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Valentine Simmes

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Biographical Information

Valentine Simmes (also Sims, Symmes) was a printer and bookseller in London who lived from approximately 1561-1623 (Ferguson). He was trained as a compositor under Henry Bynneman (Ferguson 5), during his apprenticeship with printer and bookseller Henry Sutton between 1576-1585 (Ferguson). Johane Sutton, Henry’s widow, presented Simmes to the Stationers’ Company for freedom in 1585 (Ferguson). In 1594, the first books bearing Simmes’ imprint appear, indicating that he formally began his business in that year (Ferguson 6).
Simmes was embroiled in several scandals. In 1589, he began working with John Hodgkins to print the controversial Martin Marprelate tracts.1 He was apprehended later that year when some type fell on the ground and an explanation was requested for his ownership of it. He was freed after 5 months in prison (Ferguson). In 1595, Simmes faced an issue related to the violation of patent rules. As a result, his press and printing equipment were confiscated. His type was melted down and returned to him with the rest of his, presumably intact, equipment (Ferguson). Over the next few years, he was repeatedly given written warnings for unlicensed or disorderly printing, and in 1603, he was commanded not to meddle with printing or selling any of the same bookes or ballades hereafter (Ferguson 8). An unsigned, undated letter addressed to the King’s most Excellent Majesty informed that Simmes was printing seditious books, had done so seven times before this, and recommended that Simmes be imprisoned (Ferguson 9). Likely in response to these many controversies, Simmes was replaced as a master printer in February 1606 (Jackson 24). Simmes continued to work sporadically between 1606 and 1622, when he formally petitioned to the Company to be reinstated (Ferguson). The appeal was denied; however, his pension was increased because he was a very poore man and a member of the Companie (Jackson 152, 380-381). It can be inferred that Simmes died in 1623 because he is listed as a pensioner up until only that year (Ferguson).

Printing Locations

The Shoemaker’s Holiday title page from 1600 states that Simmes was dwelling at the foote of Adling hill, neere Bainards Castle, at the signe of the White Swanne (Dekker). He apparently worked at this location from 1595 until approximately 1603 (Pantzer 155). In 1610, he is noted as dwelling in the Whitefriars near the Mulberry tree. It is not clear whether the Mulberry tree is a sign of some kind or a literal tree (Pantzer 155).

Print Output

As a new business owner in 1594, Simmes printed a compendium of Psalms as the assignee of William How (STC 3011.5). This seems to have started a long line of tradition for Simmes. He printed many religious texts, including parts of the Bible, sermons, and prayers.2 He also printed texts on the history of England and government policies.3 However, Simmes was better-known for printing drama. He is considered a printer of importance, issuing a large number of dramatic texts (Craven 161). His printing credits include editions of William Shakespeare’s Richard II, Richard III, and Much Ado About Nothing, Thomas Dekker’s The Shoemaker’s Holiday, and Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus (Craven 161).
In April 1610, Simmes signed over the printing rights for The Shoemaker’s Holiday to John Wright, with the stipulation that Simmes would maintain the right to print it if he were to obtain his own printing house in the future (Ferguson 9). This is meaningful within the context of Simmes’ activities between 1606 and 1610. Simmes was replaced as a master printer in 1606, made an unusually small number of imprints between 1607-1609, and in 1610 had no printing house of his own (Ferguson 9). These facts suggest that Simmes may have lost his printing house completely when he was replaced as a master printer.
Simmes is often credited with the printing of a 1611 quarto of Hamlet because the imprint matches one that Simmes had used before. However, there is evidence against this connection. The text on the title page and throughout is in a typeface that Simmes never used, and the treatment of stage directions is inconsistent with Simmes’ very regularized style (Ferguson 90). Also, it is reasonable that by 1611, Simmes’ type may have been acquired by other printers (Ferguson 90). These factors indicate that the 1611 quarto of Hamlet was probably not printed by Simmes.
Most of Simmes’ publishers were new to the business, and had only one volume printed by him (Ferguson 25-26).
Simmes primarily worked with black-letter pica type, and generally used three different insignias, two with naked children on them and one with a large leaf design (Ferguson).

Networks

Simmes worked with publisher Andrew Wise on Richard II, Richard III, Henry IV, and Much Ado about Nothing (Rasmussen). Simmes regularly worked with Nicholas Ling, printing twenty-seven books for him. This makes up about 1/3 of Ling’s publishing credit. Ling had a large number of addresses (Pantzer 107), none of which are particularly close to either of Simmes’ locations, so it is unlikely that the two were geographically connected. Rather, their connection seems to have sprung from a long-term professional relationship. Ling was apprenticed to Henry Bynneman from 1570-1579, crossing over with the time that Simmes trained with Bynneman. It is very likely that the two met each other at Bynneman’s shop (Ferguson).
At some point, Simmes acquired equipment from William How, as evidenced by the identifying details of How’s printing equipment (Ferguson).

