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- Field’s career before 1593.
Field was admitted a freeman of the Stationers’ Company on February 6, 1587, and subsequently filled all the great offices of the society.¹ On the threshold of his career he seems to have married Vautrollier’s widow Jacquenetta.² In the autumn of 1588, he was carrying on business with her in the house in Blackfriars near Ludgate, which had been occupied by Vautrollier. He adopted his old master’s device of an anchor in an oval with the motto, *Anchora Spei*.
The earliest work, on the title-page of which Field’s name figures, was a pamphlet describing the defeat of the Spanish Armada called *The Copie of a Letter sent out of England to John Bernardino Mendoza*. It appeared in October, 1588, and was described as ‘printed by l[acquenetta] Vautrollier for R. Field’. Next year Field both printed and published single-handed several books of importance, including Puttenham’s *The Arte of English Poesie*³, and *A summarie and true*
¹ He was recognized as a master printer in 1596, was admitted to the Livery, July, 1598, was warden in 1605 and was master in 1619 and 1622.
² Cf. Plomer’s *Wills of English Printers and Stationers* (Bibliogr. Soc.), p. 27 (Vautrollier’s will) and p. 50 (Field’s will).
³ The licence for Puttenham’s book, originally granted to Thomas Orwin in November, 1588, was transferred by him to Richard Field ‘dwelling in the black-Friers, neere Ludgate’, April 7, 1589.
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VENUS AND ADONIS 41
discourse of Sir Francis Drakes West Indian Voyage (of 1585–6), with five maps of very high interest.¹ At the same time he acquired Vautrollier’s interest in many interesting undertakings, chief of which was North’s translation of Plutarch; no less than three editions of that work were printed by Field.² Each succeeding year Field’s business career was distinguished by some new venture of importance. In 1591 he produced the first edition of Sir John Harington’s translation of Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso, a handsome volume liberally illustrated with copper plates, of which a second edition came from Field’s press in 1607. On February 7, 1592, a young brother, Jasper, came from Stratford to serve him as apprentice.
Field was thus building up a highly valuable and dignified connexion when in the early spring of 1593 he undertook the printing of Shakespeare’s Venus and Adonis. The early association of the two men doubtless led Shakespeare to entrust to Field the earliest work that he sent to press. But despite the personal relation between author and printer, there is nothing to show that Shakespeare took a larger control of the publication than was customary with contemporary authors. It is clear that Shakespeare made over to Field all rights in the volume, for what consideration is not
¹ Field printed two editions of this valuable volume in this same year (1589); they are distinguished from one another by the presence on the last page of a line of errata which is present in one and absent from the other. In both editions is this note from Field’s pen, “The reader must understand, that this Discourse was dedicated, and intended to have bene imprinted somewhat before the comming of the Spanish Fleete upon our coast of England: but by casualtie the same was forgotten and slacked for a time of some better leisure.” A third edition of the book of the same year from entirely different type was issued subsequently by another printer, “Roger Ward, dwelling upon Lambard Hill, neere olde Fish-Streete.”
² In 1579 Vautrollier had published the first edition of North’s translation in partnership with J. Wright. The first edition which Field printed was published jointly by him and Bonham Norton in 1595. Field reprinted it with additions in 1603, when he and Thomas Wight published it. In 1612 Field reprinted the book and published it by himself.
F
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