Richard Field (or Feild) (1561–1624) was a printer and publisher in Elizabethan London, best known for his close association with the poems of
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
, with whom he grew up in
Stratford-upon-Avon.
Life and career
Field's family lived on Bridge Street, Stratford-upon-Avon, close to the Shakespeare house on Henley Street. His father was a
tanner. It is generally accepted that Shakespeare and Field knew each other in Stratford, since they were similar in age and their fathers were in similar businesses (tanner and glover). After Field's father Henry died in August 1592, William's father
John Shakespeare
John Shakespeare (c. 1531 – 7 September 1601) was an English businessman in Stratford-upon-Avon and the father of William Shakespeare. He was a glover and whittawer ( leather worker) by trade. Shakespeare was elected to several municipal ...
was one of the local officials charged with the appraisal of the deceased man's property.
In 1579 Richard Field began an apprenticeship with the London printers
George Bishop and
Thomas Vautrollier
Thomas Vautrollier or Vautroullier (died 1587) was a French Huguenot refugee who became a printer in England and, briefly, in Scotland.
Vautrollier emigrated to London from Paris or Rouen about the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth I (1558), an ...
. Vautrollier died in 1587. In 1588, Field collaborated with Jacqueline Vautrollier, Thomas Vautrollier's widow and a printer in her own right, on ''The copie of a letter sent out of England to Don Bernardin Mendoza declaring the state of England''. This piece of Protestant propaganda was the first work to bear Field's name. Field went on to marry Jacqueline in 1589. He succeeded to his former master's business, "one of the best in London." Field's shop was in the
Blackfriars area of London, near
Ludgate
Ludgate was the westernmost gate in London Wall. Of Roman origin, it was rebuilt several times and finally demolished in 1760. The name survives in Ludgate Hill, an eastward continuation of Fleet Street, Ludgate Circus and Ludgate Square.
Etym ...
. He regularly printed works for the most highly regarded publishers in London, including William Ponsonby and
Edward Blount
Edward Blount (or Blunt) (1562–1632) was a London publisher of the Elizabethan, Jacobean, and Caroline eras, noted for his publication, in conjunction with William and Isaac Jaggard, of the First Folio of Shakespeare's plays in 1623.
H ...
. In 1592 his brother, Jasper Field, joined Richard's business as an apprentice.
Field's Protestantism led him to publish a number of Spanish-language Protestant works for sale in Catholic Spain, under the name "Ricardo del Campo." Examples include a translation of Calvin's reformed catechism, ''Catecismo que significa forma de instrucción, que contiene los principios de la religión de dios, util y necessario para todo fiel Christiano : compuesto en manera de dialogue, dónde pregunta el maestro, y responde el discípulo'' (1596). His Spanish works included a number which claimed to be written by
Cipriano de Valera, including ''Dos tratados. El primero es del Papa y de su autoridad colegiado de su vida y dotrina, y de lo que los doctores y concilios antiguos y la misma sagrada Escritura enseñan. El segundo es de la Missa recopilado de los doctores y concilios y de la sagrada Escritura'' (1599) and a Spanish New Testament (1596).
For his title pages, Field adopted an
Aldine device, an anchor with the Latin motto ''Anchora Spei,'' "anchor of hope," which previously belonged to the Vautrollier.
In Field's era, the trades of printer and publisher were to some significant degree separate activities: booksellers acted as publishers and commissioned printers to do the requisite printing. Field concentrated more on printing than publishing: of the roughly 295 books he printed in his career, he was publisher of perhaps 112, while the rest were published by other stationers. When, for example,
Andrew Wise published
Thomas Campion
Thomas Campion (sometimes spelled Campian; 12 February 1567 – 1 March 1620) was an English composer, poet, and physician. He was born in London, educated at Cambridge, studied law in Gray's inn. He wrote over a hundred lute songs, masques ...
's ''Observations in the Art of English Poesy'' in 1602, the volume was printed by Field.
Field rose to be one of the 22 master printers of the
Stationers Company. From 1615 on he kept his shop in
Wood Street, near his home. Field had a number of apprentices, one being George Miller. After Field's death in 1624, his business passed to the partners Richard Badger and George Miller, who continued to employ the Aldine device.
Shakespeare's poems
![Dedication page of The Rape of Lucrece by William Shakespeare 1594](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Dedication_page_of_The_Rape_of_Lucrece_by_William_Shakespeare_1594.jpg)
Field is best remembered for printing the early editions of three of Shakespeare's non-dramatic poems:
* ''
Venus and Adonis'' – Field printed the first four editions of the narrative poem, the
quartos of 1593 and 1594 and the
octavos of 1595 and 1596.
* ''
The Rape of Lucrece
''The Rape of Lucrece'' (1594) is a narrative poem by William Shakespeare about the legendary Roman noblewoman Lucretia. In his previous narrative poem, '' Venus and Adonis'' (1593), Shakespeare had included a dedicatory letter to his patron, ...
'' – Field printed the first quarto edition of 1594.
