[Bell Historians] Stedman, the printer
alan_ellis at telus.net
alan_ellis at telus.net
Sat Nov 16 18:25:18 GMT 2013
Hello Richard,
Your input about Fabian Stedman is very interesting indeed. I am no expert on the
specifics of each of the early books, for that you need the input of Eddie Martin and
John Eisel and others.
All I can do is provide a list of the early books and whether facsimile copies exist or
not. Here goes:
Title Date Original @ Facsimile
Tintinnalogia 1668 CCCBR Yes - Bell News 1895 - Not a true facsimile
- Kingsmead Reprint 1970
- Ellis Publications 2007
Tintinnalogia 1671 Bodleian Yes - Ellis Publications (two sizes) 2007
Campanalogia 1677 CCCBR Yes - Christopher Groome 1990
Campanalogia 1680 Washington No - Hybrid Copy Only - Ellis Publications
Cathedral Library
Campanalogia 1698 Ellis Library No - Copy Only - Ellis Publications
Campanalogia 1702 CCCBR No - Copy Only - Ellis Publications
Improved
Campanalogia 1705 Ellis Library No - Copy Only - Ellis Publications
Improved
Campanalogia 1733 CCCBR Yes - Christopher Groome 1983
Improved
Campanalogia 1753 Bodleian No - Copy Only - Ellis Publications
Improved
Campanalogia 1766 Ellis Library Yes - Ellis Publications 2009
Improved Yes - Bell News (Date Unknown) - Not a true facsimile
Clavis Campanalogia Ellis Library Yes - Bell News (Date Unknown) - Not a true facsimile
1788 No - Copy Only - Ellis Publications
New Campanalogia Ellis Library Yes - Christopher Groome 1975
c1800 (No - Copy Only - Ellis Publications)
A Key to the Art of Ringing
c1810 SCACR No - Hybrid copy only - Ellis Publications
A Key to the Art of Ringing
1815 ASCY Library No - Hybrid copy only - Ellis Publications
All known originals and their locations have not been indicated above.
The Bell News books have been reprinted and are not by facsimile copy.
My 'copies' are not fit for printing and publication as considerable cleaning is needed first.
Hybrids are created by taking copies of the original title page and using text from other
editions where the text is identical.
Any one know of any others?
Best wishes,
Alan Ellis
----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard Smith" <richard at ex-parrot.com>
To: bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, November 16, 2013 6:49:06 AM
Subject: [Bell Historians] Stedman, the printer
I've spent a short time this morning looking through some of
the records of the Worshipful Company of Stationers (of
which Stedman was a member) which have been transcribed
quite thoroughly in the three-volumn /Transcripts of the
Registers of the Worshipful Company of Stationers: From
1640-1708 AD/, London (1913-4).
Under the Licensing of Press Act (1662), all books had to be
licensed by an appointed Licenser, who for the duration of
the act was Sir Roger L'Estrange. The act lapsed in 1679.
So far as I can make out, records of these licensings appear
in the records of the Stationers' Company. Certainly the
records of the company seem little more than a list of books
printed by its members, together with the payment of a
nominal 6d fee.
I can only find mention of five works printed by Stedman.
They are as follows:
16o Junii 1665
Master Fab. Stedman . . . Entred . . . under the hands of
Master L'Estrange and Master Warden Pulleyn a paper
Intituled, /To His royall highnesse Duke of Yorke a
Congratulatory Poem on that signall victory obteined by his
Maties Navy under his heroick conduct agt ye States fleet of
the United Netherland on ye 3d of June 1665/ . . . vj.d
16o Junii 1665
Master Fab. Stedman . . . Entred . . . under the hands of
Master L'Estrange and Master Warden Pulleyn, a paper
intituled, /An Essay uppon the late victory obteined by his
royall Highnesse the Duke of Yorke agt the Dutch, uppon
June ye 3d 1665/, by the author of Iter Boreale/ . . . vj.d
February 8 1667 [i.e. 1667/8]
Master Fabyan Stedman . . . Entred . . . under the hands of
Master L'Estrange and Master Warden Royston a booke or copie
intituled /Tintinnalogia or the Art of Ringing/ By a Lover
of that Art . . . vj.d
5th September 1676
Master Fabian Stedman . . . Entred . . . under the hands of
Master Roger L'Estrange and Master Warden Clark a book or
copy intituled /The Art of Ringing improved wth plaine &
easy rules to guide the practiconer in the ringing of all
sorts of changes, to wch is added 98 new crosse peales./
11th Decembr. 1676
Master Fabian Stedman . . . Entred . . . under the hands of
Roger L'Estrange Esqr and Master Warden Clark a book or copy
intituled /Eighteene very practicall peales upon six & eight
hells composed wth mixt grounds, togeather wth a second
Imperiall Bob/, Composed by F. S.
Of the five works, three were described as "a book or copy"
and were on ringing; the other two were merely "a paper"
congratulating the Duke of York (later James II). The
Stationers' records may well be incomplete, but there seems
no reason why they should favour ringing works rather than
others, so I can only assume that a high proportion of his
works were on ringing.
Stedman had been apprenticed to Daniel Pakeham, a master
printer, on 7 July 1656. Apprenticeships had been fixed at
seven years by the Statute of Artificer (1562), and very
nearly seven years later on 4 July 1663, Stedman became a
Freeman of the Stationers' Company. He was not yet a master
printer, and it's unlikely he ever became one. Stedman may
have been the licensed publisher of these works, but he did
not have a press on which to print it. If he had continued
as a printer, he would have been a journeyman in the employ
of some other master printer, but John Eisel speculates that
he had become a bookseller (c.f. RW 2010 p.489-90).
Of the five works mentioned above, I have only heard of
three of them. There is a copy of the essay to the Duke of
York in the British Library, but the congratulatory poem, so
far as I can tell, has not to have survived. Tintinnalogia
is well known. The fourth work, 'The Art of Ringing
improved' is clearly Campanalogia, although the title of
first edition of Campanalogia (1677) concludes "Ringing of
all kinds of Changes, to Which is added, great variety of
new peals." Other than changing "all sorts" to "all kinds",
the title no longer concluded "added 98 new crosse peales":
"crosse" had been removed, and "98" changed to "great
variety of".
This leaves the fifth work, also on ringing. /Eighteene very
practicall peales upon six & eight hells composed wth mixt
grounds, togeather wth a second Imperiall Bob/, Composed by
F.S. Was this another early ringing book that has since
become lost? Or had the contents of it become merged with
that of his other planned book of 1676 to form the 1677
Campanalogia? This could explain why the "98 new crosse
peales" was changed on the cover. It might also explain
Trollope's observation that Tintinnalogia bore L'Estrange's
imprimatur, where Campanalogia did not (c.f. Trollope MS vol
ii, p.428). Maybe Campanalogia was not ever licensed for
publication in its final form, but produce by combining the
two works that had both been licensed?
Has there ever been a facsimile reprint made of the 1677
Campanalogia? I have copies of the third (1733) and sixth
(1766) editions, but I do not have access to the first
edition to check this. If there were a "second Imperiall
Bob" composed by Stedman in the first edition Campanalogia,
this would be a strong clue.
RAS
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.ringingworld.co.uk/pipermail/bell-historians/attachments/20131116/43d21b6a/attachment-0001.html>
More information about the Bell-historians
mailing list