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Floruit: 1578–1619
floruit 1578 (A)—1619 (B); Male
Life Events
| Event |
Date |
Source
|
| Death |
possibly- 1619 STC, vol.3, (1991) = 1619? |
|
Livery Companies
| Company |
Source
|
| Stationers' Company |
|
Occupations (1)
| Occupation |
Comment
|
| Printer |
McKerrow, R.B. &c. (1910)
|
Had Apprentice(s): (8)
Addresses (3)
| Date |
Address |
Trade at Addr |
Source |
Comment
|
| 1594, (1594-5) |
Thames Street |
|
McKerrow, R.B. &c. (1910); STC. vol.3, (1991) |
- at the Catherine Wheel, near the Old Swan (dw)
|
| 1600, (1600) |
Watling Street |
|
STC. vol.3, (1991) |
- against the sign of the Cock
|
| 1600, (1600-17) |
Old Change |
|
McKerrow, R.B. &c. (1910); STC. vol.3, (1991) |
- at Eagle & Child, near Old Fish St (dw)
|
Events (15)
Sources and References
| Original Sources |
Comments
|
| St.Co. Archive - Binding and Freedom records - extracted by Prof. J.A. Lavin |
|
SOURCES & TRANSCRIPTIONS
Transcriptions
S.T.C., (1991), vol.3, p47
McKerrow, R.B. &c. (1910), pp.80-1
CREEDE (THOMAS), printer in London, 1593-1617; (1) The Catherine Wheel in Thames Street, 1593-1600; (2) The Eagle and Child in the Old Exchange, 1600-17. Thomas Creede's birthplace is unknown. The first heard of him is in 1578 when he was made a freeman of the Company of Stationers by the printer Thomas East { EAST, Thomas (1540 - 1608) ‹ LBT 07395 › – there is no record of binding} [Arber, ii. 679]. He appears to have remained a journeyman until 1593, when he opened a printing office at the Catherine Wheel in Thames Street, and made his first entry in the Registers. His office was stocked with a varied assortment of letter and his workmanship was superior to that of many of his contemporaries. He was employed by the great Elizabethan publisher William Ponsonby { PONSONBY, William ( - 1603) ‹ LBT 08175 › }, and not only did he print several of Shakespeare's plays, but much of the best literature of the time passed through his press, as well as numerous ballads, broadsides, etc. In 1594 he printed The First Part of the Contention betwixt the two famous Houses of York and Lancaster and The true Tragedie of Richard the third, and in 1598 The famous Victories of Henry Vth. The first of these was the old play upon which Shakespeare founded The Second Part of King Henry VI, while the Famous Victories of Henry V was used by him in his First and Second parts of Henry IV and Henry V. Creed was also the printer and publisher of the pseudo-Shakespearian play The Lamentable Tragedy of Locrine in 1595. His first genuine Shakespeare quarto was the second edition of Richard III, printed for Andrew Wise { WYTHES, Andrew ‹ LBT 08479 › } in 1598. This was followed in the next year by the second quarto of Romeo and Juliet, which he printed for Cuthbert Burby{ BURBY, Cuthbert ( - 1607) ‹ LBT 08823 › }, and in 1600 he put to press for Thomas Millington { MILLINGTON, Thomas ‹ LBT 07079 › } and John Busby { BUSBY, John ( - 1613) ‹ LBT 08762 › } The chronicle history of Henry the fift. During 1602 the first quarto of The Merrv Wives of Windsor, the second quarto of Henry V, and the third quarto of Richard III all came from his press. In 1616 Creed took into partnership Bernard Alsop { ALSOP, Bernard ‹ LBT 08032 › }, who in the following year succeeded to the business on the retirement or death of Creed. Creed used as a device a figure of Truth crowned but stript and being beaten with a scourge held by a hand issuing from the clouds. [Library, April, 1906, pp. 155-7.]