Page:The Library, volume 5, series 3.djvu/363

Third Series, No. 20, Vou V. OCTOBER, 1914. THE LIBRARY SOME ROGUERIES OF ROBERT WYER. |OBERT WYER 1 is important in social history as almost the first of Englishmen to make it his chief busi- ness as a printer and publisher to purvey cheap books for the uneducated. His dingy odlavos with their stock woodcuts and worn type bring high prices now, but when they were issued they were sold to those who could not afford the fairer volumes of Pynson or Grafton. The substance of the books is as characteristic as the form. Some offer the appearance of learning without its difficulty, some appeal to current super- stitions, but most are practical books, containing receipts, especially medical formulae and directions, and thus appealing to the desire of Everyman to be his own physician and save a fee. Early in his career Wyer printed c The gouer- nauce of good helthe, by the moste excellent 1 Plomer, Henry R., Robert Wyer, printer and bookseller . . . Bibliographical Society . . . 1897. Mr. Plomer gives an inter- esting account of Wyer's work, and a useful list of the books printed or published by him. V BB