Danter’s reputation is stained to this day by his responsibility for the ‘bad’ quarto of Romeo and Juliet. His career in the book trade, however, had a promising start. He was bound to one of the most prestigious printers of the day, John Day, in 1682. Day, though, died only two years later and it took four long years for Danter to be turned over to a new master, Robert Robinson. In the intervening period, Danter with a group of other printers engaged in pirating two grammar books. They were caught and banned from ever becoming master printers. Fortunately for Danter, two years after being freed, the Stationers’ dismissed the restriction and he was allowed to set up in partnership William Hoskins and Henry Chettle in 1591. The partnership was short-lived and Danter ventured out as an independent printer, specialising in broadside ballads and helped by a close working relationship with satirist Thomas Nashe. In 1594, Danter entered the quarto edition of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus in the Company Register. Yet without lucrative patents and struggling to find work, Danter resorted to piracy. In 1597, the same year that he printed the ‘bad' quarto of Romeo and Juliet, his premises were raided and his press seized and destroyed for printing the Jesus Psalter.
John Day was a leading member of the Elizabethan book trade. His early years remain obscure, but he was printing in London from 1546. Working in partnership with William Seres, Day seized upon the opportunities presented by the accession of Edward VI. With the regulations against Protestant and evangelical works removed, Day and Seres published authors including John Hooper, Hugh Latimer, and John Calvin. In 1550, Day dissolved his partnership with Seres and transferred from the Stringers’ Company to the Stationers’ Company. In 1553, he secured the patent to publish works by Thomas Becon and John Ponet. The reign of Mary proved challenging for the evangelical printer and he was briefly imprisoned in 1554, but Elizabeth’s accession saw him restored to prominence. Under Elizabeth, Day collected major printing patents so that he controlled the publication of some of the period’s most lucrative works, including the ABC with Little Catechism and English psalter. His most ambitious and significant publication was John Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. Day’s success and ever-growing monopolies of lucrative books did not make him a popular figure in the trade. In 1573, there was an attempt on his life and in 1584 he was forced to hand the rights to thirty books to the Stationers’ Company. He died whilst travelling to visit his wife’s family in Suffolk, leaving a hefty and complex inheritance for his son, Richard Day, who inherited his business.
Baskett was apprenticed to the stationer Edward Darrell from 1682 to 1690. As a young stationer, he secured various lucrative contracts to supply paper to the university press at Oxford as well as the Treasury and Customs House. Baskett’s career shifted dramatically after 1710 when the patent for King’s Printer expired. The former patentees owed Baskett over £8000 and he manipulated this debt to acquire a half-share in the King’s Printer patent. He built on this success to become Queen’s Printer in 1712 as well as securing more lucrative patents, including a share in the Queen’s Printer in Scotland patent and a share in the Oxford University printing monopoly. At the peak of his powers, Baskett served two terms as Master of the Stationers’ Company. He carefully guarded his privileges and brought nearly 40 cases against infringements. The patents did not come without any risks, however, and in 1729 Baskett was declared bankrupt. It took him seven careful years to regrow his finances. He died in 1742 and was able to leave substantial legacies and patent rights to his family.
Apprenticed first to William Middleton (d. 1547), and subsequently to William Powell, Tottell was made free of the Stationers' Company on 19 January 1552. In 1553, he acquired a printing privilege (exclusive right to print) for common law books, which was subsequently extended for his lifetime. Tottell's name appeared on the charter of incorporation granted to the Stationers' Company in 1557. In that year, he printed a collection of early Tudor court poetry entitled 'Songes and Sonettes'. Now better known as 'Tottell's Miscellany', it was reprinted at least eight times before 1600, and was one of the titles whose publication rights were yielded by Tottell to the company in 1584 to contribute to the Company's charitable obligation to its poorer members. He translated his business success into extensive land acquisition, buying land in Middlesex, Buckinghamshire and Pembrokeshire.