ere the Prayer Book of Edward VI. with the colophon:--

'Imprinted by Humphrey Powell, printer to the Kynges Maieste, in
his Highnesse realme of Ireland dwellynge in the citie of Dublin in
the great toure by the Crane Cum Privelegio ad imprimendum solum.
Anno Domini, M.D.L.I.'

Timperley, in his _Encyclopaedia_ (p. 314), says that Powell continued
printing in Dublin for fifteen years, and removed to the southern side
of the river to St. Nicholas Street.

In 1571 the first fount of Irish type was presented by Queen Elizabeth
to John O'Kearney, treasurer of St. Patrick's, to print the _Catechism_
which appeared in that year from the press of John Franckton. (Reed,
_Old English Letter Foundries_, pp. 75, 186-7.) It was not a Pure Irish
character, but a hybrid fount consisting for the most part of Roman and
Italic letters, with the seven distinctly Irish sorts added. A copy of
the _Catechism_ is exhibited in the King's Library, British Museum, and
in the Library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, is a copy of a
broadside _Poem on the last Judgement_, sent over to the Archbishop of
Canterbury as a specimen.

This type was afterwards used to print William O'Donnell's, or Daniel's,
Irish Testament in 1602.

[Footnote 10: For the material of this chapter I am chiefly indebted to
the valuable work of Messrs. Dickson and Edmond, _Annals of Scottish
Printing_.]

CHAPTER VII

THE STUART PERIOD

1603-1640

One of the first acts of King James on his accession to the English
throne was to strengthen the hands of the already powerful Company of
Stationers. Hitherto all Primers and Psalters had been the exclusive
privilege of the successors of Day and Seres, while Almanacs and
Prognostications, another large and profitable source of revenue, had
been the property of James Roberts and Richard Watkins. But now, by the
royal authority, these two valuable patents were turned over to the
Stationers to form part of their English stock. At the same time, the
privileges of Robert Barker, son and successor to Christopher Barker,
and king's printer by reversion, were increased by grants for printing
all statutes, hitherto the monopoly of other printers. On the other
hand, Robert Barker did not retain the sole possession of the royal
business as men like Berthelet and Pynson had been wont to do, but had
joined with him in the patent John Norton, who had a special grant for
printing all books in Latin, Gre