John Wolfe (printer) facts for kids
John Wolfe (around 1548 – 1601) was an English bookseller and printer. He was very ambitious and didn't like the system where only certain people had special rights to print books in Elizabethan England. This made his rivals and the authorities angry. He was even jailed twice and had his printing equipment taken away. But then, Wolfe completely changed. He became a strong supporter of these printing rights. By 1593, he was chosen as the official Printer to the City of London.
Early Life and Training
John Wolfe might have come from a family in Sussex. For a long time, people thought he was the son of a famous printer named Reyner Wolfe because they had the same last name and job. However, John Wolfe said in 1584 that his "poor old father" was still alive, which was about ten years after Reyner Wolfe had died.
Wolfe was a member of the Fishmongers' Company. This has led some to guess that his father might have been a fishmonger named Thomas Wolfe. If so, John Wolfe might have joined the company because his father was a member. But there's no clear proof for this idea.
On May 25, 1562, Wolfe started a ten-year apprenticeship with a printer named John Day. Apprenticeships usually ended when a person turned 24. So, experts believe Wolfe was born around 1548. However, Wolfe didn't stay for the full ten years. He said he worked for Day for "about seven years."
After his apprenticeship, Wolfe traveled to Italy to improve his printing skills. By 1576, he was in Florence, publishing religious poems. In 1579, he published his first books in England. He was one of the few people who weren't members of the Stationers' Company but were allowed to list their books in the official Stationers' Register.
One of his first books even went to the Frankfurt Book Fair in 1581. At least 20 more of his books appeared in the fair's catalogs between 1581 and 1591. This suggests he might have gone to the fair often. He also published an undated book by an Italian writer, Jacob Acontius, which might have been printed abroad. In this book, Wolfe said he was a servant of Philip Sidney.
At that time, the only other printer of Italian works in England was John Charlewood. Both Charlewood and Wolfe had printed books by Giordano Bruno.
Challenges with Printing Rights
In 1581, Wolfe started listing more books in the Stationers' Register. The next year, he set up his home and business near St Paul's Churchyard. He soon got into trouble with other printers. Wolfe was very eager to print books, and he started printing books that others had the special right to print.
On June 19, 1581, the Privy Council (a group of advisors to the Queen) told him off. They ordered him to stop printing Latin grammar books, which were the special right of Francis Flower. Another person he caused problems for was Queen Elizabeth I's own printer, Christopher Barker. Barker had the exclusive rights to print the Bible, the Book of Common Prayer, and official government laws.
Barker tried to get Wolfe to stop breaking his rules. He even offered Wolfe printing jobs with payment if Wolfe would switch from the Fishmongers' Company to the Stationers' Company. Wolfe got about £80 worth of printing work from Barker. But Wolfe didn't join the Stationers' Company. Barker also complained that Wolfe's work was so bad that it made Barker's own work look terrible.
Wolfe kept printing Barker's books even after their agreement ended. On May 14, 1582, Barker confronted Wolfe again, trying to make peace. Barker told Wolfe to "leave your Machevillian devices," meaning he thought Wolfe was being cunning and tricky. Wolfe demanded that if he joined the Stationers' Company, he wanted a promise of work, a £20 loan, and the right to keep his five apprentices (which was more than the company usually allowed). Barker found Wolfe "unreasonable to deal with," and they didn't reach an agreement.
Wolfe soon became a leader in a growing movement to get rid of the idea of special printing rights. He was jailed twice and faced legal problems for strong and disrespectful things he said about the Queen's government. In early 1583, the Stationers' Company told the Privy Council that Wolfe believed "it was lawful for all men to print all lawful books" no matter what the Queen ordered. In May 1583, authorities searched Wolfe's home. They took his printing materials and found he was running five printing presses, two of them in a "secret room."
Joining the Stationers' Company
Less than a month after his home was searched, Wolfe gave in to those who opposed him. On June 11, 1583, the Court of Aldermen ordered that Wolfe be moved from the Fishmongers' Company to the Stationers' Company. The change became official on July 1. Wolfe "admitted he was wrong" and was "lovingly received into the company."
Despite this, Wolfe continued his habit of printing illegally. He started printing copies of metrical psalters (songbooks) that belonged to his former master, John Day. When Day found out about Wolfe's trickery, he led a search of Wolfe's place and took printing materials. Wolfe challenged this search in court, saying Day had illegally damaged his property. He described a dramatic scene where Day's men were "grabbing his poor old father by the throat" and "beating and threatening his men." Day disagreed, saying the search was lawful and peaceful. The court didn't seem to take any action.
Within a month of Wolfe's complaint, Day died. His printing right for the metrical psalter passed to his son, Richard Day. To make things right, Richard Day chose Wolfe as one of five people to manage this printing right. Between 1585 and 1591, Wolfe was the only printer of metrical psalters for Day.
On July 23, 1587, Wolfe was appointed Beadle of the Stationers' Company. This meant he was an official who helped run the company. Wolfe now had power, and he used it with great enthusiasm. Officially, the Beadle's job was to maintain Stationers' Hall and call members to meetings. But Wolfe used his title to find and stop illegal printing. This was a remarkable change for a man who had openly challenged the authorities earlier.
He didn't feel bad about tracking down his former friends who were printing illegally. On April 16, 1588, he led a search of the home of one of these former colleagues, Robert Waldegrave. They seized Waldegrave's copies of John Udall's State of the Church of Englande. This search earned Wolfe more criticism from people at the time. They compared him again to the clever Machiavelli. One writer called him "alias Machivill...most tormenting executioner of Waldegrave's goods." Wolfe soon became a very helpful person in the Stationers' Company's fight against illegal printing. He helped in several legal cases the Stationers' brought against other printers.
By 1593, Wolfe had been appointed London's City Printer. Around this time, Wolfe changed from printing books himself to arranging for others to print them on his behalf. John Windet, who took over from Wolfe as City Printer, printed most of Wolfe's books after 1593. Wolfe died in early 1601. On April 6, 1601, Windet was chosen to manage Wolfe's belongings after he died. Wolfe's widow, Alice, sold many of his rights to print books to other stationers.
