Publishers and printsellers
Sadeler, Raphael (1584-1632) Flemish. Flemish engraver; son of Raphael I; brother of Jan II and Philip. Born and died in Antwerp; 1601-1604 in Venice; thenceforth in Munich.
Sanderson, Rowland (active 1620s) Print publisher. A single plate by Martin Droeshout of the Duke of Buckingham, before his assassination in 1628, was published by Rowland Sanderson at his shop at the lower end of Ram Alley in the Inner Temple (Hind II p. 351 no. 1). His name is also found on an early state of Delaram's engraving of the betrothal of Charles and Henrietta Maria of 1624 (Hind II 217.6). He is not recorded as a bookseller, and nothing else is known about him.
Savage, John (active 1683-1700) See Directory of printmakers.
Savouret, P (active 1689) Print publisher.
Sawbridge, T (active 1683) Publisher.
Sayer, Robert (1725-94) Major British publisher and printseller. The firm traded under a series of names each of which has a separate entry on the Biographical Authority; the name entered in a catalogue entry should correspond with that given on a print. In 1745, Robert Sayer purchased the business of John Senex, map and globemaker from his widow and became a partner with Philip Overton. In 1748, he married Mary, the widow of Philip Overton, and continued the firm; c.1764 acquired the business of Henry Overton II. In the mid-1760s, on the introduction of street numbering, the address changed from the Golden Buck to 53 Fleet Street. In 1774 Sayer entered partnership with his journeyman John Bennett and traded as Sayer & Bennett; Bennett went mad in April 1783. From 1786 the business traded as Sayer & Co. or Robert Sayer & Co. In 1794, at Sayer's death, the business was taken over by his assistants Robert Laurie and James Whittle, trading as Laurie & Whittle until Laurie's retirement in 1812. From1812 until his death in1818, Whittle traded with Laurie's son, Richard Holmes Laurie, as Whittle & Laurie. From 1818 the firm was known as R. H. Laurie, even after Laurie's death in 1858, although it is recorded in 1858 as trading as R. M. Laurie. R. H. Laurie left the business to his former draughtsman Alexander George Findlay, FRGS (1812-75). It was continued by his nephews Daniel and William Kettle. In 1895 the firm moved from 53 Fleet Street to Great Eastern Street, and in 1903 merged with James Imray & Son, and Norie & Wilson to become Imray, Laurie, Norie & Wilson. In the Guildhall Library is a watercolour by J. Findlay of 53 Fleet Street c.1840 with the name Laurie over the door.
Schenk, Pieter (1660-1718/19) Dutch/German. Engraver, mezzotinter and publisher. Married sister of Gerard Valck, and from 1680 in partnership with him in Amsterdam. Similar mezzotint production to Jacob Gole.
Schoonebeek, Adriaen (1658-1714) Dutch. Publisher and etcher in the tradition of Romeyn de Hooghe. Active in Amsterdam, Leiden and Moscow. Born in Amsterdam; pupil of Romeyn de Hooghe; 1697-1698 in Moscow in the service of Peter the Great, where he also died.
Scott, John (17th cent.) Published a portrait of Thomas Scott, engraved by William Marshall.
Scott, W (active 1790) Printer/publisher.
Seile, Anne (active 1662) Print publisher.
Seller, John (fl.1660-d.1697) An important instrument maker, map and chart seller. Hydrographer to the King. He was succeeded by his son, another John (active 1677-89, d.1698). His main address was at the sign of the Mariner's Compass at the Hermitage Stairs in Wapping, but at different times he also sold at many other addresses (see Tyacke pp. 139-40). Seller was apprenticed in 1644 to Edward Lowe, possibly a relative of George Lowe. He was freed in 1654, and seems to have begun publishing in 1659. A full account of his career as a map and chart maker is given by C. Verner in The Compleat Mapmaker, Essays on Chart and Map making in England in the 17th and 18th centuries, ed. N. J. W. Thrower, Berkeley 1978. The name of John Sellar followed by 'excudit' (but with no address) is found on a few prints that were never book illustrations. It appears on an anonymous etching of St George and the Dragon (once wrongly considered to be by Antonio Tempesta), and on a set of six etched views of Tangier by John Oliver.
Senex, John (active 1740) Cartographer, globe maker, publisher, FRS. His business bought from his widow by Robert Sayer in 1745.
Sherwin, William (c.1645-1709) See Directory of printmakers.
Simmons, Mary (fl. 1656-67) Printer in London.
Simmons, Matthew (1608-54) Bookseller, printer and publisher of maps and prints. Member of the Stationers' Company.
Simpson, R (active 1690) Bookseller.
Smith, John (1652-1743) See Directory of printmakers.
Smith, Joseph (active 1704-7) Book and print seller.
Smith, T (active 1690) Published broadsides.
Snowden, T (late 17th cent.) Publisher/printer.
Sommers, Thomas (active 1681) Publisher/printer.
Sparke, M (active 1636) Letterpress publisher in London.
Speed, John (1552-1629) Author, cartographer and publisher. Produced the Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine in 1611-12.
