Richard Jugge (died 1577) was an eminent English printer, who kept a shop at the sign of the Bible, at the North door of

Old St Paul's Cathedral Old St Paul's Cathedral was the cathedral of the City of London that, until the Great Fire of London, Great Fire of 1666, stood on the site of the present St Paul's Cathedral. Built from 1087 to 1314 and dedicated to Paul of Tarsus, Saint Paul ...

, though his residence was in Newgate market, next to

Christ Church Greyfriars Christ Church Greyfriars, also known as Christ Church Newgate Street, was a church in Newgate Street, opposite St Paul's Cathedral in the City of London. Established as a monastic church in the thirteenth century, it became a parish church afte ...

in London. He is generally credited as the inventor of the

footnote In publishing, a note is a brief text in which the author comments on the subject and themes of the book and names supporting citations. In the editorial production of books and documents, typographically, a note is usually several lines of tex ...

. His business was run under the name of his widow Joan Jugge after he died.

Life

It is thought that Richard Jugge was born in

Waterbeach Waterbeach is a village north of Cambridge on the edge of The Fens, in the South Cambridgeshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. It was designated a "new town" in 2018. History Early periods Waterbeach is on the Car Dyke, a Roman waterway ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

and he was educated at

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England *Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States *Éton, a commune in the Meuse depa ...

and

King's College, Cambridge King's College, formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, is a List of colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college lies beside the River Cam and faces ...

. He was admitted a freeman of the

Stationers' Company The Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers (until 1937 the Worshipful Company of Stationers), usually known as the Stationers' Company, is one of the livery companies of the City of London. The Stationers' Company was formed in 1 ...

in 1541 and began to print the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

in English, dated 1550. Joseph Ames in ''Typographical Antiquities'' says he was "very curious, in his editions of both the Old and New Testament, bestowing not only a good letter, but many elegant initial letters and fine wooden cuts." He was one of the original members of the Stationers' Company, of which he was chosen Warden in 1560, 1563 and 1566, and Master in 1568, 1569, 1573 and 1574. On the accession of Queen Elizabeth he became Royal Printer conjointly with John Cawood. He survived Cawood for a few years, in which he enjoyed the privileges of the patent alone, but he discovered that this was a heavy undertaking. With all the other work that flowed into his printing house from the patent, he found difficulty in organizing the production of Bibles. An

octavo Octavo, a Latin word meaning "in eighth" or "for the eighth time", (abbreviated 8vo, 8º, or In-8) is a technical term describing the format of a book, which refers to the size of leaves produced from folding a full sheet of paper on which multip ...

Testament took him two years to complete, and whereas

Richard Grafton Richard Grafton (c. 1506/7 or 1511 – 1573) was King's Printer under Henry VIII and Edward VI. He was a member of the Grocers' Company and MP for Coventry elected 1562/63. Under Henry VIII With Edward Whitchurch, a member of the Haberdash ...

and

Edward Whitchurch Edward Whitchurch (Pseudonym: Robert Stoughton; died 1561) was a London printer and publisher of Protestant works. Whitchurch and Richard Grafton jointly published the first complete version of the Bible in English in 1539. Other published work ...

had issued seven

folio The term "folio" () has three interconnected but distinct meanings in the world of books and printing: first, it is a term for a common method of arranging Paper size, sheets of paper into book form, folding the sheet only once, and a term for ...

Bibles in three years, Jugge managed only two in the same period. This rate of production was unsatisfactory to the Government and to the Church. After "long hearing and debating of grievances" Jugge was instructed to limit himself to the

quarto Quarto (abbreviated Qto, 4to or 4º) is the format of a book or pamphlet produced from full sheets printed with eight pages of text, four to a side, then folded twice to produce four leaves. The leaves are then trimmed along the folds to produc ...

Bible and to the Testament in sextodecimo. One of Jugge's printer's devices consisted of a massive architectural panel adorned with wreaths of fruit, and bearing in the centre an oval, within which is a pelican feeding her young. On the left of the oval stands a female figure, having a serpent twined round her right arm, who is called on the tablet beneath her Prudencia, and upon the left is another female figure with a balance and a sword, called Justicia. Jugge died in 1577, and his will was proved on 23 October that year. His business was carried on by his widow Joan Jugge aiden name perhaps Joan Merrye who continued the business until at least 1585 printing under her own name, dying in 1588.Bell, Maureen. "Women in the English Book Trade 1557-1700" ''Leipziger Jahrbuch zur Buchgeschichte'', 1996, , p. 36 John Jugge who was Richard's son, appears to have inherited the rights to some titles but never printed independently.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jugge, Richard 1577 deaths English printers People educated at Eton College Alumni of King's College, Cambridge People from Waterbeach 16th-century English businesspeople Year of birth missing