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14501940
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Floruit: 1584–1610
floruit 1584 (A)—1610 (A); Male
Livery Companies
| Company |
Source
|
| Stationers' Company |
|
Occupations (1)
| Occupation |
Comment
|
| Printer |
McKerrow, R.B. &c. (1910)
|
Was Apprentice to Master(s): (1)
Had Apprentice(s): (4)
Addresses (2)
Events (3)
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, p.155
McKerrow, R.B. &c. (1910), pp.245-6
SIMMES or SYMMES (VALENTINE), printer in London, 1585-? 1622; (1) The White Swan in Addle or Addling Hill; (2) White Friars neere the Mulberry Tree, 1610. Son of Richard Symmes of Adderbury, co. Oxford, shereman. Apprentice for eight years from Christmas, 1576, to Henry Sutton { SUTTON, Henry ( - 1581) ‹ LBT 08527 › }, stationer of London [Arber, ii. 74]. Henry Sutton was a bookseller, and at his own desire Simmes was transferred to Henry Bynneman { BYNNEMAN, Henry (1542 - 1583) ‹ LBT 07678 › }, a printer. Bynneman died in 1584, and in the following year Simmes was presented for his freedom by Joane { SUTTON, Joan ‹ LBT 03256 › } the widow of Henry Sutton [Arber, ii. 694]. From the outset of his career he was constantly in trouble for printing books that were obnoxious to the authorities, or were the property of other men. Thus in 1589 he was arrested as one of the compositors of the Martin Marprelate press. In 1595 he was caught printing the " Grammar and Accidence" and his press was seized, his type melted and he was compelled to transfer his apprentice to James Roberts { ROBERTS, James ( - 1618) ‹ LBT 08339 › }, being forbidden to take another until that one was out of his time. In 1599 he was named in a list of fourteen printers who were strictly forbidden to print satyres or epigrams, and was fined a shilling, perhaps in connection with the same matter. On another occasion he was caught printing a ballad against Sir WaIter Raleigh, when it is said Bishop Bancroft warned the printer that he could have hanged him long before, if he had wished to do so. In 1622 he was prohibited by the order of the High Commissioners from working as a master printer and was allowed a pension of £4 a year by the Company of Stationers. Simmes' press is chiefly interesting as having given us several of Shakespeare's works. His press work was generally good but most of his type was second hand. In the autumn of 1597 he printed for Andrew Wise { WYTHES, Andrew ‹ LBT 08479 › } the first quarto of Richard the Second and the first quarto of Richard the Thirde. In 1600 for Andrew Wise and William Aspley { ASPLEY, William (1573 - 1640) ‹ LBT 06927 › } he produced the Second part of Henrie the fourth and the first quarto of Much Ado about Nothing, this last being one of the few Shakespeare play books that was decently printed. In 1604 he printed for Mathew Lawe { LAW, Mathew ( - 1629) ‹ LBT 07969 › } the second edition of the First Part of King Henry the Fourth. In 1610 he would appear to have been at work in Whitefriars, as his name is found in the imprint of a small volume entitled Syrophenissa or the Canaanitish Woman's coniflicts, of which the title-page is preserved in the Ames collection at the British Museum. In December, 1619, he assigned over to Edward Griffin { GRIFFIN, Edward ( - 1606) ‹ LBT 07206 › } several of his copyrights [Arber, iii. 661]. [Bibliographer, New York, May, 1903.]