on Francis Bacon and printing and publishing in the early-modern period. She was invited to speak on editing and The Oxford Francis Bacon Project at 'La Sapienza' Universita di Roma in 2005, and at the Universita di Lecce at their 'Dottorato di Ricerca Internazionale' in 2004.