Editing Reginald Wolfe

{{Short description|English printer}}
'''Reginald''' (or '''Reyner''') '''Wolfe''' (died 1573) was a [[Netherlands|Dutch]]-born [[England|English]] [[Protestant]] [[Printer (publisher)|printer]] and one of the original members of the [[Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers|Royal Stationers' Company]].<ref name="ODNB">{{cite ODNB|first=Andrew|last=Pettegree|id=29835|title=Wolfe, Reyner}}</ref>

==Life==
Wolfe was born in [[Druten]] in the Netherlands. A learned and devout Protestant, he settled in England some time before 1530 and established himself as a bookseller at St. Paul's Churchyard, [[London]]. Wolfe began to print in 1542. He was the first printer in England to maintain a large stock of Greek type. [[Edward VI of England|Edward VI]] made him Royal Printer in Latin, Greek and Hebrew and awarded him an annuity of 26s. 8d. for life. Despite his Protestantism, [[Mary I of England|Mary]]  made him one of the original members of the Stationers' Company.  Under [[Elizabeth I of England|Elizabeth]], he served as Master of the Company in 1559, 1564, 1567 and 1572.

Wolfe published works by [[Thomas Cranmer|Archbishop Cranmer]], the antiquarian [[John Leland (antiquary)|John Leland]], [[Robert Recorde]] and [[Matthew Parker|Archbishop Parker]]. In 1548, he conceived a project for a "Universal Cosmography of the whole world, and therewith also certain particular histories of every known nation." He hired [[Raphael Holinshed]] and [[William Harrison (clergyman)|William Harrison]] to assist in the task, but it remained unfinished at Wolfe's death in 1573. Much of the material was published by Holinshed in 1577 as ''The Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland'' (usually known as [[Holinshed's Chronicles]]).

==Family==
Wolfe married Joan (died 1574), who briefly ran his business after his death. The family included sons John and Robert, a daughter who married John Harrison, another bookseller, and Elizabeth who married Stephen Nevinson.<ref name="ODNB"/><ref>{{cite ODNB|id=19973|first=Diarmaid|last=MacCulloch|authorlink=Diarmaid MacCulloch|title=Nevinson, Stephen}}</ref>

==See also==
*''[[Pierce the Ploughman's Crede]]''

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*An illustration of Reginald Wolfe's [http://apm.brookes.ac.uk/publishing/contexts/elizabet/mechanis.htm#image2 printing device]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolfe, Reginald}}
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:1573 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Druten]]
[[Category:English printers]]
[[Category:English Protestants]]
[[Category:16th-century English businesspeople]]
[[Category:16th-century Protestants]]
[[Category:Holinshed's Chronicles]]