Publishing, Politics, and Culture

Based on hitherto unexplored and unpublished legal and business records, this study presents the fullest account so far published of any London printing firm in the reign of James I. In particular it examines the businesses of men associated with that crucial instrument of cultural production-the King's Printing House. This institution stood four-square at the top of the London printing and publishing trade, for it monopolized the right to print the Bible, Book of Common Prayer, and other indispensable works promoted or encouraged by the king. The office of King's Printer, initially owned by Robert Barker, was potentially very lucrative, and so attracted the predatory attentions of the prosperous book-trade partnership of John and Bonham Norton, and John Bill. The stage was set for bitter rivalry between Barker and his opponents, rivalry which involved sharp practice, deceit, bullying, and downright thuggery-with lawsuits to match. Barker was no fool yet he was up against very able, resourceful individuals who understood better than Barker 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 John Norton and John Bill did, and to such good effect and with his unique experience of the domestic and continental book trade, Bill eventually became the greatest London book trader, printer, publisher, disseminator of ideas, and cultural entrepreneur of his generation.

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' Università di Roma in 2005, and at the Università di Lecce at their 'Dottorato di Ricerca Internazionale' in 2004.