* ''
The Phoenix and the Turtle
''The Phoenix and the Turtle'' (also spelled ''The Phœnix and the Turtle'') is an allegorical poem by William Shakespeare, first published in 1601 as a supplement to a longer work, ''Love's Martyr'', by Robert Chester. The poem, which has be ...
'' – working for Edward Blount, Field printed the 1601 first quarto edition of the poem ''Love's Martyr'' by
Robert Chester. In addition to Chester's poem, the volume contained short poems by other hands, including Shakespeare's work.
In contrast to the early printed editions of Shakespeare's plays, Field's texts for the two narrative poems meet a high standard of quality. Scholars have sometimes supposed Shakespeare's direct involvement: "The two early poems, both carefully printed by Field, are probably the only works the publication of which Shakespeare supervised." Others, however, have disputed the idea of the poet's personal involvement, arguing that Field, "a highly efficient printer with a reputation for honesty and scrupulousness," could have produced the high-quality texts on his own.
Field entered ''Venus and Adonis'' into the
Stationers' Register on 18 April 1593, and published as well as printed the first two editions, but on 25 June 1594 he transferred the rights to the poem to bookseller John Harrison ("the Elder"). Harrison published ''Lucrece'' as well as future editions of ''Venus,'' and sold the books from his shop at the sign of the White Greyhound in
St. Paul's Churchyard
St Paul's Churchyard is an area immediately around St Paul's Cathedral in the City of London. It included St Paul's Cross and Paternoster Row. It became one of the principal marketplaces in London. St Paul's Cross was an open-air pulpit from wh ...
. Harrison later published editions of ''Lucrece'' that were printed by other printers.
Other connections
Another association between Shakespeare and Field has been theorised. It has often been noticed that many of the texts that Shakespeare used as sources for his plays were products of the Vautrollier/Field printshop. These texts include
Thomas North
Sir Thomas North (28 May 1535c. 1604) was an English translator, military officer, lawyer, and justice of the peace. His translation into English of Plutarch's ''Parallel Lives'' is notable for being the main source text used by William Sha ...
's translation of
Plutarch
Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for hi ...
,
Sir John Harington's translation of ''
Orlando Furioso'',
Robert Greene's ''Pandosto'', the works of
Ovid
Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...
, and possibly
Raphael Holinshed
Raphael Holinshed ( – before 24 April 1582) was an English chronicler, who was most famous for his work on ''The Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande'', commonly known as ''Holinshed's Chronicles''. It was the "first complete printe ...
's ''Chronicles''. Since Field would have kept a copy of each of these books in his shop, it has been theorised that Shakespeare used Field's shop as a library during his early career.
James Shapiro argues that the influence of Plutarch was especially significant in Shakespeare's mid-career and that he "probably worked from a copy of Plutarch given, or lent him, by Field, an expensive and beautiful folio that cost a couple of pounds".
Richard and Jacqueline Field lived on Wood Street in the parish of St. Olave in the early 17th century; Shakespeare moved in with the Mountjoy family in nearby
Silver Street
''Silver Street'' is a radio soap opera broadcast on the BBC Asian Network from 24 May 2004 to 26 March 2010. It was the first soap to be aimed at the British South Asian community,
Broadcast history
It was introduced in 2004 as part of the S ...
in 1602. Mrs. Field and the Mountjoys were members of the community of
Huguenot
The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...
exiles in London, and likely knew each other on that basis – a further probable connection between Shakespeare and the Fields.
''Cymbeline''
There is no direct evidence for a connection between Shakespeare and Field after 1601, but an indirect connection exists in a reference in Shakespeare's ''
Cymbeline
''Cymbeline'' , also known as ''The Tragedie of Cymbeline'' or ''Cymbeline, King of Britain'', is a play by William Shakespeare set in Ancient Britain () and based on legends that formed part of the Matter of Britain concerning the early Celti ...
'', believed to have been written around 1610. In IV, ii, 377 of that play, Imogen gives the decapitated corpse of Cloten the name "Richard du Champ," French for Richard Field. (When printing Spanish texts, Field called himself "Ricardo del Campo.")
[Shapiro, James. ''A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599.'' New York, HarperCollins, 2005; p. 133.] Shakespeare's reason for giving his friend and colleague's name to the headless corpse of a villain is a matter of speculation. However, at this point in the play Imogen believes the body to be that of her husband Posthumus. When discovered (dressed as a young man) embracing the corpse, she dissembles by inventing the imaginary "du Champ", referring to him as "a very valiant Briton and a good", calling herself his devoted servant. For this reason the name is typically interpreted as an affectionate compliment to Field.
[Ros King, ''Cymbeline: constructions of Britain'', Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2005, p.89.; Laurie E. Maguire, ''Shakespeare's Names'', Oxford University Press, 2007, p.35.]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Field, Richard
English printers
Publishers (people) from London
People from Stratford-upon-Avon
1561 births
1624 deaths
16th-century English businesspeople
17th-century English businesspeople
People associated with Shakespeare