John Waterson
Encyclopedia
John Waterson was a London publisher and bookseller of the Jacobean
Jacobean era
The Jacobean era refers to the period in English and Scottish history that coincides with the reign of King James VI of Scotland, who also inherited the crown of England in 1603 as James I...

 and Caroline
Caroline era
The Caroline era refers to the era in English and Scottish history during the Stuart period that coincided with the reign of Charles I , Carolus being Latin for Charles...

 eras; he published significant works in English Renaissance drama
English Renaissance theatre
English Renaissance theatre, also known as early modern English theatre, refers to the theatre of England, largely based in London, which occurred between the Reformation and the closure of the theatres in 1642...

, including plays by William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

, John Fletcher
John Fletcher (playwright)
John Fletcher was a Jacobean playwright. Following William Shakespeare as house playwright for the King's Men, he was among the most prolific and influential dramatists of his day; both during his lifetime and in the early Restoration, his fame rivalled Shakespeare's...

, John Webster
John Webster
John Webster was an English Jacobean dramatist best known for his tragedies The White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi, which are often regarded as masterpieces of the early 17th-century English stage. He was a contemporary of William Shakespeare.- Biography :Webster's life is obscure, and the dates...

, and Philip Massinger
Philip Massinger
Philip Massinger was an English dramatist. His finely plotted plays, including A New Way to Pay Old Debts, The City Madam and The Roman Actor, are noted for their satire and realism, and their political and social themes.-Early life:The son of Arthur Massinger or Messenger, he was baptized at St....

.

Beginning

Waterson was the scion of a family of publishers: his grandfather Richard and his father Simon were both in the book trade. Simon Waterson (1585–1634) was also the brother-in-law of William Ponsonby
William Ponsonby (publisher)
William Ponsonby was a prominent London publisher of the Elizabethan era. Active in the 1577–1603 period, Ponsonby published the works of Edmund Spenser, Sir Philip Sidney, and other members of the Sidney circle; he has been called "the leading literary publisher of Elizabethan...

, the prominent publisher of Edmund Spenser
Edmund Spenser
Edmund Spenser was an English poet best known for The Faerie Queene, an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognised as one of the premier craftsmen of Modern English verse in its infancy, and one of the greatest poets in the English...

 and Sir Philip Sidney
Philip Sidney
Sir Philip Sidney was an English poet, courtier and soldier, and is remembered as one of the most prominent figures of the Elizabethan Age...

; when Ponsonby died in 1604, Simon acquired many of Ponsonby's copyrights.

John Waterson became a "freeman" (a full member) of the Stationers Company
Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers
The Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. The Stationers' Company was founded in 1403; it received a Royal Charter in 1557...

 on June 27, 1620, and soon after was an active independent publisher. He took over the management of his father's shop, at the sign of the Crown at Cheap Gate in St. Paul's
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral, London, is a Church of England cathedral and seat of the Bishop of London. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. St Paul's sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, and is the mother...

 Churchyard. (Simon Waterson is thought to have gone into semi-retirement when his son took over, though his name appeared on published books until his death.) The younger Waterson continued to publish some of his father's works; Simon Waterson issued the first four editions of William Camden
William Camden
William Camden was an English antiquarian, historian, topographer, and officer of arms. He wrote the first chorographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and the first detailed historical account of the reign of Elizabeth I of England.- Early years :Camden was born in London...

's Remains of a Greater Work Concerning Britain (1605
1605 in literature
The year 1605 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*January 1 - The Queen's Revels Children perform George Chapman's All Fools at Court....

, 1614
1614 in literature
The year 1614 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*Sir Francis Bacon's dual role as MP and attorney-general is objected to by Parliament.*Izaak Walton owns an ironmonger's shop in Fleet Street, London.*Lope de Vega becomes a priest....

, 1623
1623 in literature
The year 1623 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*February 2 - The King's Men perform Twelfth Night at Court on Candlemas....

, 1629
1629 in literature
The year 1629 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*April 6 - Tommaso Campanella is released from custody in Rome, and gains the confidence of Pope Urban IV....

