File 01 - Liber B: Clerk's memorandum book

1 volume

Clerk's book divided into six principal sections:

folios 17r-129v: register of apprentices bound, 17 Jul 1576-25 Jul 1605.

folios 130r-318v: entries of copies, 17 Jul 1576-25 Jun 1595.

folios 319r-352r: register of freemen admitted, 14 Jan 1577-2 Jul 1605.

folios 393r-414v and 417r: fines for breaking of orders, 28 Jan 1577-28 Jun 1605.

folios 415 and 418r-420r: calls for the livery, 1 Jul 1577-30 Jun 1604.

folios 427r-486r: Court minutes and Clerk's memoranda, 1 Oct 1576-29 Dec 1603.

On the title page are two 18th or 19th century inscriptions:

Index reading:

'Apprentices to page 130

Entrys of Coppies from 130 to 318

Freemen from p 319

Book of Fines from 393 to 415

Calls on the Livery from 415 to 427

Decrees or Orders or probably the Court Book from July 1576 to November 1603. from page 427 to the End'

Inscription reading: 'The copies prior to their date, are to be found from the grant of the charter, in the old Wardens acct. book, classed distinctly under every year to 1571'.

At front of volume are memoranda and other records:

folio [1r]: [to be completed]

folio [1v]: register of those appointed to go to the Lord Mayor's feast at the Guildhall, 29 Oct 1583-29 Oct 1595.

folio 2r: memoranda by Richard Collins stating that he was chosen Clerk of the Company, 30 May 1575, and listing what he had been charged to enter into the volume, with folio numbers; details of gilt spoons, 1589; register of those appointed to go to the Lord Mayor's feast, 29 Oct Oct 1596-30 Oct 1598.

folio 2v: memorandum that the gift and legacy of John Waller had been distributed that day, 27 Jan 1587; memorandum that Mr Jones had printed a book that had been received by Warden Cawood but is not entered; register of those appointed to go to the Lord Mayor's feast, 29 Oct 1599-29 Oct 1600.

folio 3r: annual receipts of monies received for use of the hall by the wardmote and for weddings, 13 Jan 1578-10 Apr 1592.

folio 3v: receipts for monies received for use of the hall by the wardmote and for a member's wife's burial; list of books sent from Scotland to William Norton for his cousin John Norton, seized by George Bishop, taken to Stationers' Hall and then delivered away, 17 Jun 1591.

folio 4: memoranda concerning books seized

folio 5r: list of names of those appointed to search, 3 Sep 1576

folio 5v: [to be completed]

folio 6r: 'A copie of certen orders concerning printing'.

folio 6v: [to be completed]

folio 7r: Court order relating to [to be completed]

Information given in the entries of copies includes name of property owner, name of person/s under whose hand/s the copy is entered, title of work and amount paid (usually 6d per title); occasionally name of author is included. Significant entries of copies include:

folio 164v: [Edmund Spenser's] The Shepheardes Calender, entered for Hugh Singelton, 5 Dec 1579.

folio 170r: [Edmund Spenser & Gabriel Harvey's] Three Proper, and Wittie, Familiar Letters, entred for Henry Bynneman, 30 Jun 1580.

folio 231v: Sir Philip Sidney's [New] Arcadia, entered for William Ponsonby, 23 Aug 1588.

folio 251v: [Edmund Spenser's] The Faerie Queene, entered for William Ponsonby, 1 Dec 1589.

folio 262v: [Christopher Marlowe's] Tamburlaine parts 1 and 2, entered for Richard Jones, 14 Aug 1590.

folio 297v: [William Shakespeare's] Venus and Adonis, entered for Richard Feild, 18 Apr 1593

folio 299v: [Christopher Marlowe's] Edward II, entered for William Jones, 6 Jul 1593.

folio 304v: [William Shakespeare's] Titus Andronicus, entered for John Danter, 6 Feb 1594.

folio 305v: [William Shakespeare's] Henry VI part 1, entered for Thomas Millington, 12 Mar 1594.

folio 306v: [William Shakespeare's] The Taming of the Shrew, entered for Peter Shorte, 2 May 1594.

folio 309v: [William Shakespeare's] Richard III, entered for Thomas Creede, 19 Jun 1594.

folio 315v: A treatise in commendation of poetry by Sir Philip Sidney, entered for William Ponsonby, 29 Nov 1594.

Topics covered by the Court minutes include elections of the Master, Wardens, Court Assistants and Renter Wardens, Court attendance, administration of Company officials, regulation of apprentices and journeymen, disputes between members, granting or administration of charity, administration of property, and regulation of printing.

At back of volume are Renter Warden balance receipts and memoranda:

folio 486v: receipts for balances paid to the Company by the Renter Wardens, 6 May 1577-6 May 1586.

folio 487r: memoranda recording the transfer of licence to print one impression of 'Quenes Iniuntions and Artycles' from Master Barker to Thomas Purfoote, 5 Aug 1583, a payment for 'Catechismes' from Master Coldock to Master Newbery, 2 Sep 1583, and the fact that the cup given by Henry Fflycke must be entered in the book of gifts, 3 Nov 1583; receipts for balances paid to the Company by the Renter Wardens, 6 May 1587-6 May 1591.

folio 487v: note of T Cantroller's printing privileges from 1573-1574; list of items in the armoury additional to that specified in the inventory, 8 Jul 1578; receipts for balances paid to the Company by the Renter Wardens, 6 May 1592-7 May 1599.

• English

• Latin

A microfilm copy is on reel 1, 'Records of the Stationers' Company 1554-1920: 115 Reels of Microfilm with Printed Guide', published by Chadwyck-Healy Ltd (1989)

A transcription of folios 17r- excepting the decrees and ordinances are in E Arber, 'A Transcript of the Registers of the Company of Stationers of London; 1554 to 1640 A.D.', vol II (London, 1875)

A transcription of folios 427r-486r is in W W Greg and E Boswell (ed.), 'Records of the Court of the Stationers' Company 1576 to 1602, from Register B' (London: Bibliographical Society, 1930)

Call of the Livery volumes [TSC/C/01/06]; Freemen's registers [TSC/C/04/03]; Register A [TSC/D/02/01]; Registers of entries of copy, 1595-1842 [TSC/E/6]; Court Books [TSC/B/01]

W W Greg, 'Some Aspects and Problems of London Publishing between 1550 and 1650', 2nd Lyell Lecture (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1956), pp.23-4 W W Greg, Introduction to W W Greg and E Boswell (ed.), 'Records of the Court of the Stationers' Company 1576 to 1602, from Register B' (London: Bibliographical Society, 1930), pp.v-lxxxi

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