A Dictionary of the Booksellers and Printers who Were at Work in England, Scotland and Ireland from 1641 to 1667/Mabb (Thomas)
MABB (THOMAS), printer in London, (1) Ivy Lane; (2) St. Pauls Wharf, next doore to the signe of the Ship [neer the Thames], 1650-65. Thomas Mabb is first found in partnership with A. Coles, the earliest book in which their joint imprint is found being Alexander Ross's translation from John __PAGESEPARATOR__Wallebius, entitled The Abridgment of Christian Divinitie, an octavo printed in 1650. Their office was furnished with a large assortment of type in all sizes, which will bear favourable comparison with that in use in other London printing offices at that time. The partnership appears to have been dissolved some time after August 12th in the following year, and Thomas Mabb is afterwards found printing alone. He was employed by many of the London booksellers, amongst others Henry Atkinson, J. Playfere, W. Sheares, J. Starkey, E. Thomas, and M. Young. In 1663 he is found printing books in conjunction with Richard Hodgkinson. Thomas Mabb was one of the chief witnesses against his brother printer, John Twyn, of Cloth Fair, who was executed at Tyburn for printing a book against the Government, and he afterwards printed an official account of the trial. Amongst other books that came from his press may be noticed Richard Kilburne's Brief Survey of the County of Kent, 1657; R. Fletcher's translation of Martials Epigrams, 1656; Jo. V. Belcamp's Consilium & Votum Pro Ordinanda & Stabilienda Hibernia, 1651, a folio of 38 pages, containing proposals for the settlement of Ireland in the interests of the Adventurers; and John Tatham's London Tryumphs, 1658 and 1661, being the author's account of the pageant in connection with the Lord Mayor's annual procession. Mabb probably fell a victim to the Plague of 1665, as no more is heard of him after that date.