Thomas Jenner (died 1673) was an English writer, engraver, and publisher in London. He kept from 1624 a print-shop by the south entrance of the Royal Exchange; it was recommended by

John Evelyn John Evelyn (31 October 162027 February 1706) was an English writer, landowner, gardener, courtier and minor government official, who is now best known as a diary, diarist. He was a founding Fellow of the Royal Society. John Evelyn's Diary, ...

Samuel Pepys Samuel Pepys ( ; 23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English writer and Tories (British political party), Tory politician. He served as an official in the Navy Board and Member of Parliament (England), Member of Parliament, but is most r ...

In business

With Michael Sparke, Jenner is regarded as a

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...

publisher, of works motivated by their moral, religious and Protestant patriotic content. An upmarket printseller with a broad base of stock, he was in competition with

Peter Stent Peter Stent (c. 1613–1665) was a seventeenth-century London printseller, who from the early 1640s until his death ran one of the biggest printmaking businesses of the day. Stent originally was an engraver himself. Edward Calver wrote verses to ...

and Robert Walton. As well as portraits, some being of royalist interest, he sold broadsides and political material. Besides prints and books, he carried picture frames and stationery items. Engravers who worked for Jenner included Francis Delaram, William Marshall and

Willem de Passe The van de Passe or de Passe family was a dynasty of Dutch engravers, started by Crispijn the Elder, comparable to the Wierix family and the Sadelers, though mostly at a more mundane commercial level. Most of their engravings were portraits, b ...

, whose wife Elizabeth is thought likely to have been a relation of Jenner. Jan Barra made a set of engravings for the

five senses A sense is a biological system used by an organism for sensation, the process of gathering information about the surroundings through the detection of stimuli. Although, in some cultures, five human senses were traditionally identified as su ...

. Jenner's authors included

Joseph Moxon Joseph Moxon (8 August 1627 – February 1691), hydrographer to Charles II of England, Charles II, was an England, English printer specialising in mathematical books and maps, a maker of globes and mathematical instruments, and mathematical l ...

and Matthew Stevenson.

Works

Emblematic books

The first work attributed to Jenner himself is ''The Soules Solace; or Thirty and one Spirituall Emblems'' (edition 1626; 1631; 1639; 1651 under a new title, ''Divine Mysteries that cannot be seene, made plain by that which can be seene''). It contains thirty copper-plate engravings (one repeated), each with descriptive letterpress. Some of those were influenced by Gabriel Rollenhagen. Other emblematists thought to have influenced Jenner were Dutch,

Jacob Cats Jacob Cats (10 November 1577 – 12 September 1660) was a Dutch poet, humorist, jurist and politician. He is most famous for his emblem books. Early years Jacob Cats was born on 10 November 1577 in Brouwershaven. Having lost his mother at ...

and Florentius Schoonhoven. The final engraving, of a person in gay attire, with hat and plume, sitting and smoking at a table, is accompanied by a poem, once strangely attributed to

George Wither George Wither (11 June 1588 O.S. (21 June 1588 NS) – 2 May 1667 O.S. (12 May 1667 NS)) was a prolific English poet, pamphleteer, satirist and writer of hymns. Wither's long life spanned one of the most tumultuous periods in the history of En ...

, whose portrait the engraving was taken to be. The poem was in fact an

allegorical As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory throughou ...

work on earthly existence, and its burden was "Thus thinke, then drinke Tobacco." Wither, an opponent of smoking, wrote a reply with the counter-refrain, "Thus thinke, drinke no Tobacco." The themes of other engravings were based on sermons preached in London, and exhibit anti-Catholic feeling. There is possibly allusion to the Fatal Vespers. The preachers of the sermons are indicated by two initials only. It has been argued that in particular the 27th engraving, "The new creation", with imagery based on an untuned musical instrument, could have been taken from preaching of

John Donne John Donne ( ; 1571 or 1572 – 31 March 1631) was an English poet, scholar, soldier and secretary born into a recusant family, who later became a clergy, cleric in the Church of England. Under Royal Patronage, he was made Dean of St Paul's, D ...

