346
HISTORY OF PRINTING.
Magnus, near London Bridge; but not comply- ing with the tenns of confonnity then required, he was deprived of his living, became obnoxious to government, and died in indigence. He was buried under the communion table, in the parish church of St. Bartholomew, by the exchange, as appears by the register in that church. 1568. In the course of this year, a corrected \ and magnificent edition of the English Bible, ^- was printed at London, by Richard Jugge, in Paul's church-yard, large folio, on royal paper, with a beautiful English type, embellished with various cuts and maps, some of them engraved on wood, and others on copper. This celebrated edition, which has obtained the name of the Bithomi' Bible from several bishops being em- ployea in revising it, is said to have been under- taken by royal command. It was conducted under the auspices and active direction of Matthew Parker, archbishop of Canterbury. It is often designated by the appellation of the Leda Bible ; for strange to say, at the commencement of the epistle to the Hebrews, the story of Leda and Jupiter is engraved on wood. This bible is further remarkable for these particulars; at the beginning is the head of queen Elizabeth ; at the end of the second part is the head of the earl of Leicester ; and at the end of the third part is ^ the head of Lord Burleigh.
1568, July 6. Died, John Oporinos,* the most eminent of the early German printers. He was born at Basil, of poor parents, January 35, 1507, and became well versed in Latin an^ breek, and spoke and wrote the former with ' purity and fluency. He was employed by the celebrated Frobin in transcribing the works of the Greek authors. He was in partnership with Robert Winter; and though eminent in their
Erofession, they however met with considerable jsses, inasmuch as Winter died insolvent, and Oporinus was not able to support himself with- out the assistance of his friends, in which con- dition he died, at the time above stated. He had six presses constantly at work, usually employed about fifty men, and published no book which he had not concerted himself. Notwithstanding his great business, he died above 1500 livres in debt. He wrote notes in Cicero and Demos- thenes. Id 1569, was printed Andrea: Jocisci Oratii de orhi, vita, et obitu Johannis Oporini Basileemis, typographorum GemumioB priacipis. AcceditcataloffiulibrontmabOporinoexcusorum. Argentorati, Hvo.
1668. Henry Wykes dwelt at the sign of the Black Elephant, in Fleet-street ; this sign he put under a compartment of a man carrying a
- Oporinos, a Greek word, sl^ifies Aatamn.
t The royal exchange was founded June 7, 1586, by sir Thomas Giesham, an eminent merchant of London, on the model of. and as a substitate for, the mart st Antwerp, then the centre of commerce. It was endowed by deed the royal exchange. Hay 31, 1574. Sir Thomas Gresham died Nov. SI, 1579, aged do. His crest was a grasshopper.— Besides building the exchange at his own expense, he founded a college in London for lectures In dlrinity, law, physic, astronomy, geography, music, and rhetoric ; and endowed many pohUc charities. The Oresham lectiu^s are read In a room over the royal Exchange,
sheep on his back, and motto Periit et iimeiUa ett, about itf as was done for Ralph Newberry. Ten works bear his imprint from 1565 to 1568. 1568. At page 286, ante, it was shewn that an act was passed on the 19th of March, 1543, dur- ing the government of the regent Arran, for making it lawful to read the scriptures in the vulgar tongue, notwithstanding the protest of the bishop of Glasgow, who was then chancellor of Scotland. There is reason to believe, that this act was restricted to " the having of the New Testament in the vulgar tongue. Yet at this epoch they had not the scriptures in Scotland : and the zeal of the regent induced him to apply to sir Ralph Sadler, the English ambassador, " to write into England for some bibles in Eng- lish." Whatever may have been the progress of the reformation in Scotland, during the infancy of Mary Stuart, more than thirty years elapsed, before any bible was printed within her kingdom. In this year Thomas Ba.ssandyne, printed at Edinburgh, a Psalme Buik, in the end whereof was found ane lewd song, called. Welcome For- tunes. This buik gave great offence to the general assembly, which met at Edinburgh in the same year ; and they ordered the printer to call in those buih : but there is good reason to believe, that the lewd song at the end of this book, did not give such offence, as what appeared at the beginning of it, " The fall of the Romuii's kirk, naming our King and Sovereigne supreame head of the primitive Kirk. The printer was not de- terred, however, from printing a Psalme Buik, of a different kind. See 1575, post.
1569. TJie Travaled Pglgrim, bringing Newet from all Parts of the World, such like scarce herd of before, seene and allowed according to the order appointed. By Stephen Bateman. This writer is introduced by Ritson in his collection of English poets, but Beloe knew of no other copy tnan the above, which is in the British museum.
1569. Mr. Dibdin had in his possesion a book which was bound in this year, on fine side of it the full-length portrait of Martin Luther, and on the reverse a similar one of John Calvin. These portraits are described in the Bibliomania, as be- mg executed with great spirit and accuracy, and surrounded with ornamental borders of much taste and richness.
1569. Abraham Usque, sometimes errone- ously called OsKi, or Uski, a learned Jew, and celebrated printer at Ferrara, in It^, where he printed many works, not only in Hebrew, but also in Spanish and Portuguese, was descended of a reputable Jewish family, who fled from Portugal to Ferrara, during the severe persecu- tions which raged against the Jews in that kingdom. He was educated in the principles of the Talmud by his parents. The time of this learned printer's death is not known.
Solomon Usque was of the same family as the above ; he was the editor of a Spanish trans- lation of Petrach's Sonnets, the biblical tragedy of Esther, and other works. He went to Con- stantinople, where he established a printing oflfice.
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