ALSOP, Bernard ‹ LBT 08032 ›

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15001600170018001900

Floruit: 1603–1653

  floruit 1603 (A)—1653 (B);  Male, married

Life Events

Event	Date	Source
Burial	St.Giles Cripplegate Treadwell Notes

Family Relationships

Relationship	Name	Occupation	Comments	Conf
spouse:	WOOD, Elizabeth (mar. ALSOP) ‹ LBT 03196 ›	Printer		95
parent:	ALSOP, William ‹ LBT 33138 ›	Yeoman		60

Livery Companies

Company	Source
Stationers' Company

Occupations (1)

Occupation	Comment
Printer	Plomer, H.R. (1907); McKenzie, D.F. (1961) - Master

Was Apprentice to Master(s): (2)

Name	Premium	Paid By	Comments
LYMPENNY, Humfrey ‹ LBT 08281 ›
(unknown -- ref: ST/0:1291-q)

Had Apprentice(s): (5)

Name	Premium	Paid By	Date	Event	Comments
HORTON, George ‹ LBT 08852 › (fl. 1646-1646)				Bound
LEWIS, Robert ‹ LBT 08853 › (fl. 1627-1627)				Bound
WOOD, Abraham ‹ LBT 08855 › (fl. 1637-1637)				Bound
WOOD, Robert ‹ LBT 08856 › (fl. 1637-1657)				Bound
READE, Richard ‹ LBT 08952 › (fl. 1617-1617)				Turned-over

Addresses (4)

Date	Address	Trade at Addr	Source	Comment
1617000	Garter Place in Barbican (dw)		STC. vol.3, (1991)
1618	St Anne's Church, nr Aldersgate		STC. vol.3, (1991)	- house next to
1621-04-01	Distaff Lane, Old Fish Street		STC. vol.3, (1991)	- at the sign of the Dolphin
1625	Grub Street		STC. vol.3, (1991)	- near lower pump (dw)

Events (17)

Date	Event type	Description
25 Dec 1601	Bound	to Humphrey Limpenny (LBT/08281)
7 Jun 1603	Turned-over	first - to William White [LBT/]
7 Feb 1610	Freed - Servitude
2 Jun 1617	Appr - Turn-over/In	Richard Reade (LBT/08952) from Thomas Creede (LBT/07400)
6 Jul 1619	Appr - Freedom	Richard Reade (LBT/08952)
7 Feb 1620	Appr - Binding	Robert Lewis (LBT/08853)
25 Sep 1620		- Alsop warned "to avoid on Malkin (LBT/08854) a forrenor"
13 Mar 1621	Fined	- for keeping George Blackwell (LBT/09064) in his house
21 Aug 1626	Married	- to Elizabeth Wood (LBT/03196) at St Gregory by St Paul
1 Mar 1630	Appr - Binding	Robert Wood (LBT/08856)
25 Dec 1630	Appr - Binding	Abraham Wood (LBT/08855)
18 Jan 1633	Loan	- £12 from the Stock when available
24 Jun 1637	Appr - Binding	George Horton (LBT/08852)
11 Jul 1637	Star Chamber Decree	- listed as one of the twenty "to have the use of a Presse, or Presses and Printing-house"
14 Dec 1646	Appr - Freedom	George Horton (LBT/08852)
16 Aug 1647	Appr - Binding	Adam Marsh (LBT/11238)
8 Jan 1653	Buried	St Giles, Cripplegate

Sources and References

Original Sources	Comments
St.Co. Archive - Binding and Freedom records - extracted by Prof. J.A. Lavin

SOURCES & TRANSCRIPTIONS

Transcriptions

at St Giles Cripplegate S.T.C., (1991), vo.3, pp.4-5

Plomer, H.R. (1907), pp.3-4

ALSOP, or ALLSOPP (BERNARD), printer in London, (1) with T. Creed { CREEDE, Thomas ( - 1619) ‹ LBT 07400 › }, at the sign of the Eagle & Child; (2) Garter Place, in Barbican, 1617; (3) By Saint Anne's Church neere Aldersgate, 1618; (4) The Dolphin, in Distaff Lane, Old Fish Street, 1621; (5) Grub Street, in Honey Suckle Court, neere to the Flying Horse, 1641; (6) Grub Street, neere the Upper Pump, 1650 (1602-50). A native of Derby. Was apprenticed to Humphrey Lympenny { LYMPENNY, Humfrey ‹ LBT 08281 › }, stationer of London, for eight years from Christmas, 1601, but in 1603 he was transferred for the remainder of his term to William White { WHITE, William ( - 1618) ‹ LBT 07925 › }. [Arber, ii. 259.]

In 1616 he is found in partnership with Thomas Creed, a printer who had begun printing about 1580, and whose printing house was known by the sign of the Eagle & Child. Creed either retired from business or died in the following year, when Alsop appears to have succeeded to his printing materials, but whether he moved into new premises or whether the first and second imprints given above refer to the same place is not clear.

Nine years later he entered into partnership with Thomas Fawcett, or Forsett { FAWCET, Thomas ‹ LBT 08842 › }. In the year 1626 they were summoned before the High Commission for being concerned in printing Sir Robert Cotton's Short View of the Long life and reign of Henry the Third. Alsop admitted that he had purchased the manuscript of Ferdinand Ely { ELY, Ferdinand ‹ LBT 30670 › }, a secondhand bookseller in Little Britain. He and his partner only printed one sheet. They were also the printers of much of the dramatic literature of Beaumont and Fletcher, Decker, Greene, and other writers. Bernard Alsop was one of the twenty master printers allowed by the Act of 1637, but his partner was not mentioned. In 1641 he was sent for by the House of Commons for printing the Hertfordshire Petition. [Commons Journals, January 25th, 1641. See GREENSMITH, J.].

On the outbreak of the troubles with the King, Alsop and Fawcett printed several news-sheets, the best known being the Weekly Accompt of certain Special & Remarkable Passages from Both Houses of Parliament, which first appeared on August 3rd, 1643, and in the same year they were committed to the Fleet Prison for printing a pamphlet entitled His Majesty's Propositions to Sir John Hotham and the Inhabitants of Hull. They petitioned the House of Lords for their release, declaring that the pamphlet was printed by their servants during their absence. Beyond the imprisonment, which lasted for some months, no further punishment followed. [Lords' Journals, v. 214, 533.]

Bernard Alsop was reputed by his contemporaries to have printed pamphlets on Scotch affairs, using Evan Tyler's { TYLER, Evan ( - 1682) ‹ LBT 09234 › } imprint. Fawcett appears to have retired from the partnership about 1644.

Nothing is known as to the date of Bernard Alsop's death, but in 1653 his widow, Elizabeth Alsop { WOOD, Elizabeth (mar. ALSOP) ‹ LBT 03196 › }, is found carrying on the business. Creed's type and ornaments, when they came into Alsop's hands, had been in use many years and were getting into bad ondition, but his successor used them during the whole of his life. Consequently his later books are very poor specimens of typography, and his news-sheets were printed in the roughest possible manner.