. Jenner produced two more works in the same general vein. ''The Ages of Sin, or Sinne's Birth and Growth. With the Stepps and Degrees of Sin from thought to finall Impenitencie'' consists of a series of engraved plates in which, as in Francis Quarles's ''Emblems'', each is accompanied by six metrical lines. There is also ''The Path of Life and the Way that leadeth down to the Chambers of Death or the Steps to Hell and the Steps to Heaven, in which all men may see their ways set forth in copper prints''. London, 1656. It is debated whether this last work should be classified as an

emblem book An emblem book is a book collecting emblems (allegorical illustrations) with accompanying explanatory text, typically morals or poems. This category of books was popular in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries. Emblem books are collection ...

Freeman Freeman, free men, Freeman's or Freemans may refer to: Places United States * Freeman, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Freeman, Illinois, an unincorporated community * Freeman, Indiana, an unincorporated community * Freeman, South Dako ...

disqualifies this book by Jenner as an emblem book, by a general four-point criterion. Manning elucidates Jenner's intention by means of a biblical motto, , associated with the emblematist Filippo Picinelli by his translator Augustin Erath, and paraphrased on the title page of Jenner's book as "by the outward and visible we may the easier see that which is inward and invisible".

Maps

Attributed to Jenner is the ''Direction for the English Traveller'', with maps by Jacob van Langeren, 1643. It was based on a 1635 book of similar title by

Matthew Simmons Matthew Roy Simmons (April 7, 1943 – August 8, 2010) was founder and chairman emeritus of Simmons & Company International, and was a prominent figure in the field of peak oil. Simmons was motivated by the 1973 energy crisis to create an inves ...

, with enlarged maps. The "Quartermaster's Map" used by both sides in the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

was by

Wenceslas Hollar Wenceslaus Hollar (23 July 1607 – 25 March 1677) was a prolific and accomplished Bohemian graphic artist of the 17th century, who spent much of his life in England. He is known to German speakers as ; and to Czech speakers as (). He is partic ...

and published by Jenner. It was closely based on the maps of

Christopher Saxton Christopher Saxton (c. 1540 – c. 1610) was an English cartographer who produced the first county maps of England and Wales. Life and family Saxton was probably born in Sowood, Ossett in the parish of Dewsbury, in the West Riding of Yorkshire ...

Other works

In 1648 Jenner published a series of tracts entitled ''A further Narrative of the Passages of these Times'', containing an engraving of the populace pulling down Cheapside Cross, together with portraits of

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...

Francis Manners, 6th Earl of Rutland Francis Manners, 6th Earl of Rutland, KG KB (1578–1632) was an English nobleman. Despite a brief imprisonment for his involvement in the Essex Rebellion of 1601, he became prominent at the court of James I. He lived at Belvoir Castle in Le ...

, and Sir William Wadd, Constable of the Tower, signed "Thomas Jenner fecit". In 1650 he issued ''A Work for none but Angels and Men, that is to be able to look into and know ourselves. Or a Booke showing what the Soule is''. According to Thomas Corser it is a prose translation of

Sir John Davies Sir John Davies (16 April 1569 (baptised)8 December 1626) was an English poet, lawyer, and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1597 and 1621. He became Attorney General for Ireland and formulated many of the legal ...

's poem on the immortality of the soul, ''Nosce Teipsum'' of 1599. Either that year, or in 1651, Jenner issued ''London's Blame if not its Shame''.''London's Blame if not its Shame. Manifested by the great neglect of the Fishery which affordeth to our Neighbor Nations yeerly the Revenue of many Millions which they take up at our Doors. … Dedicated by Thos. Jenner to the Corporation of the Poor in the City of London, being a member thereof. Printed for T. J., 1651''. Other works are: * ''Wonderful and Strange Punishments inflicted on the Breakers of the Ten Commandments'', London, 1650. * Reportedly, a plate of a large ship, called ''The Soverayne of the Seas'', 1653.

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Jenner, Thomas Year of birth missing 1673 deaths English engravers English writers Publishers (people) from London 17th-century English Puritans