Edited by Steven Oliver, Tuesday, 3 June 2025, 21:26
In folklore, 'printer's devils' caused mischief by misspelling words and inverting and removing type. It became a nickname for printers' assistants, who might also make mistakes! This little devil has only been perched here in the centre of York since 1888, but marks the entrance to an alley that served a print workshop active in the early modern period.
I was keen to see if I could find any locally printed books in the University archives and was delighted when I discovered a copy of something titled...
"The praise of Yorkshire-Ale, wherein is Enumerated several Sorts of Drinks, with a Description of the Humours of most Sorts of Drunkards."
It was printed in 1697 by John White at a press just off Stonegate, for sale in Francis Hildyard's book shop that stood on the street - still marked out today by the 'Signe of the Bible'. As you can see, book printing and retail were physically very closely associated.
I found the book fascinating and a real miscellany. (We can access the text via the OU library and the Early English Books Online EEBO resource - there's a link that should work here if you were really interested)
The first part is a long and rambling poem in which the god Bacchus is taken on a pub crawl round Yorkshire, stopping off at 'Madam Bradley's' in Northallerton, then 'Nanny Driffield's' in Easingwold and ending up in York at 'Parkers Coffee-house i'th Minster Yard', where...
"They call'd & drank till they were all high-flown,
And could not find their way into the Town,
They staggar'd too and fro, had such lite heads,
That they were guided all unto their Beds:
And in the Morning when they did awake,
They curst and swore that all their heads did ake;
O Yorke-shire Yorke-shire: thy Ale it is so strong;
That it will kill us all, if we stay long..."
After that comes a section written in East Yorkshire dialect, followed by a 'translation' of what individual words mean. I've included a screen grab from EEBO to show what it looks like (plus I want to try and remember the phrase 'Jet the Heck' 😃). Apparently this is a very early (perhaps even the first) record of Yorkshire dialect.
Finally there's a section listing some of the other books on sale at Francis Hildyard's bookshop - something that seemed a good end to a posting in the 'literacy' week!
In praise of Yorkshire ale!!
I was keen to see if I could find any locally printed books in the University archives and was delighted when I discovered a copy of something titled...
"The praise of Yorkshire-Ale, wherein is Enumerated several Sorts of Drinks, with a Description of the Humours of most Sorts of Drunkards."
It was printed in 1697 by John White at a press just off Stonegate, for sale in Francis Hildyard's book shop that stood on the street - still marked out today by the 'Signe of the Bible'. As you can see, book printing and retail were physically very closely associated.
I found the book fascinating and a real miscellany. (We can access the text via the OU library and the Early English Books Online EEBO resource - there's a link that should work here if you were really interested)The first part is a long and rambling poem in which the god Bacchus is taken on a pub crawl round Yorkshire, stopping off at 'Madam Bradley's' in Northallerton, then 'Nanny Driffield's' in Easingwold and ending up in York at 'Parkers Coffee-house i'th Minster Yard', where...
"They call'd & drank till they were all high-flown,
And could not find their way into the Town,
They staggar'd too and fro, had such lite heads,
That they were guided all unto their Beds:
And in the Morning when they did awake,
They curst and swore that all their heads did ake;
O Yorke-shire Yorke-shire: thy Ale it is so strong;
That it will kill us all, if we stay long..."
After that comes a section written in East Yorkshire dialect, followed by a 'translation' of what individual words mean. I've included a screen grab from EEBO to show what it looks like (plus I want to try and remember the phrase 'Jet the Heck' 😃). Apparently this is a very early (perhaps even the first) record of Yorkshire dialect.Finally there's a section listing some of the other books on sale at Francis Hildyard's bookshop - something that seemed a good end to a posting in the 'literacy' week!