Southwark: Peter Treveris for John Reynes, 1527

Counter to scholarly consensus, the printing of figurative images, not just printers’ decoration, in register (the ‘normal’ way of printing colour printing, with one block per colour) was also known in Tudor England. This two-colour title vignette was first used in the third early edition of the Polychronicon, a universal history covering antiquity to what was then present-day Britain. The woodcuts on the title page depict the royal arms, Henry VIII and the arms of the City of London in roundels above, with St George slaying the dragon and the printers’ mark of John Reynes (fl.1527–1544) below. The areas of red were printed from separate tone blocks that were cut specifically for these images, making them the earliest known English examples of colour printing for figurative images and of colour printing in register (from a key block and separate tone blocks). It may be significant that the London-based printer, Peter Treveris (fl.1522–32), was German; at this time, title vignettes printed in colour in register were found almost exclusively in German books. The coat of arms of the City of London is also the earliest (and only) known use of interdependent woodblocks in Tudor England.

Sel.3.88, title page