Richard Grafton (c.1511 - 1572), a member of the Grocers' Company, was King's Printer under
Henry VIIIHenry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was also Lord of Ireland and claimant to the Kingdom of France. Henry was the second monarch of the House of Tudor, succeeding his father, Henry VII.Henry VIII was a significant figure in the history of the English monarchy...
and
Edward VIEdward VI became King of England and Ireland on 28 January 1547 and was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine. The son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Edward was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England's first Protestant ruler. During Edward’s reign, the realm was governed by a...
. With Edward Whitchurch, a member of the Haberdashers' Company, Grafton was interested in the printing of the
BibleThe Bible contains the central religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. Modern Judaism generally recognizes a single set of canonical books known as the Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible, as it is written almost entirely in the Hebrew language, with some small portions in Aramaic...
in English, and eventually they became printers and publishers, more by chance than by design. They published the
Matthew BibleThe Matthew Bible, also known as Matthew's Version, was first published in 1537 under the pseudonym "Thomas Matthew". It combined the New Testament of William Tyndale, and as much of the Old Testament as he had been able to translate before being captured and put to death, with the translations of...
in 1537, though it was printed abroad. In 1538 they brought presses and printers from Paris to print the first edition of the Great Bible.
Whitchurch printed for a time in partnership with Grafton, who set up his press in the recently surrendered house of the Grey Friars, and in 1541 they obtained a joint exclusive
privilege for printingThe printing patent or printing privilege was a precursor of modern copyright. It was an exclusive right to print a work or a class work of works....
service books including the
Prayer-bookThe Book of Common Prayer is the common title of a number of prayer books of the Church of England and of other Anglican churches, used throughout the Anglican Communion. The first book, published in 1549 , in the reign of Edward VI, was a product of the English Reformation following the break with...
; a little later they were granted a privilege for printing primers in Latin and English.
Also 1541 Grafton was committed to
Fleet PrisonFleet Prison was a notorious London prison. It was built in 1197 and situated off what is now Farringdon Street, on the eastern bank of the Fleet River after which it was named...
for printing a "sedicious epistle of Melanctons" and was also accused by the
Privy CouncilA privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation on how to exercise their executive authority, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government...
of printing ballads defending the late Thomas Cromwell.
Richard Grafton (c.1511 - 1572), a member of the Grocers' Company, was King's Printer under
Henry VIIIHenry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was also Lord of Ireland and claimant to the Kingdom of France. Henry was the second monarch of the House of Tudor, succeeding his father, Henry VII.Henry VIII was a significant figure in the history of the English monarchy...
and
Edward VIEdward VI became King of England and Ireland on 28 January 1547 and was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine. The son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Edward was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England's first Protestant ruler. During Edward’s reign, the realm was governed by a...
. With Edward Whitchurch, a member of the Haberdashers' Company, Grafton was interested in the printing of the
BibleThe Bible contains the central religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. Modern Judaism generally recognizes a single set of canonical books known as the Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible, as it is written almost entirely in the Hebrew language, with some small portions in Aramaic...
in English, and eventually they became printers and publishers, more by chance than by design. They published the
Matthew BibleThe Matthew Bible, also known as Matthew's Version, was first published in 1537 under the pseudonym "Thomas Matthew". It combined the New Testament of William Tyndale, and as much of the Old Testament as he had been able to translate before being captured and put to death, with the translations of...
in 1537, though it was printed abroad. In 1538 they brought presses and printers from Paris to print the first edition of the Great Bible.
Whitchurch printed for a time in partnership with Grafton, who set up his press in the recently surrendered house of the Grey Friars, and in 1541 they obtained a joint exclusive
privilege for printingThe printing patent or printing privilege was a precursor of modern copyright. It was an exclusive right to print a work or a class work of works....
service books including the
Prayer-bookThe Book of Common Prayer is the common title of a number of prayer books of the Church of England and of other Anglican churches, used throughout the Anglican Communion. The first book, published in 1549 , in the reign of Edward VI, was a product of the English Reformation following the break with...
; a little later they were granted a privilege for printing primers in Latin and English.
Also 1541 Grafton was committed to
Fleet PrisonFleet Prison was a notorious London prison. It was built in 1197 and situated off what is now Farringdon Street, on the eastern bank of the Fleet River after which it was named...
for printing a "sedicious epistle of Melanctons" and was also accused by the
Privy CouncilA privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation on how to exercise their executive authority, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government...
of printing ballads defending the late Thomas Cromwell. In April 1543, he and seven other printers, among them Whitchurch, were sent to prison "for printing such books as were thought to be unlawful." In Grafton's case it was for having printed the
Great BibleThe Great Bible was the first authorized edition of the Bible in English, authorized by King Henry VIII of England to be read aloud in the church services of the Church of England....
. He spent six weeks in prison and was bound in £300 neither to sell nor to print any more Bibles until the King and clergy should agree upon a translation.
On the accession of Edward VI, Grafton was appointed King's Printer and this gave him the sole right to print all Acts and Statutes. He held the appointment only for six years, for on the King's death he foolishly printed a proclamation of the accession of
Lady Jane GreyLady Jane Grey was a claimant to the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Ireland. She was de facto monarch of England for just over a week in 1553....
, in which he signed himself "Printer to the Queen." For this he was cast into prison when
Mary IMary I , was Queen of England and Queen of Ireland from 19 July 1553 until her death. She was the oldest daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. The fourth crowned monarch of the Tudor dynasty, she is remembered for restoring England to Roman Catholicism after succeeding her short-lived...
took the throne unopposed.
John CawoodJohn Cawood came of an old Yorkshire family of some substance and was apprenticed to John Reynes, who is best known as a bookbinder and who died in 1543 or 1544. In 1553 Cawood replaced Richard Grafton as Royal Printer. For his official salary of £6. 13s. 4d...
became Queen's Printer, and Grafton's career as a printer ended.
In prison Grafton compiled an
Abridgement of the Chronicles of England (1563). To this he added in 1568
A Chronicle at Large. Neither holds a high place as authorities, as they lack original material.
John StowJohn Stow , was an English historian and antiquarian.-Early life:The son of Thomas Stow, a tallow-chandler, he was born about 1525 in London, in the parish of St Michael, Cornhill. His father's whole rent for his house and garden was only 6s. 6d. a year, and Stow in his youth fetched milk every...
and Grafton had a running battle over their rival chronicles after Stow justifiably accused Grafton of copying his own work. Grafton was instrumental in the establishment and maintenance of the London hospitals.
Grafton died in 1573, leaving four sons and one daughter, Joan, who married the printer
Richard TottelRichard Tottel was an English publisher and influential member of the legal community. He ran his business from a shop was located at Temple Bar on Fleet Street in London...
. Grafton's device was a tree bearing grafts issuing from a tun or barrel of the kind in which books were packed for transport.
See also
- Robert Crowley
Robert Crowley also Robertus Croleus, Roberto Croleo, Robart Crowleye, Robarte Crole, and Crule , was a stationer, poet, polemicist and Protestant clergyman who was among the Marian exiles at Frankfurt...
- Edward Whitchurch
- Miles Coverdale
- William Tyndale
William Tyndale was a 16th-century Protestant reformer and scholar who, influenced by the work of Desiderius Erasmus and Martin Luther, translated considerable parts of the Bible into the Early Modern English of his day...