), and John printed the fifth and sixth editions (1636
1636 in literature
The year 1636 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*January 31 - The King's Men perform Shakespeare's Julius Caesar at St. James's Palace.*February - James Shirley's The Duke's Mistress is performed at St...

, 1637
1637 in literature
The year 1637 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*January 24 - Hamlet is performed before King Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria at Hampton Court Palace....

). Simon published the first edition of an anonymous English translation of Guarini's
Giovanni Battista Guarini
Giovanni Battista Guarini was an Italian poet, dramatist, and diplomat.- Life :He was born in Ferrara, and spent his early life both in Padua and Ferrara, entering the service of Alfonso II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, in 1567...

 Il Pastor Fido (1602
1602 in literature
The year 1602 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*February 2 - The King's Men perform Twelfth Night at the Middle Temple.*May 4 - Richard Hakluyt is installed as prebendary of Westminster....

), and John published the second edition (1633
1633 in literature
The year 1633 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*On May 21, Ben Jonson's masque The King's Entertainment at Welbeck is performed....

).

One of John Waterson's earliest publications was also one of his most notable: the first quarto of Webster's The Duchess of Malfi
The Duchess of Malfi
The Duchess of Malfi is a macabre, tragic play written by the English dramatist John Webster in 1612–13. It was first performed privately at the Blackfriars Theatre, then before a more general audience at The Globe, in 1613-14...

(1623), printed by Nicholas Okes
Nicholas Okes
Nicholas Okes was an English printer in London of the Jacobean and Caroline eras, remembered for printing works of English Renaissance drama...

.

Maturity

John Waterson also published a noteworthy and problematic entry in the Shakespeare canon: The Two Noble Kinsmen
The Two Noble Kinsmen
The Two Noble Kinsmen is a Jacobean tragicomedy, first published in 1634 and attributed to John Fletcher and William Shakespeare. Its plot derives from "The Knight's Tale" in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales....

(1634
1634 in literature
The year 1634 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*January 1 - The King's Men perform Cymbeline at the court of King Charles I of England.*January 22 - The King's Men perform Davenant's The Wits at the Blackfriars Theatre....

), printed by Thomas Cotes
Thomas Cotes
Thomas Cotes was a London printer of the Jacobean and Caroline eras, best remembered for printing the Second Folio edition of Shakespeare's plays in 1632.-Life and work:...

. The title page of the quarto attributes the play to Shakespeare and Fletcher, an attribution that inspired three centuries of controversy before its general acceptance in the modern era.

Other first editions of plays published by Waterson include:
  • Sir William Davenant
    William Davenant
    Sir William Davenant , also spelled D'Avenant, was an English poet and playwright. Along with Thomas Killigrew, Davenant was one of the rare figures in English Renaissance theatre whose career spanned both the Caroline and Restoration eras and who was active both before and after the English Civil...

    's The Cruel Brother (1630), printed by Augustine Matthews
    Augustine Matthews
    Augustine Matthews was a printer in London in the Jacobean and Caroline eras. Among a wide variety of other work, Matthews printed notable texts in English Renaissance drama....

    ;
  • Davenant's The Just Italian (also 1630), printed by Thomas Harper;
  • Philip Massinger's The Renegado
    The Renegado
    The Renegado, or The Gentleman of Venice is a late Jacobean stage play, a tragicomedy written by Philip Massinger and first published in 1630...

    (also 1630), printed by Matthews;
  • Massinger's The Emperor of the East
    The Emperor of the East
    The Emperor of the East is a Caroline era stage play, a tragicomedy written by Philip Massinger and first published in 1632. The play provides an interesting example of the treatment of the Roman Catholic sacrament of confession in English Renaissance theatre.-Performance:The Emperor of the East...

    (1632), printed by Harper;
  • Fletcher and Massinger's The Elder Brother
    The Elder Brother
    The Elder Brother is an early seventeenth-century stage play, a comedy written by John Fletcher and Philip Massinger. Apparently dating from 1625, it may have been the last play Fletcher worked on before his August 1625 death.-Date:...

    (1637), in partnership with John Benson
    John Benson (publisher)
    John Benson was a London publisher of the middle seventeenth century, best remembered for a historically important publication of the Sonnets and miscellaneous poems of William Shakespeare in 1640....

    , printed by Felix Kingston;
  • Fletcher's Monsieur Thomas
    Monsieur Thomas
    Monsieur Thomas is a Jacobean era stage play, a comedy written by John Fletcher that was first published in 1639.-Date and Source:Scholars date the play to the 1610–16 period. Fletcher's source for the play's plot was the second part of the novel Astrée by Honoré d'Urfé, which was first...

    (1639), printed by Harper;
  • Massinger's The Unnatural Combat
    The Unnatural Combat
    The Unnatural Combat is a Jacobean era stage play, a tragedy written by Philip Massinger, and first published in 1639.No hard data on the play's date of origin or initial theatrical production has survived...

    (1639), printed by "E.G."


(Waterson maintained a close professional relationship with printer Thomas Harper; they worked together on many projects, including the Camden editions noted above.)

Waterson also had a connection with Ben Jonson
Ben Jonson
Benjamin Jonson was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, he is best known for his satirical plays, particularly Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair, which are considered his best, and his lyric poems...

; he entered Jonson's play The Staple of News
The Staple of News
The Staple of News is an early Caroline era play, a satire by Ben Jonson. The play was first performed in late 1625 by the King's Men at the Blackfriars Theatre, and first published in 1631.-Publication:...

into the Stationers' Register
Stationers' Register
The Stationers' Register was a record book maintained by the Stationers' Company of London. The company is a trade guild given a royal charter in 1557 to regulate the various professions associated with the publishing industry, including printers, bookbinders, booksellers, and publishers in England...

 on April 14, 1626
1626 in literature
The year 1626 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*Izaak Walton marries Rachel Floud.*John Beaumont is made a baronet.-New books:*Francis Bacon - The New Atlantis*Robert Fludd - Philosophia Sacra...

. For unknown reasons, the play was not published at that time, and Waterson transferred his copyright to Robert Allot
Robert Allot
Robert Allot was a London bookseller and publisher of the early Caroline era; his shop was at the sign of the black bear in St. Paul's Churchyard...

 on September 7, 1631
1631 in literature
The year 1631 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*January 9 - Love's Triumph Through Callipolis, a masque written by Ben Jonson and designed by Inigo Jones, is staged at Whitehall Palace....

.

Waterson published works beyond the confines of drama; he issued poetry, with volumes that included:
  • Michael Drayton
    Michael Drayton
    Michael Drayton was an English poet who came to prominence in the Elizabethan era.-Early life:He was born at Hartshill, near Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England. Almost nothing is known about his early life, beyond the fact that in 1580 he was in the service of Thomas Goodere of Collingham,...

    's The Muses' Elysium (1630), printed by Harper;
  • Samuel Daniel
    Samuel Daniel
    Samuel Daniel was an English poet and historian.-Early life:Daniel was born near Taunton in Somerset, the son of a music-master. He was the brother of lutenist and composer John Danyel. Their sister Rosa was Edmund Spenser's model for Rosalind in his The Shepherd's Calendar; she eventually married...

    's The Whole Works in Poetry (1635), printed by Thomas Cotes.


And Waterson produced the normal range of miscellaneous books typical of stationers in his era, including religious works like Anthony Stafford's The Female Glory, or the Life and Death of the Holy Virgin Mary (1635), and popular fiction like The Tragedy of Alceste and Eliza (1638) — both printed by Harper.

End

Waterson apparently retired from business after 1641. In October 1646 he transferred his copyrights to The Two Noble Kinsmen, The Elder Brother, and Monsieur Thomas to Humphrey Moseley
Humphrey Moseley
Humphrey Moseley was a prominent London publisher and bookseller in the middle seventeenth century.Possibly a son of publisher Samuel Moseley, Humphrey Moseley became a "freeman" of the Stationers Company, the guild of London booksellers, on 7 May 1627; he was selected a Warden of the Company on...

. The shop at the sign of the Crown passed to stationer John Williams; John Waterson's son, another Simon Waterson, served his apprenticeship under Williams in the 1640s. This younger Simon Waterson was active in the book trade in the middle 1650s, doing business at the sign of the Globe in Paul's Churchyard.
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