John Wolfe (printer)

Wolfe may have come from a family in Sussex. For years, scholars wrongly assumed that he was the son of famed printer Reyner Wolfe on the basis of their mutual name and occupation. However, John Wolfe testified that his "poore oulde father" was alive in May 1584, some ten years after Reyner Wolfe died. On 25 May 1562, Wolfe entered a ten-year apprenticeship with printer John Day. Because apprenticeships generally ended when the apprentice turned 24 (the minimum age for London freemen), scholars surmise that Wolfe was born around 1548. Wolfe did not stay the full ten years. the minimum term for an apprenticeship under the Statute of Artificers of 1563. Some time after his apprenticeship ended, Wolfe travelled to Italy to perfect his trade. By 1576, he was in Florence publishing religious poems. as one who "hath read and heard so many gallant Florentine discourses". In 1579, he published his first books in England and became one of the few non-members of the Stationers' Company granted the privilege of entering titles in its Register. Una essortatione al timor di Dio, an undated book by Italian Jacob Acontius that bears Wolfe's imprint, may have been published abroad sometime between 1579 and 1581, furthering the image of Wolfe as a frequent traveller to Continental Europe. In the work, Wolfe describes himself as a servant of Philip Sidney. The only other printer of Italian works in England at the time was John Charlewood; both Charlewood and Wolfe had printed works of Giordano Bruno. =="Machevillian devices"==

In 1581, Wolfe began entering more works in the Stationers' Register, and the next year, he established a residence in Distaff Lane, southeast of St Paul's Churchyard. One of his other victims was Queen Elizabeth I's printer, Christopher Barker, who held the exclusive rights to print the Bible, the Book of Common Prayer, and the Royal Statutes and Proclamations. Barker approached Wolfe around Easter 1581 in an attempt to persuade him to stop infringing on his rights. In return, Barker promised to assign Wolfe printing projects with remuneration, provided that Wolfe transfer from the Fishmongers' Company to the Stationers' Company. Despite Barker's assignment of £80 worth of printing, Wolfe did not become a member of the Stationers' Company; moreover, according to Barker, the quality of Wolfe's work for him was so shoddy that the resulting publications reflected "an exceeding discredit to all [of Barker's] labours". Wolfe continued to print Barker's work after his contract expired. According to entries in the Stationers' Register, on 14 May 1582, Barker confronted Wolfe once more, seeking a negotiated truce. "Wolfe, leave your Machevillian devices, and conceit of your forreine wit," he exhorted, "which you have gained by gadding from countrey to countrey". ==Stationers' Company==

Less than a month after the raid on his premises, Wolfe surrendered to his adversaries. On 11 June 1583, the Court of Aldermen decreed that Wolfe be transferred from the Fishmongers' to the Stationers' Company. The transfer was made official on 1 July; Wolfe, having "accknowledged his error", was "lovingly received into the companie". He painted a dramatic picture in his testimony; according to Wolfe, Day's men were "wrestinge his poore oulde father by the throate[,] beatinge and threatnynge his men and spoyled and took awaye wythe them prynted bookes and dyverse other gooddes". Day countered with a demurrer, disputing Wolfe's account. The search, according to Day, was lawful and conducted "in peaceable manner and wise, withoute any weapons at all". The Star Chamber appears to have taken no action, possibly due to Day's demurrer. Within a month of Wolfe's complaint, Day was dead. His printing patent for the metrical psalter passed to his son, Richard Day. In an effort to make amends, Richard Day appointed Wolfe as one of five assigns to administer the patent. On 23 July 1587, Wolfe was appointed Beadle of the Stationers' Company. Wolfe now found himself in a position of power, and he approached his new role with gusto. While ostensibly, the office of Beadle entailed the maintenance of Stationers' Hall and the summoning of members to company meetings, Wolfe used his title to pursue and stamp out illicit printing. It was a remarkable transformation for a man who had so openly agitated the authorities earlier in the decade. He apparently held no qualms about tracking down his former "confederates". By 1593, Wolfe had been appointed London's City Printer. Around this time, Wolfe made the transition from printer to publisher, distributing increasing amounts of work for others to print on his behalf. John Windet, who succeeded Wolfe as City Printer, was responsible for most of Wolfe's output after 1593. ==Notes==