A Dictionary of the Booksellers and Printers who Were at Work in England, Scotland and Ireland from 1641 to 1667/Barker (Robert)
BARKER (ROBERT), King's printer, Northumberland House, Aldersgate Street, 1570–1645. The eldest son of Christopher Barker the first, printer to Queen Elizabeth. He was probably born at Sudely, near Datchet, co. Bucks, was made free of the Company of Stationers on June 25th, 1589, and held a partnership in the Royal Printing House until his father's death in 1599. He is said to have married Rachel, a daughter of William Day (afterwards Bishop of Winchester), by whom he had a large family. On the accession of James I, Robert Barker held the office of King's Printer by virtue of the reversionary patent granted to his father, and afterwards obtained the reversion for his eldest son Christopher the second, and a further reversion of thirty years to his second son, Robert, on the death of Christopher and himself. In 1605 and 1606 he was Master of the Company of Stationers. Robert Barker was the printer of what is known as the "Authorised" version of the Bible in 1611. It has been generally supposed that he bore the whole cost, but there is little doubt that he was financed throughout by Bonham Norton, John Norton, and John Bill, in return for a share in the profits of the office. The value of the office at that time is said to have been £30,000. In 1615 his son Christopher the second married Sarah, the eldest daughter of Bonham Norton. Soon afterwards they were in financial difficulties, and assigned their interest in the King's Printing House to Bonham Norton and John Bill. In 1618 Robert Barker brought an action in the Court of Chancery to recover possession, stating that according to the agreements the assignments were only for one year. This Norton denied, and a series of law suits extending over many years followed. Down to the year 1616 the imprints bore Robert Barker's name only. In 1616 they bore the names of Robert Barker and John Bill, and after July, 1617, until May, 1619, they ran "Bonham Norton and John Bill." Barker was successful in his first suit, and a decree was pronounced in his favour, but John Bill was held to have been a bonâ fide purchaser, and accordingly the imprints were altered again to Robert Barker and John Bill. But in 1620 Norton ejected Barker from the office, and the imprints were again changed to Bonham Norton and John Bill, and they continued thus until October 20th, 1629, when a final decree was pronounced in favour of Robert Barker, and they became for the third time Robert Barker and John Bill. In the course of this dispute the statement was made that the King's Printing House was situated at Northumberland House, Aldersgate Street, and subsequently at Hunsdon House, Blackfriars. The death of John Bill in 1630 necessitated a further change in the imprints, which then became Robert Barker and the assigns of John Bill. In 1634 Robert Barker mortgaged his moiety of the office to Miles Fletcher and his partners, and in 1635 he was committed as a debtor to the King's Bench Prison, where he died in 1645. His will, if he made one, has not been found. Of the five sons borne him by his wife Rachel, Christopher the second and Robert the second were already dead. Of the rest, Mathew only is subsequently heard of. The King's Printing House, when it was in the hands of Christopher Barker, was rich in all forms of type, ornaments, initial letters, including the handsome pictorial initial letters once used by John Day, and many others previously in the office of H. Bynneman. As various editions of the Bible, Prayer Book and Statutes show, it turned out some very fine books. To this stock Robert Barker succeeded, but the beauty of his black letter printing was marred by careless workmanship. The Bible of 1611 is, of course, the chief glory of his press. It was printed, like all previous folio editions, in great primer black letter, and had an elaborate engraved title-page, the work of Cornelis Boel, and also an engraved map of Canaan, partly the work of John Speed. [Library, N.S., October, 1901. King's Printing House under the Stuarts …]