Valentine Simmes
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Valentine Simmes (
fl. ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...
1585 – 1622) was an
Elizabethan era The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personific ...
and
Jacobean era The Jacobean era was the period in English and Scottish history that coincides with the reign of James VI of Scotland who also inherited the crown of England in 1603 as James I. The Jacobean era succeeds the Elizabethan era and precedes the Ca ...
printer; he did business in London, "on Adling Hill near Bainard's Castle at the sign of the White Swan." Simmes has a reputation as one of the better printers of his generation, and was responsible for several quartos of Shakespeare's plays. ee:_[
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_Shakespeare

In_an_eight-year_period_from_
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_Shakespeare

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_through_
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_Shakespeare

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_through_1604_in_literature">1604_ __Events_ __January–June_ *_January_1_–_''The_Masque_of_Indian_and_China_Knights''_is_performed_by_courtiers_of_James_VI_and_I_at_Hampton_Court. *_January_14_–_The_Hampton_Court_Conference_is_held_between_James_I_of_England,_...
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Shakespeare

In an eight-year period from 1597 in literature">1597 Events January–June * January 24 – Battle of Turnhout: Maurice of Nassau defeats a Spanish force under Jean de Rie of Varas, in the Netherlands. * February – Bali is discovered, by Dutch explorer Cornelis Houtman. * February 5 â ...
through 1604 in literature">1604 Events January–June * January 1 – ''The Masque of Indian and China Knights'' is performed by courtiers of James VI and I at Hampton Court. * January 14 – The Hampton Court Conference is held between James I of England, ...
, Simmes printed nine Shakespearean quartos for various London Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers">stationers Stationery refers to commercially manufactured writing materials, including cut paper, envelopes, writing implements, continuous form paper, and other office supplies. Stationery includes materials to be written on by hand (e.g., letter paper) ...
 or booksellers. For the bookseller Andrew Wise, Simmes printed: *''Richard III (play), Richard III,'' Q1 (1597) *''Richard II (play), Richard II,'' Q1 (1597) *''Richard II,'' Q2 (1598) *''Richard II,'' Q3 (1598) For Wise and William Aspley, Simmes printed: *'' Henry IV, Part 2,'' Q (1600) *''
Much Ado About Nothing ''Much Ado About Nothing'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare thought to have been written in 1598 and 1599.See textual notes to ''Much Ado About Nothing'' in ''The Norton Shakespeare'' ( W. W. Norton & Company, 1997 ) p. 1387 The play ...
,'' Q (1600) For Thomas Millington, Simmes printed: *''
Henry VI, Part 2 ''Henry VI, Part 2'' (often written as ''2 Henry VI'') is a Shakespearean history, history play by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1591 and set during the lifetime of King Henry VI of England. Whereas ''Henry VI, Part 1'' ...
,'' Q2 (1600) For Nicholas Ling and John Trundell, Simmes printed: *''
Hamlet Q1 Q1 of '' Hamlet'' (also called the "First Quarto", full title ''The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet Prince of Denmarke'') is a short early text of the Shakespearean play. The intended publication of the play is entered in the Stationers' Register ...
'' (1603) — the "
bad quarto A bad quarto, in Shakespearean scholarship, is a quarto-sized printed edition of one of Shakespeare's plays that is considered to be unauthorised, and is theorised to have been pirated from a theatrical performance without permission by someone ...
". For Matthew Law, Simmes printed: *''
Henry IV, Part 1 ''Henry IV, Part 1'' (often written as ''1 Henry IV'') is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written no later than 1597. The play dramatises part of the reign of King Henry IV of England, beginning with the battle at ...
,'' Q3 (1604). Also for Nicholas Ling, Simmes printed Q3 of ''The Taming of a Shrew'' (1607), the alternative version of Shakespeare's ''
The Taming of the Shrew ''The Taming of the Shrew'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1592. The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunk ...
.'' (Scholars dispute the exact nature of the relationship between the two versions.) And for
Thomas Pavier Thomas Pavier (died 1625) was a London publisher and bookseller of the early seventeenth century. His complex involvement in the publication of early editions of some of Shakespeare's plays, as well as plays of the Shakespeare Apocrypha, has l ...
, Simmes printed Q1 of ''
Sir John Oldcastle ''Sir John Oldcastle'' is an Elizabethan play about John Oldcastle, a controversial 14th-/15th-century rebel and Lollard who was seen by some of Shakespeare's contemporaries as a proto-Protestant martyr. Publication The play was originally p ...
'' (1600), a play of the Shakespeare Apocrypha. For "the Widow Newman," Simmes printed the second, 1607 edition of Lawrence Twine's '' The Pattern of Painful Adventures,'' one of the sources for Shakespeare's ''
Pericles, Prince of Tyre ''Pericles, Prince of Tyre'' is a Jacobean play written at least in part by William Shakespeare and included in modern editions of his collected works despite questions over its authorship, as it was not included in the First Folio. It was p ...
.''


