Marmaduke Johnson

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Marmaduke Johnson
Born1628
Rothwell, England
DiedDecember 25, 1674
Age: 46
Boston, Massachusetts
Known forFirst master printed in America, printed the Indian Bible in the Algonquin language
Signature
Marmaduke Johnson, signature.jpg

Marmaduke Johnson (1628 – December 25, 1674) was a London printer who sailed from England to Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1660 to assist Samuel Green in the printing of the Bible, which had been laboriously translated by John Eliot into the Massachusett Indian language,[1][2] which became the first Bible printed in North America.[3][4] Johnson is considered the first master printer to emerge in America. When he attempted to operate his own privately owned printing house in Boston, without an official license from the Crown, the Massachusetts General Court interceded and censured his operation, which in turn started one of the first 'Freedom of the Press' issues in colonial America. After several appeals the Court conceded, where Johnson moved to Boston and ultimately became the first printer in America allowed to operate his own private printing press.[5] During his printing career, Johnson printed several works for Eliot containing religious material translated for the Indian nations of Massachusetts.[6][7]

Early years

Johnson was born in Rothwell, England, the son of a tailor. Beginning January 9, 1646, he served the customary seven years as an apprentice under John Field in London. He completed his apprenticeship on October 4, 1652.[2][a] Little else is known of his years in London, other than he was once jailed for debt. He subsequently wrote the anonymous Ludgate, What It Is: Not What It Was, a critical essay condemning the British debtor's prison system, which was printed by his brother Thomas.[9]

Printing career

Marmaduke Johnson is mostly noted for printing the Eliot Indian Bible with Samuel Green[b]. The project to print the Bible in the Algonquin-Massachusett language began with missionary John Eliot who came to the Massachusetts Bay Colony from England in 1631. One of his primary missions was to teach and convert the Massachusett to Christianity.[c] To effect this he studied the Algonquin Indian language and then, with the assistance of James Printer[d] translated various Christian scriptures from English to the Massachusett Indian language,[14][15][e] rather than trying to teach the Indians English and then have them study scriptures.[17] This was an effort that took him fourteen years to complete before he took on the task of printing the translation of various Christian scriptures into Algonquin. He commissioned Green in the printing of the Gospel of Matthew, Book of Genesis, and Psalms, and presented these works to the Corporation as examples of what a completed Algonquin Bible would look like.[18][19]

The Corporation approved Elliot's work and in 1660 sent Marmaduke Johnson, an accomplished printer, to the American colonies on board the Prudent Mary[20] and arrived at Boston with a new printing press, one hundred reams of paper and eighty pounds of new type for the printing.[18][19] to assist Green in the translation and printing of the New and Old testaments of the Bible in an Algonquin Indian language.[21] The agreement, outlining Johnson's terms of service and his duties as a printer, was drawn up and signed by Johnson on April 21, 1660. Thomas Bell[f] of the Corporation paid Johnson £ 5 for his passage across the Atlantic, and 18 shillings for a rug, boulster and blanket for his accommodation during the voyage.[20][23]

i.e." And shall serve the aid President and Society and their Successors in New England aforesaid in the Art of a printer for he printinge of the Bible in the Indian language and such other Books as he shall be directed to print for and duringe the terme of Three yeares".[24][g]

Johnson arrived in New England sometime during the summer of 1760.[26] By 1661, Johnson, Green, and with the assistance of John Eliot and James Printer in the translation of English to the Massachusett language, printed 1,500 copies of the New Testament. By 1663, Marmaduke and Green had printed 1,180 volumes of the Old and New Testaments translated from English to the Massachusett language.[18][27][h] The two books were bound together to make one complete Bible, to which were attached a Catechism, and the Psalms of David in Indian verse. This was the first Bible in any language that was printed in America.[3][4][29][i] Thus completed, a copy of the The Indian Bible, in elegant binding, was presented to Charles the Second, which included a dedication of thanks and gratitude for his support.[31][32][j]

Eliot Indian Bible
printed by Marmaduke Johnson & Samuel Green, 1663
Title page
Genesis