Stafford, John (active 1631-65) Stafford began his career as a printseller in 1631, but by the beginning of the following decade printselling had taken second place to bookselling (see STC and Plomer). In 1637 he became a member of the Stationers' Company by redemption. STC and Wing record the many titles he published, mostly theological, between 1634 and 1665. On 6 April 1635 Aglott (?Allott) entered on his behalf two sets of prints of the four Continents and the four Seasons (Griffiths pp. 308-9); he himself became a member of the Stationers' Company in 1637 by redemption and re-entered these prints himself on 2 January 1638. His name has been found on two portraits: one of Charles I published in 1631 (STC 23774; Bute V 1), the other a head of William Fenner by Hollar of 1645/56 (P.1403/4) which was used as frontispiece to three editions of Fenner's A divine message to the elect soule. He also entered 'two cutts or sculpters in brasse' of James Usher and Thomas Fuller on half sheets in the Stationers' register on 31 March 1656. The latter must be connected with his edition of Fuller's Abel Redivivus of 1651 for which Robert Vaughan engraved the title-page (Hind III 76.85). His address is recorded between 1631-40 in Black Horse Alley near Fleet Bridge, and from 1640 in Chancery Lane against the Rolls. Later still in 1651 he was at the George at Fleet Bridge (Hind III 76.85). Most of Stafford's prints seem to be engravings of medium to low quality. He also published one broadsheet with a woodcut illustration (Christ is borne, STC 5209.5).
Starkey, John (fl.1653-89) Bookseller in London.
Stent, Peter (active 1642-65) Stent's career and production as print publisher have been exhaustively analysed by Globe. Stent came from Hampshire, and was apprenticed by his father in 1627 to Elizabeth Lowe, the widow of the printer George Lowe of Lothbury. In 1637 he earned the freedom of the Merchant Taylors' Company. Stent's first address was at the Crown in Giltspur Street, between Newgate and Pye Corner. His activity as a printseller in Giltspur Street can be documented from 1642, but probably began somewhat earlier. By 1650 the sign had changed to the White Horse in Gilt-Spur Street without Newgate over against St Sepulchre's Church. The reason for the change was presumably the execution of Charles in 1649. Stent died of the plague on 29 September 1665; he bequeathed his business to his widow Susanne who sold it to John Overton. Stent issued a series of catalogues of his own prints; the first in 1654 is the earliest of any British print publisher. Thanks to these, Stent's entire production has recently been catalogued by Globe. Stent seems never to have commissioned any plate of artistic interest on his own account, and the great majority of his plates were acquired from earlier publishers. In this, Stent profited from the Civil War's putting many of his competitors out of business. But he was also fortunate in having a substantial capital of £106 bequeathed to him by his father John in 1645, and had probably been given more by him at an earlier date in order to set up his business. In a list of the principal inhabitants of the City of London drawn up on 10 May 1640 in order to raise money for the crown, John is listed as a gentleman, and placed in the second (of five) categories of wealth (see J. J. Howard (ed.), Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica, 2nd series, II 1888, p.52).
Sudbury & Humble (active 1599-1619) Print publishers. Sudbury is probably the John Sutbury, born in Mapleback, who was apprenticed to Robert Hackforth on 24 June 1568 for eight years. His daughter Mary was christened at St Michael, Cornhill in January 1596 (L. Worms in The Royal Exchange, 1997, p. 220). Sudbury first appears as a print publisher in 1599 (Boazio's map of Ireland by Elstrack, Hind II 213.98, the first British print to carry the name of a publisher, and the only print that carries Sudbury's name alone). By 1603 he had gone into partnership with George Humble and henceforth their names are found together on plates (e.g. Rogers, Hind I 270.20 and 27). Skelton (p. 242) discovered from Humble's will that he was Sudbury's nephew. Their address was always at the White Horse in Pope's Head Alley over against the Royal Exchange. During the 1610s, the two men were responsible for a mass of prints (some are listed in STC), among them the finest published in London, first by Elstrack and then by Simon de Passe whom they enticed away from his first publisher, Compton Holland. In 1615-16 Sudbury was master of the Leathersellers Company. He was still active in 1618, and some engravings by Simon de Passe of this year were published with both names, but in 1619 Humble published Delaram's portrait of the Earl of Northumberland (Hind II 229.27) in his own name. Sudbury must therefore have retired through old age or ill health. Sudbury signed his will on 16 December 1620 and it was proved on 1 January 1621 (Skelton p. 242). Since it makes no mention of the printselling business or of Humble, he must already have passed shop and stock on to Humble. From 1619 Humble continued the business, still at the Pope's Head Alley address.
Swart, Steven, wife of (active 1689) Dutch. Female publisher.
Sympson, Samuel (active 1751) Print publisher. Active from at least 1720s; moved to Maiden Lane some time after 1732 (see George White, CS.59). The date of his death is given by the catalogue of his sale A Catalogue of the large and genuine collection of copperplates of Mr Samuel Sympson ... printseller, deceased, 6 December 1751 (copy in P&D).