“Old” Sir Hill’s publishing imprint, the thinly veild “Rouland Hall” press oversaw the release of a remarkable twenty-six books between 1559 and 1562/3.
‘Old Sir Rowland’: Publisher of the Geneva Bible and insiration for AS YOU LIKE IT
That some of this is narrowly posthumous publication can be attributed to several factors:
- the burgeoning Elizabethan era facilitated a loosening of restrictions that would have contained this activity prior to 1588;
- Secondly, the intricate nature of sixteenth-century printing, with its lengthy production times, may have resulted in some works remaining unpublished at the time of Sir Hill’s death; and
- the complexity and lengthiness of sixteenth century printing and the probate process of the publishing franchise of his massive, wider business operations.
These works encompassed a diverse intellectual landscape, ranging from the niche strategic game Rithmomachia to treatises on statecraft and theology. Additionally, Hill’s publications ventured into field of New World exploration and the practical science of medicine.
There have been individual blogs about these texts; this post provides a central point of reference to find these.
Geogaphy and politics
- A Declaration Made by the Prynce of Conde (1662)
- The Whole and True Discovery of Terra Florida (1563)
- The John Shute translation of the works of Andrea Cambini and Paolo Giovio into English and a tract on them Two very notable commentaries: The one of the original of the Turcks and the empire of the house of Ottomanno, and the other of the warre of the Turcke against George Scanderbeg (1562)
- The Lawes and Statutes of Geneva (1562)
- The historie of Leonard Aretine concerning the warres betwene the Imperialles and the Gothes for the possession of Italy, a worke very pleasant and profitable. Translated out of Latin into Englishe by Arthur Goldyng. (1563)
Renaisance Geneva
Mathematics
More details
1554 illustration of a Rithmomachy board and pieces by Claude de Boissière
Medicine
A “wound man” seen on the frontispiece of ‘Certaine vvorkes of chirurgerie’.
Theology
- The Boke of Psalmes, wherein are contained praires, meditations and thanksgivings to God, for his benefits toward his Church, translated faithfully according to the Hebrew. With brief and apt annotations in the margin (1559)
- Godlie meditations upon the Lordes prayer, the beleefe, and ten commaundementes, with other comfortable meditations (1562)
- Treatise on Relics by John Calvin (1561)
‘POST TENEBRAS LUX’ a neon artwork in Soulton Hall
Classics
- Aeneid 10. Translated by Thomas Phaer (1562) printed with ‘Nicholas England’
- To His Brother Quintus The Proconsull or Deputy of Asia, Wherein the Office of a Magistrate is Conningly and Wisely Described (1561)
Bust of Marcus Tullius Cicero