Other drama

Simmes also printed a range of other significant texts in
English Renaissance theatre English Renaissance theatre, also known as Renaissance English theatre and Elizabethan theatre, refers to the theatre of England between 1558 and 1642. This is the style of the plays of William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson ...
, including: * Day's '' An Humorous Day's Mirth'' (
1599 __NOTOC__ Events January–June * January 8 – The Jesuit educational plan, known as the ''Ratio Studiorum'', is issued. * March 12 – Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, is appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, by Queen Elizabeth I o ...
) * Dekker's ''
The Shoemaker's Holiday ''The Shoemaker's Holiday or the Gentle Craft'' is an Elizabethan play written by Thomas Dekker. The play was first performed in 1599 by the Admiral's Men, and it falls into the subgenre of city comedy. The story features three subplots: an in ...
'' (1600) * Marlowe's '' Doctor Faustus'' (1604), for publisher Thomas Bushell * Jonson's '' The Coronation Triumph'' (1604), for
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. He ...
*''
The Entertainment at Althorp ''The Entertainment at Althorp,'' or ''The Althorp Entertainment'', performed on 25 June 1603 is an early Jacobean era literary work, written by Ben Jonson. It is also known as ''A Particular Entertainment of the Queen and Prince'', or by the ...
'' (1604), for Edward Blount *
Marston's Marston's plc is a British pub and hotel operator. Founded by John Marston in 1834, it is listed on the London Stock Exchange. Marston's disposed of its brewing operations in 2020, selling the assets to a newly formed joint venture with the Ca ...
''
The Malcontent ''The Malcontent'' is an early Jacobean stage play written by the dramatist and satirist John Marston ca. 1603. The play was one of Marston's most successful works. ''The Malcontent'' is widely regarded as one of the most significant plays o ...
'' (1604), for William Aspley *Jonson's ''
Hymenaei ''Hymenaei,'' or ''The Masque of Hymen,'' was a masque written by Ben Jonson for the marriage of Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, and Lady Frances Howard, daughter of the Earl of Suffolk, and performed on their wedding day, 5 January 1606 ...
'' (
1606 Events January–June * January 24 – Gunpowder Plot: The trial of Guy Fawkes and other conspirators, for plotting against Parliament and James I of England, begins. * January 29 – Pedro Fernandes de Queirós discovers the Pi ...
), for
Thomas Thorpe Thomas Thorpe ( 1569 – 1625) was an English publisher, most famous for publishing Shakespeare's sonnets and several works by Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson. His publication of the sonnets has long been controversial. Nineteenth-century ...
*''
The Troublesome Reign of King John ''The Troublesome Reign of John, King of England'', commonly called ''The Troublesome Reign of King John'' (c. 1589) is an Elizabethan history play, probably by George Peele, that is generally accepted by scholars as the source and model that Wi ...
'' (Q2, 1611), for John Helme — among other works. In Simmes's era, the specialties of printer and bookseller/publisher were usually practised separately, though some individuals, like
William Jaggard William Jaggard ( – November 1623) was an Elizabethan and Jacobean printer and publisher, best known for his connection with the texts of William Shakespeare, most notably the First Folio of Shakespeare's plays. Jaggard's shop was "at ...
, functioned in both. Simmes normally kept to the printshop side of the business, though he did occasionally publish too, as with the first quartos of
George Chapman George Chapman (Hitchin, Hertfordshire, – London, 12 May 1634) was an English dramatist, translator and poet. He was a classical scholar whose work shows the influence of Stoicism. Chapman has been speculated to be the Rival Poet of Shakesp ...
's ''Humorous Day's Mirth'' and Thomas Dekker's ''Shoemaker's Holiday.''


Other works

Best known for his printing of plays, Simmes worked on non-dramatic projects as well; he printed ''Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum'' (1611) for the bookseller Richard Bonian – a volume of poems by
Emilia Lanier Emilia Lanier (also Aemilia or Amelia Lanyer, 1569–1645), ''née'' Aemilia Bassano, was an English poet and the first woman in England to assert herself as a professional poet, through her volume ''Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum'' (''Hail, God, King ...
, it was one of the very rare books by a woman published in that era. For John Clapham's ''The History of Great Britain'' (1606), he was both printer and publisher.


Reputation

While Simmes is recognized as among the best printers of his generation, a cynic might complain that this is not saying much — that it merely identifies Simmes as the best of a bad lot. Simmes, or his compositors, allowed 69 typographical errors in ''Richard II,'' Q1; when they printed Q2 they corrected 14 of these typos, but added 123 new ones. Apart from his reputation for quality, Simmes "was constantly in trouble for printing unauthorized works, and in 1622 was forbidden to work as a master printer."Halliday, p. 454.


Notes


References

* Chambers, E. K. ''The Elizabethan Stage.'' 4 Volumes, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1923. *Ferguson, W. Craig. ''Valentine Simmes, Stationer: A Bibliographical Study of an Elizabethan Printer and Publisher.'' Birmingham (UK), 1959; Charlottesville, VA, Bibliographic Society of the University of Virginia, 1968. *Grossman, Marshall, ed., ''Aemilia Lanyer: Gender, Genre, and the Canon.'' Lexington, KY, University Press of Kentucky, 1998 * Halliday, F. E. ''A Shakespeare Companion 1564–1964.'' Baltimore, Penguin, 1964.


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Simmes, Valentine English printers Early editions of Shakespeare 16th-century English businesspeople 17th-century English businesspeople 16th-century births 17th-century deaths Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown