Protestant Publishing in Chinese at the Anglo-Chinese College, Malacca, 1818–1843

Established in Malacca in 1818 by Robert Morrison, the Anglo-Chinese College ( Yinghua shuyuan 英華書院) became an important centre for translation and publishing of Protestant books and tracts in Chinese in the formative decades before the Opium War (1839–42). The extant publications in Chinese from the Anglo-Chinese College in this period shed light on the process of experimentation followed by missionaries and their Chinese collaborators, about how to make books that would appeal to Chinese readers – a necessary prelude to making converts to Christianity. This article traces that process of experimentation through an examination of the publications in Chinese from the Anglo-Chinese College press over the twenty-five years of the College’s operation there, prior to its relocation to Hong Kong in 1843. After an overview of the publications, the article discusses the books as physical objects and then considers the content and language within them. These examples suggest common ground between Chinese and Protestant print cultures: both saw close connections between reading, education and virtue, and both employed selective appropriation of excerpts from longer canonical texts as a reading practice. 1

The Clockmaker’s Cosmos

On one level confessional distinction began to define material culture in the first decades of the seventeenth century, but a microhistorical approach reveals the persistence of plural devotional practices and beliefs. A close reading of the 1635 inventory of a court clockmaker, Kúndrat Šteffenaúr, reveals the complex intersections of confessions in Central Europe. It indicates an environment in which a wide range of devotional options were available. Analysis of Kúndrat’s possessions as individual items, and how they were kept together, shows the need to think across and beyond confessional boundaries of Protestant versus Catholic in order to understand lay religious beliefs and practices at this historical moment of confessional rupture. This chapter examines the inventory from two perspectives: first, it surveys the confessional spectrum of objects—Protestant books, Catholic devotional jewellery, clocks, and charms—contextualizing them and exploring why they may have come into Kúndrat’s possession; second, it offers an interpretation of the objects as items that formed Kúndrat’s individual cosmos, as ‘fragmented religion’.

Czech Protestant Printed Books from the Toleration Period (1781–1861)

The issue of the Edict of Toleration legalised Protestants of Lutheran and Reformed confessions in Bohemia and Moravia. Their religious life required the support of printed materials in the form of religious literature of the corresponding confession approved by the state. Relatively high production of Protestant books, both original and translated, began to emerge. They anchored both Protestant denominations but simultaneously became mutually competitive and sometimes came into controversy with Roman Catholic authors. The author of this article monitors all printed Protestant literature in Bohemia and Moravia of the so-called toleration period, i.e. the period when the believers of the two Protestant confessions did not have full-fledged positions and were affected by numerous restrictions. In terms of book culture, it is divided into: 1) the period of early toleration (1781–1800), 2) the period of established toleration (1800–1848) and 3) the period of late toleration (1848–1861). In this framework, he provides an overview of Protestant literature in terms of its typological, authorial and publishing development and also evaluates the readership of this literary production.

THOMAS CROMWELL AND WILLIAM MARSHALL'S PROTESTANT BOOKS

Thomas Cromwell's association with various writers has long been noted, but how these authors' writings might reflect his personal religious beliefs has not been closely studied. An examination of one such author, William Marshall, and of his work, reveals not only that Cromwell was likely a Lutheran, but that he used the press to promote doctrinal Protestantism in England. Through Marshall, Cromwell sponsored English translations of doctrinally radical texts by Martin Luther, Joachim von Watt, and Martin Bucer. And when these books got Marshall into trouble, Cromwell protected him. The picture that emerges substantiates John Foxe's description of Cromwell as a ‘valiant soldier and captain of Christ’, but also the charge made in his bill of attainder, that he had circulated heretical books.

A Haarlem press in Sedan and Emden (1561-9) Part two: Sedan and Emden

In 1561, after a deadlock of many years, a new printing-office was set up in Holland by Jan van Zuren and three others, including the author Dirck Coornhert. After one year of publishing the press concluded most of its activities, and-according to documentary information recently found- the company was dissolved. Jan van Zuren became the sole owner of the firm, which over the next three years only issued a few books on commission. The production then ended completely. What became of the typographical material of the printing-shop has always been a mystery. As a result of bibliographical analysis it has now become clear that all the typefaces, initials and ornaments (including the devices)-in fact the whole inventory-were removed to the French town of Sedan. With the permission of the Duke of Bouillon a press was founded, which issued a number of exclusively Protestant works, most of them in Dutch, together with a few political publications in French emanating from the Calvinist leaders of the Resistance to Spanish rule. In 1565 the first factor to run the printing-shop, Goossen Goebens, made his name known in the imprint of a panegyric on the foundation of the press. The following year his place was taken by Lenaert der Kinderen, who broke his contract with Plantin for this new post. In 1567 the press appears to have been active in another town, again in another country. At some time during this year the printing-shop was moved to Emden in East Frisia, where, in 1569, the typographical material is to be found in a book published by the emigrant Jean Malet. Meanwhile six publications, including five Protestant books, were issued without any imprint. Circumstantial evidence justifies the conclusion that one or both of Dirck Coornhert's brothers then were running the printing-office, which they probably already owned in the Sedan period.

Augustijn van Hasselt as a printer in Vianen and Wesel Part two

Augustijn van Hasselt, whose name first appears in 1534 during the troubles in Münster, is mentioned in the Chronika of the Family of Love as Hendrik Niclaes's secretary and printer. Although not a single book seems to have been published with his imprint I have recently discussed what his part in Antwerp and Kampen was in the publication of a series of writings by the sectarian leader. We also know from the same source that Augustijn went to Vianen to run a printing shop for Plantin at the end of 1566, but that this press has soon to be moved to Wesel. What he published in that town, however, has hitherto been unknown. Assuming that he worked with type which came from Plantin it now seems possible to reconstruct his list of publications, despite the fact that no typographical difference exists between the products of two printers working with the same type, cast from the same matrices. Secondary factors must thus be advanced to show to whom a particular edition can be ascribed. An analysis along these lines discloses the fact that Augustijn was one of the most active publishers of Dutch Protestant books, sixteen or seventeen of which could be indicated. The fact that a book started in Vianen had to be completed in Wesel allows us to distinguish between what was printed in the two towns. After Augustijn had again worked for Hendrik Niclaes for a few years a final rift took place in 1573. He then disappears from view until 1592, when he still appears to be active as the owner of a small press.