John Charlewood (died 1593) was an English printer.

Life

He went into business early in

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

's reign in partnership with John Tisdale, in

Holborn Holborn ( or ) is a district in central London, which covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part ( St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London. The area has its roots ...

. He was important as one of the first printers to print Italian works in England – the other being John Wolfe, who printed at roughly the same time as Charlewood. He was a member of the

Grocers' Company The Worshipful Company of Grocers is one of the 110 Livery Company, Livery Companies of the City of London and ranks second in order of precedence. The Grocers' Company was established in 1345 for merchants occupied in the trade of grocer and is ...

until about 1574, though he took out licences to print books. From 1562 to 1593 he printed continuously and issued a very large number of books. His address was the Half-Eagle and Key in the

Barbican A barbican (from fro, barbacane) is a fortified outpost or fortified gateway, such as at an outer fortifications, defense perimeter of a city or castle, or any tower situated over a gate or bridge which was used for defensive purposes. Europe ...

, and in one of the Marprelate tracts it is stated that as printer to the

Earl of Arundel Earl of Arundel is a title of nobility in England, and one of the oldest extant in the English peerage. It is currently held by the Duke of Norfolk, and is used (along with the Earl of Surrey) by his heir apparent as a courtesy title. The e ...

he had a press in the

Charterhouse Charterhouse may refer to: * Charterhouse (monastery), of the Carthusian religious order Charterhouse may also refer to: Places * The Charterhouse, Coventry, a former monastery * Charterhouse School, an English public school in Surrey London ...

. He was known to be one of the ring-leaders of the gang of printers who printed copies of texts to which they had no rights. His widow married James Roberts, who thus succeeded to the business. A fictitious foreign imprint of Venice helped the sales in England of a book in a foreign language. Charlewood obviously hoped that this stratagem would provide easier and increased sales for these books, which would allow the printing of a larger and more profitable edition. His hopes were apparently not realised since none of them were reprinted in Italian in Great Britain until modern times.

Printed works

Charlewood printed several books by Italian authors, showing the popularity of the

Italian language Italian (''italiano'' or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. Together with Sardinian, Italian is the least divergent language from Latin. Spoken by about 85 m ...

in England at the time. Works by

Giordano Bruno Giordano Bruno (; ; la, Iordanus Brunus Nolanus; born Filippo Bruno, January or February 1548 – 17 February 1600) was an Italian philosopher, mathematician, poet, cosmological theorist, and Hermetic occultist. He is known for his cosmologic ...

include: ''De la causa, principio, et uno'' (1584), ''De l'infinito universo et mondi'' (1584), ''De gli heroici furori'' (1585), and ''Cabala del cauallo Pegaseo'' (1585). These four works and two others were all published during or immediately following Bruno's visit to

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. They were obviously the backlog of works which he had accumulated during his years of wandering and exile. He also printed ''Amorous Fiammetta'' (1587) by

Giovanni Boccaccio Giovanni Boccaccio (, , ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so well known as a writer that he was somet ...

, of which only 4 copies are known to exist.

Notes and references

* Richeson, below, states that Charlewood died in 1573, but this is probably a mistake. * A. W. Richeson, ''The First Arithmetic Printed in English'', Isis, Vol. 37, No. 1/2 (May, 1947), pp. 47–56. Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of The History of Science Society.
found here at jstor.org
*

Charles Henry Timperley Charles Henry Timperley (1794–1869) was an English printer and writer. Life He was born in Manchester, and educated at the Manchester Grammar School. In March 1810 he enlisted in the 33rd Regiment of Foot, was wounded at the Battle of Waterloo ...

, ''A Dictionary of Printers and Printing: with the progress of literature; ancient and modern'', H. Johnson (1839). * Harry Sellers, ''Italian Books Printed in England before 1640'', The Library, 4th Ser., V, 122-28. * T. Provvidera, ‘John Charlewood, Printer of Giordano Bruno’s Italian Dialogues, and His Book Production’, in Giordano Bruno Philosopher of the Renaissance, ed. by H. Gatti, Ashgate, Aldershot (Hampshire), 2002, pp. 167–186.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Charlewood, John English printers 1593 deaths Year of birth unknown 16th-century English businesspeople