Johnson was considered a good worker, however, during the printing production of the Indian Bible he would sometimes take leave of absence for extended periods of time, subsequently slowing down the production.[35] As soon as his printing contract had been completed Johnson was dismissed, and in 1664 returned to England. When he arrived there he was appointed the official printer for the New England Company,[k] replacing Green, which by some accounts occurred at the insistence of John Eliot. As a subsequence of Johnson's return Green lost much of his income from the sale of the Indian tracts.[26] Johnson's dismissal was objected to by Charles Chauncy, president of Harvard College, who in a letter of November 2, 1664, to Robert Boyle, president of the corporation, pleaded that Johnson's extraordinary ability as an experienced printer was sorely needed in Cambridge and that he be returned to Cambridge and furnished with a new font of type.[36] Before May, 1665, Massachusetts lacked any privately owned commercial printing press. His reputation for disorderly conduct notwithstanding and with the Insistence of John Elliot and the Corporation, Johnson was allowed to remain in Cambridge so he could complete his commission to print the Indian Bibles, or until August, 1664.[37] When Johnson returned from England with his own printing press and type, with the intention of starting up his own privately operated printing press, the first to ever do so, the Act requiring printing licenses was reinstated on May 27, 1765 by the Court, with Johnson specifically in mind.[38][39] The Act mandated, "that there shall be no printing presses allowed ... but in Cambridge".[23]

In 1637 King Charles had passed a Star Chamber decree regulating the complete control and censoring of any religious, political or other literature they deemed seditious or otherwise questionable. Among other regulations, it forbade any literature that criticized the Church of England, the State, or the government.[40][l] When the Licensing of the Press Act 1662 became law its effect in the colonies was hard felt, that any printing press outside of Cambridge, location of the only sanctioned press in Massachusetts,[m] was prohibited, which proved to be a serious hindrance to the business interests of Boston printers.[38] On January 21, 1662, Johnson had his premises searched where a number of Poor Robin's Almanacks he had printed without license were confiscated.[43] The Act, however, was repealed in 1663.[23]

By some accounts Johnson was not known for being a man of respectable principles when it came to matters of women and marriage. He was indicted in April, 1662, for "alluring the daughter of Samuel Green, printer, and drawing away her affections without the consent of her father." Further compounding matters, Johnson would sometimes make threats against the life of any man who approached her in the same manner that he had. For winning the affections of the young woman, Johnson was fined five pounds, and for his threats he was put under bonds as a measure for prompting him in keeping the peace. When he proposed marriage to Green's daughter while it was understood that he still had a wife back in England, he was ordered to return to England, however, he was able to defer the order for two years in order to complete his printing contract for the Society.[44][45]

Having moved to and operating in Boston, Johnson in 1668 he printed The Isle of Pines, for which he was fined £5.[46] Johnson made several attempts to repeal these restriction by addressing the General Court with his own petitions, which initially failed.[47] Johnson maintained that the restrictions placed upon him would have prevented him to make enough income to support himself, and would also prevent him from printing tracts that would be beneficial to the court and the commonwealth. Prompted by the insistence of John Eliot, the General Court finally concurred and accepted Johnson's petitions, with certain restrictions, and permitted him to set up his printing house in Boston on, May 30, 1674,[48][49][n] becoming the first printer to run his own press in the American colonies.[51] Shortly after Johnson's petition was accepted he was elected "college printer", an action, according to historian Duniway, "probably taken with the hope of retaining in Cambridge the only well-trained printer in the colony", but Johnson regardless moved to Boston, and, however, didn't live long enough to enjoy the favorable decision the Court handed down to him, and lived there until his death, December 25, 1674 shortly thereafter.[52]

Works printed

From 1669 to 1671 Johnson, sometimes in cooperation with Green, produced works that were of special significance to trends in American publishing, during which time they printed four books which proved important for their historical and literary content. In 1669 they printed a work by Nathaniel Morton, entitled, New-England's Memoriall, the first non-religious work authored in America. The work contains the history of the Plymouth Colony and relies almost entirely on the original chronicles of the Plymouth Plantation that was written by Morton's uncle, Governor William Bradford, possibly the most handsome book produced in American colonies at the time. In 1670 two volumes of poetry: Meat out of the Eater, by Michael Wigglesworth, a lengthy work about the benefits of afflictions, and Philip Pain's Daily Meditations, originally printed by Johnson, but no copies are known to exist. The 1670 edition contains a poetical introduction written by Johnson. Both works were made available for purchase. The fourth work, which is considered the most important book printed by Johnson and Green, was Increase Mather's informative biography of his father, The Life and Death of That Reverend Man of God, Mr. Richard Mather printed in 1670.[5]

Other works printed by Johnson include:

