25 Facts About Nicholas Okes

Nicholas Okes was an English printer in London of the Jacobean and Caroline eras, remembered for printing works of English Renaissance drama.

Nicholas Okes was responsible for early editions of works by many of the playwrights of the period, including William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, John Webster, Thomas Middleton, Thomas Dekker, Thomas Heywood, James Shirley, and John Ford.

Nicholas Okes began his apprenticeship with printer Richard Field at Christmas 1595.

Nicholas Okes continued to use the Snowden's characteristic device, a winged horse above a caduceus – though he later used an ornament of Jupiter riding an eagle between two oak trees.

Snowden firm was long-standing, having been founded in 1586 by Thomas Judson; though at the start Nicholas Okes possessed only a single press, two workmen, and a limited supply of type.

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Q1 of Lear was the first play printed by Nicholas Okes; it has been argued that some of the peculiarities in that intensely studied volume resulted from the inexperience of Nicholas Okes and his compositors with works of drama.

In 1622, Nicholas Okes printed the first quarto of Othello for Thomas Walkley.

Nicholas Okes worked on several projects with Walkley in the years around 1622 – though he took Walkley to court in a financial dispute.

Nicholas Okes printed a range of other texts in Jacobean and Caroline drama, beyond the confines of the Shakespeare canon.

Inevitably, Nicholas Okes printed works of many sorts that had nothing to do with the drama; these included religious works by John Donne and others – and Thomas Cooper's The Mystery of Witchcraft.

Nicholas Okes printed Robert Tofte's translation of Ariosto's Satires for Roger Jackson, and Gervase Markham's The English Arcadia for Thomas Saunders.

Nicholas Okes printed Rachel Speght's A Muzzle for Melastomus for Thomas Archer – one of the few works authored by a woman printed in this period.

Nicholas Okes published the first quartos of Heywood's Age quintet: The Golden Age, The Silver Age, The Brazen Age and his The Iron Age, Parts 1 and 2, as well as the first and second quarto of Heywood's The Four Prentices of London.

Nicholas Okes published the texts of some of the city entertainments common in the era, including several written by Thomas Middleton when he was City Chronologer of London, plus others by John Webster and Anthony Munday.

Nicholas Okes published Anthony Munday's translation of Amadis de Gaul, one of the chivalric romances that were enormously popular in the era.

Nicholas Okes published A Short Treatise on Magnetical Bodies and Motions by Mark Ridley, a follower of William Gilbert, and John Napier's A Description of the Admirable Table of Logarithms.

Nicholas Okes was in difficulties throughout his career for printing works without official approval; when he printed George Wither's controversial Satires without registration, Nicholas Okes ended up in jail himself.

Nicholas Okes was imprisoned again in 1637, for his second edition of Francis de Sales' Introduction to a Devout Life.

Nicholas Okes had altered the text after it was approved by the authorities, re-inserting Catholic phraseology.

Nicholas Okes probably knew that the Star Chamber was planning to restrict the number of master printers to a total of twenty; and given his record, he knew that he would not be among those twenty.

Nicholas Okes wrote a letter to Archbishop Laud, offering to step aside from his business if his son John would be among the twenty master printers.

Nicholas Okes's effort was futile; neither Okes was among the restricted group of masters.

John Nicholas Okes continued in business on his own after his father's retirement; he was situated in Little St Bartholomew's near Smithfield.

Nicholas Okes printed James Shirley's The Grateful Servant for William Leake; and Richard Brome's The Sparagus Garden and The Antipodes for Francis Constable, and Thomas Nabbes's The Unfortunate Mother for Daniel Frere.

Nicholas Okes printed and published William Rowley's play A Shoemaker a Gentleman and Jonson's masque The Gypsies Metamorphosed.

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