Scholarship

There is a minimal amount of scholarship regarding Simmes or his work. Alan E. Craven has written several journal articles about the day-to-day details of Simmes’ printshop,4 and there is one book and one article about Simmes’ biography and business by William Craig Ferguson, cited throughout this document.5

Notes

  1. There is no evidence to suggest that Simmes was involved in this project for any reason other than a wage (Ferguson 15). (BJ)↑
  2. Examples: STC 2nd ed. 14605, 15281, 17269. (BJ)↑
  3. Examples: STC 2nd ed. 22860, 5347, 5348, 6071, 6798. (BJ)↑
  4. See Two Valentine Simmes Compositors, Simmes’ Compositor a and Five Shakespeare Quartos, The compositors of the Shakespeare Quartos printed by Peter Short, and Proofreading in the Shop of Valentine Simmes. (BJ)↑
  5. For an extensive report and analysis on Simmes’ biography and business, see Ferguson. (BJ)↑

References

  • Citation

    Craven, Alan E. The Compositors of the Shakespeare Quartos Printed by Peter Short. The Papers of the Bibliographic Society of America 65 (1971): 393-397.

    This item is cited in the following documents:

  • Citation

    Craven, Alan E. Two Valentine Simmes Compositors. The Papers of the Bibliographic Society of America 67 (1973): 161-171.

    This item is cited in the following documents:

  • Citation

    Craven, Alan E. Simmes’ Compositor a and Five Shakespeare Quartos. Studies in Bibliography 26 (1973): 37–60.

    This item is cited in the following documents:

  • Citation

    Craven, Alan E. Proofreading in the Shop of Valentine Simmes. The Papers of the Bibliographic Society of America 68 (1974): 361-372.

    This item is cited in the following documents:

  • Citation

    Dekker, Thomas. The shomakers holiday. Or The gentle craft VVith the humorous life of Simon Eyre, shoomaker, and Lord Maior of London. As it was acted before the Queenes most excellent Maiestie on New-yeares day at night last, by the right honourable the Earle of Notingham, Lord high Admirall of England, his seruants. London: Valentine Sims, 1600. STC 6523.

    This item is cited in the following documents:

  • Citation

    Ferguson, W. Craig. Valentine Simmes. Charlottesville: Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia, 1968. Print.

    This item is cited in the following documents:

  • Citation

    Ferguson, W. Craig. Valentine Simmes. Dictionary of Literary Biography. Ed. James K. Bracken and Joel Silver. Vol. 170. Detroit: Gale, 1996. Print.

    This item is cited in the following documents:

  • Citation

    Jackson, William A., ed. Records of the Court Of The Stationers’ Company 1602 to 1640. London: London Bibliographical Society, 1957. Print.

    This item is cited in the following documents:

  • Citation

    Pantzer, Katherine F., and Philip R. Rider. A Short-Title Catalogue of Books Printed in England, Scotland, & Ireland and of English Books Printed Abroad, 1475–1640. Began by A.W. Pollard and G.R. Redgrave. 3 vols. London: Bibliographical Society, 1991. Print.

  • Citation

    Rasmussen, Eric. Printing and Publishing. The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare. Ed. Michael Dobson and Stanley Wells. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2001. Remediated by Oxford Reference.

    This item is cited in the following documents:

  • Citation

    STC. Abbreviation for A Short-Title Catalogue of Books Printed in England, Scotland, and Ireland and of English books Printed Abroad, 1475–1640. Compiled. by A.W. Pollard, and G.R. Redgrave. 2nd. ed. rev. and enl. 3 vols. Began by W.A. Jackson and F.S. Ferguson; completed by Katharine F. Pantzer. London: Bibliographical Society, 1976–1991.

Cite this page

MLA citation

Jacob, Blake. Valentine Simmes. The Map of Early Modern London, Edition 7.0, edited by Janelle Jenstad, U of Victoria, 05 May 2022, mapoflondon.uvic.ca/edition/7.0/SIMM3.htm.

Chicago citation

Jacob, Blake. Valentine Simmes. The Map of Early Modern London, Edition 7.0. Ed. Janelle Jenstad. Victoria: University of Victoria. Accessed May 05, 2022. mapoflondon.uvic.ca/edition/7.0/SIMM3.htm.

APA citation

Jacob, B. 2022. Valentine Simmes. In J. Jenstad (Ed), The Map of Early Modern London (Edition 7.0). Victoria: University of Victoria. Retrieved from https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/editions/7.0/SIMM3.htm.

RIS file (for RefMan, RefWorks, EndNote etc.)

Provider: University of Victoria
Database: The Map of Early Modern London
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CY  - Victoria
PB  - University of Victoria
LA  - English
UR  - https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/edition/7.0/SIMM3.htm
UR  - https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/edition/7.0/xml/standalone/SIMM3.xml
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TEI citation

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