Bookseller

William Caxton was born in Kent between 1415 and 1424. He was apprenticed to Robert Large, a mercer, probably when he was about fourteen or a little older. At some date between 1444 and 1449 he went to Bruges, then a thriving merchant town. Because of its predominance as a market, merchants from all over Europe gathered there and established themselves in national communities ruled by a governor. The English community was known as Merchant Adventurers and Caxton became their governor in 1462. He probably sold cloth and other goods including manuscripts, for Bruges was the centre of a flourishing trade in manuscripts and paintings. In 1469 or earlier Caxton decided to learn how to print and by using this knowledge to produce books in English for sale in England to the nobility. Having acquired a copy of the French version of the History of Troy, he started to translate it with the intention of printing the finished translation. The outbreak of civil war in England led him to postpone his plan. When after two years Edward IV was safely re-established in England he resumed his project, with the patronage of Margaret of Burgundy, Edward’s sister. He quickly finished his translation and went to Cologne to learn the art of printing. The first book Caxton printed, and the first book to appear in English, was his own translation of the History of Troy. It probably appeared in late 1473 or early 1474. In all he printed six or seven volumes before returning to England; these bear no place or date of printing but were almost certainly printed at Bruges. At Michaelmas, 29 September, 1476, Caxton’s name was entered on the account roll of John Estency, Sacrist of Westminster Abbey, as paying a year’s rent in advance for the premises - probably a shop - in which he set up his press. The first known piece of printing done in England, a Letter of Indulgence by John Sant, Abbot of Abingdon, with the date of purchase 13 December 1476, issued from this press. Its existence was unknown until February 1928, when it was discovered at the Public Record Office. The first dated book printed in England, The dictes or sayengis of the philosophres, was completed on 18 November 1477. This book was translated from the French by Caxton’s friend and patron, Earl Rivers. It was followed by nearly one hundred other works before Caxton died in 1491.

The original Charter of the Chester "PAINTERS, GLASIERS, EMBROIDERERS AND STATIONERS COMPANY" is dated 1st May 1534 and was granted during the mayorality of Henry Gee, a noted Puritan mayor. The original charter has a clause which reads:


 * "that noe person or persons of what trade or occupacion soever as is abovesaid shall use or exercise the trade and occupacion of a Stacioner, etherr to binde, folde, cut or sell bookes of any sorte or sise whatsoever, and that none other company within this Citty of Chester shall intermedell in that profession, save such as have sarved as apprentises to the Stacioner or Bookebinder, or put of(f) any books for profitte or gane one the forfiture of v (five) poundes, and the said bookes with the tooles belonginge to a Stacioner that are soe set to seile [? sell] or used in the said occupacion to be seised one by the Sherifes of the Citty for the use of the King's Maiestie and the Companye of Painters, Glassiers, Imbrauderers and Stacioners as aforesaid "

Note there is no mention in this 1534 charter of printing books, only of binding them etc. However Chester was to become the home of the county print trade with a larger number of bookbinders and sellers, papermakers and printers than anywhere else in the county. Some of the more interesting stationers, booksellers and printers are described below. One of the more interesting is Richard Thorpe, who was apparently the brother of the publisher of Shakespeare's Sonnets and did remarkably well in Chester.

William Holme
In the City of Chester, the existence of the charter shows that there were booksellers and stationers from the sixteenth century, but the first of which there is any record was William Holme, who "came to Chester" in 1592. Holme was the son of Richard Holme of Tranmere, apprenticed 1569 for eleven years to John Harrison, citizen and stationer of London, admitted a freeman of the Stationers' Company of London 1580, and to the London Livery Company in 1604. He died in July 1617 at the age of 63 and was buried at Holy Trinity. Richard Holme was the brother of Thomas Holme, father of the first Randle Holme.

Exactly who was the city's first letterpress printer still remains something of a mystery, although copper-plate (or intaglio) printing seems to have been practised from the middle of the seventeenth century by William Thorpe (or Thropp) senior (1657-76) who was a native of Upton, Wirral. There is a curious, perhaps co-incidental, relation between the Holme and Thorpe families. Thomas Thorpe (c. 1569 – c. 1625) was an English publisher, most famous for publishing Shakespeare's sonnets and several works by Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson. Geoffrey Caveney, an American researcher, has unearthed possible evidence to link the initials with William Holme, who had both personal and professional connections to Thorpe. Both possibly came from prominent Chester families, were publishing apprentices in 1570s London and had strong connections with theatres through publishing major playwrights such as Ben Jonson and George Chapman. The 1609 quarto of Shakespeare's sonnets include a dedication to "Mr. W.H.". The suggestion has been made that "W.H." is William Holme, and that this is the same William Holme who lived in Chester, or a relative, possibly the eldest brother of Randle Holme, another William, who died in 1607. This second William Holme was apprenticed to his uncle in 1581 and admitted to the London Stationers Company in 1589.