  • Eliot, John. Baxter's Call to the Unconverted translated into the Indian Language, Cambridge, 1664. (1000 copies) [53]
  • Eliot, John. The Indian Grammar Begun, Cambridge, 1666[7]
  • Eliot, John, Communion of Churches; or the Divine Management of Gospel Churches by the Ordinance of Councils, constituted in Order, according to the Scriptures[54]
  • Brès, Guy de, The rise, spring and foundation of the Anabaptists, or re-baptized of our time, 1668[55][56]
  • Pain, Phillip, Daily Meditations: Or, Quotidian Preparations for and Considerations of Death and Eternity, 1670[57]
  • A Platform of Church-Discipline Gathered out of the Word of God, Cambridge, 1671[58]
  • Eliot, John. The Logick Primer. Some Logical Notions to initiate the Indians in the Knowledge of the Rule of Reason, Cambridge, 1672.[59]
  • Mather, Increase, Wo to Drunkards Two Sermons by Mather, "Testifying against the Sin of Drunkenness", Cambridge, 1673[60]
  • Mather, Increase. The Day of Trouble is near. Two Sermons preached on the December 11, 1673. Cambridge, 1674.[61]

Later years and legacy

Johnson married late in life to Ruth Cane of Cambridge on April 28, 1670, and had a daughter who died young.[49][62] In 1672 Johnson printed a work by William Dyer, entitled, Christ's Famous Titles, for Joseph Farnham and Edmund Ranger.[63] John Foster, with likely encouragement of Increase Mather, the newly appointed licenser of the press, bought Johnson's printing press and wares. It is unknown whether Johnson had printed any works in Boston, having died almost immediately after he set up shop there.[64][o] In all Johnson printed about sixty works during his career as a printer.[66][67] Johnson died on Christmas day, December 25, 1674, at the age of fourty-six. He had a son back in England who never came to the American colony to claim his father's estate.[68][p]

The contributions of Marmaduke Johnson as a publisher and printer are significant in the development of publishing and printing in that early era of colonial America. The number of books he printed, by himself, or with Samuel Green, are historically significant, and serve to reveal the changing reading habits in colonial New England. It is said that Johnson's life provides a good example of an American success story, about a man with humble beginnings who rose to independence and prominence. Johnson brought to Massachusetts the technical knowledge of printing that was in short supply and badly needed, helping to make publishing take root and flourish in the colonies.[70]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Field was the printer of the University of Cambridge.[8]
  2. ^ Green was the official printer for Harvard College and the Massachusetts General Court for forty-three years.[10]
  3. ^ For his prolonged effort Eliot was often referred to as "The Apostle to the Indians" by his contemporaries and some historians.[11][12]
  4. ^ James Printer was an American Indian from the Nipmuc tribe who attended the Indian school at Cambridge, where he learned to read and write English. In 1659 he served as an apprentice under Samuel Green.[13][14]
  5. ^ The Massachusett language is an Algonquian language of the Algic language family, once spoken by various tribes of eastern coastal and southeastern Massachusetts.[16]
  6. ^ Thomas Bell was a Puritan who emigrated from England to the Massachusetts Bay Colony to escape religious persecution in 1634.[22]
  7. ^ The entire text of The Articles of Agreement for Johnson can be found in the Records of the colony of New Plymouth, Vol. II.[25]
  8. ^ Only a few dozen of Eliot's 1663 Bible remain in existence, as most copies were destroyed during King Philip's War in 1675–1676.[28]
  9. ^ The first Bible in America in the English language wasn't printed until 1752, by Samuel Kneeland and Bartholomew Green Jr.[30]
  10. ^ The funding required for the effort involved in the translation and the printing was provided by a charter from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, which was renewed by Charles II.[33] The text of the dedication can be read in Records of the colony of New Plymouth, in New England, Volume II, published 1855.[34]
  11. ^ Also know as Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England
  12. ^ The thirty-three regulations are outlined in Clyde Duniway's work of 1906.[41]
  13. ^ This was the first printing press brought to the American colonies at Cambridge, in 1638, by John Daye.[42]
  14. ^ The text of Marmaduke's petition, written in Old English, can be read in Duniway, 1906.[50]
  15. ^ In 1675, Foster printed Increase Mather's book, The Wicked Man's Portion, the first work ever printed in Boston.[65]
  16. ^ Historians, Thomas, 1874, Duniway, 1906, Franklin, 1980 and Malone, 1943, and others, give no explanation for Johnson's relatively early death.[69]

