Christopher Hunt () was an

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

bookseller and stationer.

Life

He was the son of Walter Hunt, a

cordwainer A cordwainer () is a shoemaker who makes new shoes from new leather. The cordwainer's trade can be contrasted with the cobbler's trade, according to a tradition in Britain that restricted cobblers to repairing shoes. This usage distinction is ...

Blandford Blandford Forum ( ) is a market town in Dorset, England, on the River Stour, Dorset, River Stour, north-west of Poole. It had a population of 10,355 at the United Kingdom 2021 census, 2021 census. The town is notable for its Georgian archit ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

. On 12 January 1585 he apprenticed himself to Thomas Man, a London

stationer Stationery refers to writing materials, including cut paper, envelopes, continuous form paper, and other office supplies. Stationery usually specifies materials to be written on by hand (e.g., letter paper) or by equipment such as computer pr ...

for a period of eight years, beginning the previous Christmas Day. He was admitted to the Stationer's Company as a freeman on 2 October 1592, and returned to Exeter and made a freeman in 1593. There he opened a

stationery Stationery refers to writing materials, including cut paper, envelopes, continuous form paper, and other office supplies. Stationery usually specifies materials to be written on by hand (e.g., letter paper) or by equipment such as computer p ...

in the parish of St. Martin, selling books and other items such as writing supplies, and had two titles printed for him in London by Adam Islip, both of them translations by the Cornish translator and antiquary Richard Carew. He removed to London some time before May 1606 and located a shop in

Paternoster Row Paternoster Row is a street in the City of London that was a centre of the London publishing trade, with booksellers operating from the street. Paternoster Row was described as "almost synonymous" with the book trade. It was part of an area call ...

. His wife's name is unknown. He had at least two children, Anne, baptised 24 March 1599 at St Martin's Church, and a son,

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

, baptised 16 January 1602 in the same church, also a stationer.

Imprints

* (Quarto, 235 pages) * (Quarto, 333 pages and a Table.) * (Quarto, 12 leaves.) Hunt also had a patent granted by

King James I James I may refer to: People *James I of Aragon (1208–1276) * James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327) * James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu * James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347) *James I of Cyprus (1334� ...

to print a book titled .

Love's Labour's Won

In 1954 fragments of Hunt's daybook at Blandford Fair in Dorset were found in the binding of a book of sermons published in 1637, one dated August 1603 and the other September 1607. On the

verso ''Recto'' is the "right" or "front" side and ''verso'' is the "left" or "back" side when text is written or printed on a leaf of paper () in a bound item such as a codex, book, broadsheet, or pamphlet. In double-sided printing, each leaf h ...

of the 1603 sheet a list of 16 "

nter The Northern Territory National Emergency Response, also known as "The Intervention" or the Northern Territory Intervention, and sometimes the abbreviation "NTER" (for Northern Territory Emergency Response) was a package of measures enforced by ...

udes and tragedyes" sold from 9 to 17 August 1603 was found. The list included four of Shakespeare's plays,

Merchant of Venice ''The Merchant of Venice'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. A merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan taken out on behalf of his dear friend, Bassanio, and provided by a ...

The Taming of a Shrew ''The Taming of the Shrew'' is a Shakespearean comedy, comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1592. The play begins with a Frame story, framing device, often referred to as the Induction (play), inducti ...

Love's Labour's Lost ''Love's Labour's Lost'' is one of William Shakespeare's early comedies, believed to have been written in the mid-1590s for a performance at the Inns of Court before Queen Elizabeth I. It follows the King of Navarre and his three companions as ...

, and

Love's Labour's Won ''Love's Labour's Won'' is a lost play attributed by contemporaries to William Shakespeare, written before 1598 and published by 1603, though no copies are known to have survived. Scholars dispute whether it is a true lost work, possibly a sequ ...

, a play that had been mentioned by

Francis Meres Francis Meres (1565/1566 – 29 January 1647) was an English churchman and author. His 1598 commonplace book includes the first critical account of poems and plays by Shakespeare. Career Francis Meres was born in 1565 at Kirton Meres in the par ...

in his ''

Palladis Tamia ''Palladis Tamia: Wits Treasury; Being the Second Part of Wits Commonwealth'' is a 1598 commonplace book written by the minister Francis Meres. It is important in English literary history as the first critical account of the poems and early play ...

'', (1598) but for which no other evidence had been found. The find provided evidence that the play was in fact a unique work that had been published but lost and not an early title of some other Shakespeare play. Currently, this inventory list resides in the Rare Book & Manuscript Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunt, Christopher English publishers (people) 16th-century English businesspeople 17th-century English businesspeople Businesspeople from Exeter Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown