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| John Smethwick | |
|---|---|
| Name | John Smethwick |
| Birth date | c. 1563 |
| Death date | 1641 |
| Nationality | English |
| Occupation | Printer, bookseller, publisher |
| Known for | Publication of early modern drama, association with William Shakespeare, involvement in the Stationers' Company |
John Smethwick was an English printer, bookseller, and publisher active in London during the late Tudor and early Stuart periods. He operated a shop in St. Dunstan's Churchyard and became notable for publishing quartos and playbooks, including editions linked to William Shakespeare. Smethwick's activities intersected with the Stationers' Company, contemporary printers and publishers such as Thomas Thorpe, Edward Blount, and legal disputes that shaped authorship and print culture in early modern England.
Smethwick was born around 1563 in England during the reign of Elizabeth I and came of age amid the cultural changes of the English Renaissance and the growth of the London print trade. He apprenticed or trained within networks that connected him to figures like Richard Field, John Windet, and John Wolfe, all active in London printing. His establishment in St. Dunstan's Churchyard placed him near hubs frequented by playwrights and booksellers such as Nicholas Ling and Edward Allde, and positioned him within the commercial geography shared with theaters like the Globe Theatre and the Rose Theatre.
Smethwick operated both as a printer and as a bookseller-publisher, controlling a shop that sold works by dramatists, poets, and polemicists. He issued quartos and other small-format books associated with dramatists including Ben Jonson, Christopher Marlowe, John Fletcher, and Thomas Kyd. His business intersected with prominent stations of production: he contracted with printers such as Thomas Creede, Richard Hawkins, and William Jaggard for imprints, and collaborated commercially with publishers like Simon Waterson and John Benson. Smethwick also published non-dramatic works tied to authors like Francis Bacon and printers connected to Richard Brathwaite. His shop signage and address became recognizable to buyers seeking plays performed at venues including the Curtain Theatre.
Smethwick is best remembered for his involvement in the publication of plays attributed to William Shakespeare. He held rights or published quartos that circulated alongside editions from the First Folio publishers, including Edward Blount and Isaac Jaggard, and was party to the trade in texts like early quartos of Shakespearean works and related playbooks. Smethwick issued editions that often referenced performances by companies such as the King's Men and titles linked to collaborators like George Wilkins and John Webster. His role in the transmission of dramatic texts placed him in contact with the offices responsible for compiling the First Folio and with intermediaries who negotiated rights recorded at the Stationers' Company.
Smethwick's career featured disputes over publishing rights that were adjudicated within the regulatory framework of the Stationers' Company. He engaged in litigation and claims against contemporaries including Nicholas Ling and William Leake over rights to popular plays and quartos. Complaints and agreements were recorded in the Stationers' registers, bringing Smethwick into procedural exchanges with figures such as John Jackson and Robert Allot, and involving civic officials like the Lord Mayor of London when enforcement was required. These conflicts reflected broader controversies among publishers like Thomas Pavier, Andrew Wise, and Humfrey Lownes concerning the monopolies and privileges that shaped print distribution in the Jacobean and Caroline eras.
In his later career Smethwick continued to issue play texts and other material until his death in 1641, leaving copyrights and stock that others in the trade acquired or contested. His imprint and transactions affected the survival and textual variants of dramatic works now studied alongside editions produced by John Heminges and Henry Condell; scholars tracing early modern textual transmission note Smethwick in bibliographies and circulation histories linking him to editorial figures such as Nicholas Rowe and Edmond Malone. Smethwick's place in print history is remembered through surviving imprints and entries in the Stationers' registers, and his activities connect to institutional histories of the British Library, the Bodleian Library, and archival collections preserving early modern playbooks.
Category:16th-century printers Category:17th-century printers Category:English booksellers