Henry Watson (printer)
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Henry Watson was an English translator and printer active in London during the early years of the 16th century.
Henry Watson | |
|---|---|
| Occupations | translator, printer |
| Years active | ca. 1500-1518 |
| Known for | Translations out of French into English |
| Notable work | The Ship of Fools, The Distaff Gospels, Valentine and Orson, King Ponthus, Oliver and Castille |
Life and works
Between 1500 and 1518, Watson worked as a translator from French to English for the London-based printer Wynkyn de Worde, for whom he worked as his first apprentice, most likely between 1501 or 1502 until 1509 or 1510. After his apprenticeship, he published a book entitled The Gardeners Pastance together with Hugo Goes, a younger apprentice of de Worde, in 1513.[1] This also establishes him as the first native English stationer who was also recognized as a printer. There are no further records of Watson after 1518.[2][3]
For the most part, he translated French romances into English, including Valentine and Orson,[3] King Ponthus and Oliver and Castille, but also satirical works such as The Distaff Gospels. A translation of a part of a sermon by Bernardino da Siena survives in The Church of Evil Men and Women. In July 1509, his English prose translation of Sebastian Brant’s satirical work Ship of Fools was published by de Worde, entitled The shyppe of fooles. This was based on the French prose translation by Jean Drouyn.[4][5] Just a few months later, in December of the same year, another translation of the Ship by Alexander Barclay appeared.[3] A reprint of Watson's Ship was issued 1517, suggesting that this version was more popular in its time than Barclay's, which was only reprinted in 1570.[3] The translations of the Ship of Fools proved influential on English literature, giving rise to a "whole school of fool’s literature"[6] as well as playing an important part in the "rediscovery" of German literary works in England.[7]