Citations

  1. ^ Matteson; Malone (ed.), 1943, v. 10, pp. 110–111
  2. ^ a b Franklin V., 1980, p. 303
  3. ^ a b Byington, 1899, p. 251
  4. ^ a b Adams, 1847, p. 241
  5. ^ a b Franklin V, 1980, p. 307
  6. ^ Thomas, 1874, v. 2, pp. 315, 318–319
  7. ^ a b Eliot; Johnson (ed.), 1666, title page
  8. ^ Plomer, 1922, p. 150
  9. ^ Franklin V., 1980, pp. 303–304
  10. ^ Franklin V. (1980), p. 230
  11. ^ Dearborn, 1850, p. 12
  12. ^ Convers, 1844, pp. vi, 3, 21
  13. ^ Thomas, 1874, v. 1, pp. 95–96
  14. ^ a b Wells, 1985, p. 271
  15. ^ Dearborn, 1850, pp. 17–18
  16. ^ Costa, 2007, pp. 81–127
  17. ^ Eliot, 2003, pp. 13
  18. ^ a b c Round, 2010, p. 26
  19. ^ a b Thomas, 1874, v. 1, p. 75
  20. ^ a b Winship, 1945, p. 204
  21. ^ Thomas, 1874, v. 1, p. 69
  22. ^ Heath, 2013, Essay
  23. ^ a b c Matteson; Malone (ed.), 1943, v. 10, p. 110
  24. ^ Pulsifer (ed.), 1855, p. 447
  25. ^ Pulsifer (ed.), 1855, pp. 447–479
  26. ^ a b Franklin V. (1980), p. 233
  27. ^ Wroth, 1938, p. 17
  28. ^ Massachusetts Historical Society, 2007, Essay
  29. ^ Humphreys, 1913, p. 23
  30. ^ Thomas, 1874, p. 107
  31. ^ Convers, 1844, pp. 221–222
  32. ^ Dearborn, 1850, p. 17
  33. ^ Convers, 1844, pp. 219–221
  34. ^ Pulsifer (ed.), 1855, v. 2, pp. 255–257
  35. ^ Convers, 1844, p. 226
  36. ^ Kellaway, 1954, pp. 224–225
  37. ^ Duniway 1906, p. 47
  38. ^ a b Franklin V. 1980, p. 304
  39. ^ Kellaway, 1954, p. 226
  40. ^ Duniway, 1906, p. 11
  41. ^ Duniway, 1906, pp. 11–14
  42. ^ Green, 1909, p. 23
  43. ^ Nipps, 2014, p. 498
  44. ^ Duniway 1906, p. 44
  45. ^ Paige, 1877, p. 594
  46. ^ Franklin V. 1980, p. 305
  47. ^ Duniway, 1906, pp. 50–55
  48. ^ Duniway, 1906, pp. 47, 54–56
  49. ^ a b Matteson; Malone (ed.), 1943, v. 10, p. 111
  50. ^ Duniway, 1906, pp. 50–51
  51. ^ Franklin V., 1980, p. 303
  52. ^ Duniway, 1906, pp. 56–57
  53. ^ Thomas, 1874, v. 2, p. 315
  54. ^ Convers, 1844, p. 253
  55. ^ Bres, 1668, title page
  56. ^ Green, 1895, p. 19
  57. ^ Green, 1909, p. 21
  58. ^ Green, 1895, p. 24
  59. ^ Thomas, 1874, v. 2, p. 318
  60. ^ Green, 1895, p. 28
  61. ^ Thomas, 1874, v. 2, p. 319
  62. ^ Thomas, 1874, v. 1, p. 81
  63. ^ Franklin V, 1980, p. 157
  64. ^ Green, 1909, p. 24
  65. ^ Franklin V, 1980, p. 179
  66. ^ Franklin V, 1980, pp. 178–179
  67. ^ Wroth, 1938, p. 18
  68. ^ Matteson; Malone (ed.), 1943, v. 10, p. 110-111
  69. ^ Thomas, 1874, Duniway, 1906, Franklin V., 1980, Metteson & Malone, 1943
  70. ^ Franklin V. 1980, p. 308

Bibliography

Further information: Bibliography of early American publishers and printers
  • Adams, Nehemiah (1847). The life of John Eliot; with an account of the early missionary efforts among the Indians of New England. Boston, Massachusetts Sabbath School Society.
  • Myles, Anne G. (March 2007). "Restoration Declensions, Divine Consolations: The Work of John Foxe in 1664 Massachusetts". The New England Quarterly. The New England Quarterly, Inc. 80 (1): 35–68. JSTOR 20474510.
  • Nipps, Karen (October 2014). "Cum privilegio: Licensing of the Press Act of 1662". The Library Quarterly: Information, Community, Policy. The University of Chicago Press. 8 (4): 494–500. JSTOR 677787.

External links

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