The booksellers of the historian Caesar Baronius, [Footnote: Cf. page 97.]
whose account of the Spanish rule in Sicily so enraged Philip III. of
Spain, were condemned to perpetual servitude, and were forced to endure
the terrible tortures inflicted on galley slaves.
The early printers of the Bible incurred great risks. Richard Grafton and
Edward Whitchurch, together with Miles Coverdale, were entrusted to
arrange for the printing of Thomas Mathew's translation. The work was
given to the printers in Paris, as the English printers were not very
highly esteemed. The book was nearly completed when the Inquisition
effectually stopped the further progress of the work by seizing the
sheets, and Grafton with his companions were forced to fly. Then Francis
Regnault, whose brother's colophon is the admiration of all bibliophiles,
undertook the printing of the New Testament, made by Miles Coverdale,
which was finished at Paris in 1538. Richard Grafton and Whitchurch
contrived to obtain their types from Paris, and the Bible was completed in
1539. Thus they became printers themselves, and as a reward for his
labour, when the Roman Catholics again became rulers in high places,
Richard Grafton was imprisoned. His printer's mark was a _graft_, or young
tree, growing out of a _tun_.
The title of the Bible which was begun in Paris and finished in London is
as follows:--
_The Byble in Englyshe.
Pages:
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181