The Beginnings of Printing in Anglo-Saxon Type, 1565-1630

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America

Volume

91

Issue

2

Publisher

The Bibliographical Society of America

Publication Date

1997

First Page

192

Last Page

244

Abstract

Printing in the Anglo-Saxon type began in the mid-sixteenth century in a burst of activity that was sustained for almost three centuries.2 Conceived in the crucible of religious controversy, Anglo-Saxon type continued to be used for political and polemical purposes, imbued with an extra-typographical quality it was never entirely to lose even when used for disinterested and scholarly purposes.3 The first intense phase of printing in Anglo-Saxon type was initiated by Archbishops Matthew Parker in about 1565 as part of his efforts to further the settlement of the Anglican Church, but was maintained for only a brief decade until his death in 1575. The next phase, from 1576 until 1610, was marked by the reprinting of a small number of antiquarian historical, legal, and topographical works that used limited quantities of Anglo-Saxon type. Beginning in 1610 other works began to appear that were also concerned with language, history, and the law, but most of all with the search for precedent and ancient authority. These works also used small quantities of Anglo-Saxon type to lend authority to the creation of a new historical vision of the English nation. This period after Parker's death was not, however, as time in which large-scale Anglo-Saxon texts were produced and represents something of a hiatus in terms of printing. This situation began to change in the 1620s as a reflection of a quickening interest in Anglo-Saxon. As a preliminary to the next phase, new treatises, requiring larger quantities of Anglo-Saxon type, appeared at a steady pace through the 1630s. By this time, under the patronage and prodding of Sir Henry Spelman, the universities had begun to take notice, and in 1639 a lectureship in Anglo-Saxon was established at Cambridge.4 In the 1640s full-length editions of major Anglo-Saxon texts began to appear, requiring large quantities of Anglo-Saxon type. This initiated the next major phase (one that is beyond the scope of this essay) centered on the universities, first at Cambridge and then at the end of the century at Oxford.

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