Unpaid Debts to London Booksellers: John Harrison the Elder’s Lawsuit against Two Chapmen in 1585

Abstract

Abstract This article presents a transcript of a recently discovered booklist from a 1585 lawsuit at the Court of Common Pleas. This list describes a large book sale made on 3 May 1584 to two chapmen named John Herne and Thomas Jackson. It throws light on the Elizabethan book trade and the litigation practices of London booksellers, and it contains rare evidence on the trade prices of early modern books. It also records the earliest known purchase of Edmund Spenser’s celebrated Shepheardes calender (first published in 1579).