James Roberts (printer)

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James Roberts (

F. G. Fleay says that "he seems to have been given to piracy and invasion of copyright".[1]

Career

Roberts was made free of the

James I granted for ever the right to the Stationers' Company from 29 October 1603.[5] Roberts took over John Charlewood's books on 31 May 1594,[6] including the right of printing playbills, which William Jaggard
unsuccessfully applied for.

About 1595 Roberts probably married Charlewood's widow, Alice. He was presumably later widowered, as he is also said to have married a daughter of the stationer Thomas Heyes, to whom he sold the publishing rights of The Merchant of Venice on 28 October 1600. The court of assistants ordered, on 1 September 1595, "that James Roberts shall clerely from hensforth surcease to deale with the printinge of the Brief Catechisme", recently printed by him, and that he should deliver up all sheets of the book.[7] On 25 June 1596 he was admitted into the livery.[8]

Roberts continued to print Charlewood's catalogue of poetry for a variety of publishers including works by

The Lord Chamberlain's Men (Shakespeare's company), he registered five plays belonging to the company but never published any of them himself: The Merchant of Venice (1598), A Larum for London (1600), and Troilus and Cressida (1603). He also entered a lost play Cloth Breeches and Velvet Hose and printed the second quarto of Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus for Edward White
.

Plays

"A booke of the

Shakespearean entry to him is for Troilus and Cressida, "as yt is acted by my lord chamberlen's Men", 7 Feb. 1603,[11]
of which the first printed edition came from the press of G. Eld in 1609. The last entry is on 10 July 1606 (Arber, Transcript of the Registers, iii. 326). The playbills and some books were transferred to William Jaggard on 29 October 1615 (Arber, Transcript of the Registers, iii. 575).

Personal details

A long list of books belonging to Roberts towards the end of his life is reprinted in Joseph Ames, Typographical Antiquities (ed. William Herbert, ii. 1031–1032). Roberts first lived in St. Paul's Churchyard, London, at the sign of the Sun; he afterwards had a house in the Barbican.

Legacy

He printed down to 1606. James Roberts business was continued by his brother Robert Roberts. He married Mary Balwin who was the daughter of Abigail Baldwin who was a successful publisher. Abigail died in 17?? and although Mary had died the year before, Robert Roberts inherited the Baldwin's business. He combined the two businesses but continued to trade as "James Roberts".[12]

References

  1. ^ Shakespeare Manual, 1878, p. 145
  2. ^ Arber, Transcript of the Registers, i. 240, 326, 402
  3. ^ Arber, Transcript of the Registers, ii. 880
  4. ^ Arber, Transcript of the Registers, ii. 817–18
  5. ^ Arber, Transcript of the Registers, iii. 15
  6. ^ Arber, Transcript of the Registers, ii. 651–2
  7. ^ Arber, Transcript of the Registers, ii. 824
  8. ^ Arber, Transcript of the Registers, ii. 872
  9. ^ Arber, Transcript of the Registers, ii. 833
  10. ^ Arber, Transcript of the Registers, iii. 212
  11. ^ Arber, Transcript of the Registers, iii. 226
  12. ISBN 978-1-85506-613-7
    .

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Roberts, James (fl.1564–1606)". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.

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