There is some evidence of a connection between the Chester and London Stationer Companies found in the August, 1625, accounts of the Chester Company which contain this item:


 * "Spent in wyne to entertayne the wardens and others of the Company of Stacioners of London. 2s. 6d."

The books of the London Company do not seem to throw any light upon this visit, but that Company was interested in a plantation in Ireland, and it is possible that the wardens stopped at Chester on their way.



Richard Thorpe


Richard Thorpe/Thropp stationer, of Chester was a relative of Thomas Thorpe who published the Sonnets. He was the son of Thomas Thorpe of Barnet, innholder, and grandson of William Thropp, sheriff of Chester 1597 and therefore younger brother of the Thomas Thorpe of the Sonnets, who was apprenticed 5th June, 1584, to Richard Watkins, then senior warden of the London Stationers' Company.

Richard was apprenticed 6 Sept. 1596, for seven years to Martin Ensor, citizen and stationer, of London, made a freeman of Chester, 1635-6. In 1635 the Chester Company prosecuted him (under their charter) for setting up a shop as a "foreigner" and obtained an order to shut it up. The accounts of the stationers company record money spent:


 * "Given ye macebearer his fee for fechinge of Ric. Thrope, the Stationer, before Mr. Maior, for setting up a shoppe in ye citty, being a forener" 


 * "Spent more on Munday after, to suppresse Richard Throppe when we had a warrant from Mr.  Maior for shuttinge in of his shoppe"

He petitioned to join the Company, and on 22 Feb. 1637, "by extraordinary favour" secured admission on payment of the £5 fine specified in the charter and the gift of a cup worth thirty shillings (Cheshire Sheaf, I, 216-17, 225, 238). He also agreed, according to custom, to give a dinner on St. Luke's Day to the members of the Company and their wives. Of the five pounds the twenty-nine brethren and the widows of two others received two shillings each. He was alderman of the Chester Company 1655, and was several times fined for being "tardy" and attending meetings in his gown. Stewart-Brown states that he died on 18 April, 1668, aged 58, and was buried on 20 April at Holy Trinity Church, Chester. However those dates make little sense: as he could not have been born in 1610. It is possibly relevant that the family name seems to be sometimes recorded as Thorpe and sometimes as Thropp, and that a Thomas Thropp was mayor of Chester in 1637 and several other Thropps appear to have been sheriffs. Perhaps Richard was well enough connected to get the "extraordinary favour". Thorpe/Thropp certainly made good use of his freedom, in 1638 the minutes state:


 * "Richard Throppe, stationer, petitioned that Gilbert Vawse, glazier, on 24th November last was granted the loan of £25, part of Robert Offley's money. As Vawse had not received the loan, nor found any security for its repayment, nor was resident in the City, Throppe requested that he as a freeman and inhabitant of the City should have the money. His petition was granted."

Robert Offley was the son of William Offley who was Mayor of Stafford twice and Sheriff and Alderman in Chester in 1517. William Offley was married at least twice and had as many as 26 children. Robert later served as executor of the will of his half-brother, Sir Thomas Offley who was Sheriff and Mayor of London. Robert prospered in trade with Calais and Bruges on the coast of France. In a monument to his father placed in St Peter's Church in Chester by his brother William it was said that Robert left £600 to the town of Chester for relief of the poor and two £5 scholarships. It would appear that the money was not made available only to the poor, but was like the bequest of Owen Jones used for the benefit of guild members whether rich or poor.

Richard Thorpe was followed in his business by his son, William Thorpe. A hand-bill from William is the earliest known existing sample of Chester print media. It reads:


 * "THESE are to give notice, That at the Sign of the Hand and Bible in this City of Chejter, that any one that stands in need or hath a defire to buy any Boohes, may there be furnifhed with feveral forts of New and Old, or have new and old bound at a reafonable price; and smal Pictures in black and white, and in colours, And alfo feveral forts of Maps, fmall and large, black and white, and in colours. Like-wife white paper of feveral forts gilt and ruled for Mufick Books, and ruled for books of Accompts, and coloured paper of the beft. Sealing Wax hard and soft. Pennes, Pen/Us black and red. And also Ink-horns of several sorts; and Letter-Cases, black boxes, Vellome, Parchment, Spectacles of several sorts, Mouth-glue, clasps for books, Quills, Wafers, New-bookes and Newes weekly. WILLIAM THORPPE"

Related Pages

 * Randle Holme;
 * Shakespeare and Chester;
 * Newspapers in Chester;

Sources and Links

 * THE BOOK TRADE IN CHESHIRE PRIOR TO 1850: by DEREK NUTTALL, author of "A history of printing in Chester from 1688 to 1965";
 * THE STATIONERS, BOOKSELLERS AND PRINTERS OF CHESTER TO ABOUT 1800.;
 * Has the mystery of Shakespeare’s Sonnets finally been solved?: The Guardian;
 * A dictionary of printers and booksellers in England, Scotland and Ireland, and of foreign printers of English books 1557-1640;
 * Chester Welsh Printing;
 * On Chester literature, its authors and publishers, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries: (1864);