John Day (printer)
John Day or Daye (c.1522 – July 23, 1584) was an English Protestant printer, best known for printing John Foxe's Actes and Monuments. Day originally printed mainly religious works, often of a controversial nature, but later he completed some of the largest and most technically difficult printing projects of his time. The technical excellence of his printing was matched by his business skill: through connections with powerful figures at Court, Day was able to secure several lucrative monopolies, which he held throughout his career.
Early career and imprisonment
There is a long-standing tradition that Day was born in Dunwich, but there is no documentary evidence to support it. Day's origins and the events of his early life remain obscure. He first appears as a printer in 1547, working with a partner, William Seres. Day and Seres specialized in religious works, such as those by Robert Crowley, which were largely related to theological controversies of the time. By 1550, Day and Seres were busy and successful enough to amicably separate their businesses. Day set up his new establishment in Aldersgate.
In 1552, Day received the valuable patent to print the English Catechism. With a reputation for Protestant godliness and connections with people like William Cecil, a successful career seemed assured for Day. However, Queen Mary came to the throne in 1553 and the entire religious climate of the country changed.
For years it was believed that at the accession of Mary, Day fled to the Continent to avoid persecution. However, the scholar Elizabeth Evenden has shown that Day set up a clandestine press in premises owned by Cecil in Lincolnshire and continued to print Protestant polemical works under the name Michael Wood.
Day was caught and sent to the Tower of London in 1554. Perhaps because there was a shortage of printers as the result of the flight of foreign Protestant workers, Day was released the following year and allowed to print again. He worked for a time with Seres producing officially approved works, and even became the official printer to the City of London.
Elizabethan period
With the accession of Elizabeth I in 1558, Day began to produce more distinguished work. He printed William Cuningham's The Cosmographical Glasse using a new italic font of the highest quality (probably cut by François Guyot) and a large number of woodcuts. This was the first book printed in England that matched the standards of the most distinguished Continental book production. Day absorbed the high production costs himself, since it solidified his reputation as a master printer. Day's patent to print Cuningham also allowed him to print any new, original works and retain a monopoly on them, as long as he produced them at his own expense.
Day was close to the powerful Cecil as well as Elizabeth's favorite, Robert Dudley. With the help of his connections, Day was able to obtain lucrative patents for the Metrical Psalms and the ABCs as well as the English Catechism. (During this period, the sovereign could grant patents to favored printers, giving them monopolies over particular works, often for a fixed number of years. These royal patents were not subject to regulation by the Stationers' Company, which otherwise controlled the book trade.) Day's monopolies on these perennially popular works would be the basis of great wealth over the years and a good deal of conflict between him and his fellow stationers, one of whom even attempted to kill him. In legal proceedings after Day's death it was stated that these particular patents were worth between £200 and £500 per year (roughly on the order of £40,000 per year in 2000).
Actes and Monuments
In 1563, Day undertook the work for which he is best known, John Foxe's Actes and Monuments. Day and Foxe probably met through Cecil, and the two became close collaborators. There is a tradition that Foxe, who revised and added material while the book was being set in type, actually lived at Day's shop during the production of the book; it is certain that he did visit at least weekly. Day heavily invested time and money in the production of Foxe's book, the largest publishing project undertaken in England to that time. The resulting lavish folio filled with woodcuts was an expensive luxury item, but it sold well and Day profited from his investment.
He continued to take on challenging and difficult projects. He had already printed the first English book of church music in 1560. In 1567, Matthew Parker, the Archbishop of Canterbury, commissioned Day to print a collection of the writings of Aelfric. For this work, Day had the first-ever font of Anglo-Saxon type cut. The cost was borne by Parker, perhaps Day's most important patron.
Day used the same font to print Lambarde's Archaionomia (a collection of Anglo-Saxon laws) in 1568. In 1570, he printed Billingsley and Dee's English Euclid, which included folding and movable diagrams—one of the first printed books ever to do so.
Day and Fox completed a second edition of Actes and Monuments in 1570. It was even larger than the first; a total of 2,300 pages in two enormous folio volumes. This edition received official recognition: in 1571, the Convocation ordered that every cathedral church and the household of every senior member of the clergy should own a copy. The same year he printed Ascham's Scholemaster.
Final years
By the late 1570s, there was a considerable amount of open discontent among the less wealthy members of the Stationers' Company about Day's extensive patents. After a struggle, Day released some of his monopolies, including the ABCs, to some of the poorer members. In 1580, he became Master of the Company, and focused vigorously on defending against piracy: he even prosecuted his eldest son Richard, all but bankrupting him.
Day's health began to deteriorate quickly in 1582. Though weakening, he raced to complete another edition of Actes and Monuments in 1583. He died the following year.
Day married twice and had 24 children, most of whom died in infancy. During his long career, he produced about 230 books. His printer's device showed a sleeper awakening, with the motto "Arise for it is Day," both a play on his name and an allusion to the new era of religious reform.
References
- Evenden, Elizabeth (2004). "A Biography of John Day" in John Foxe, Acts and Monuments, The Variorum Edition (hriOnline, Sheffield 2004).
- Tedder, Henry Richard (1909; reprint, 1973). "Day, Daye or Daie, John (1522-1584)." Dictionary of National Biography, (DNB) vol. V, pp. 683-685.