Taylor, John

Two humorously titled quarto pamphlets by this prolific, rough-hewn poet and wit.

Saint Hillaries Teares, Shed Upon All Professions from the Judge to the Petty Fogger. From the Spruce Dames of the Exchange, to the Durty Walking Fishmongers. From the Coven-Garden Lady of Iniquity, to the Turnebal-Streete-Trull. And Indeed, from the Tower-Staires to Westminster-Ferry. For Want of a Stirring Midsommer Terme, This Yeare of Disasters, 1642. Written by One of His Secretaries That Had Nothing Else to Do. London: [s.n.], 1642. Title within doube rules; minor loss of upper margin of A3. Modern half teal blue morocco. Second edition (Wing T508; ESTC R15224). provenance: H. Bradley Martin; Dr. Gerald Slater. acquisition: E.M. Lawson, 1990.— The Praise of Hemp-Seed ... The Profits Arising by Hempseed Are Cloathing, Food, Fishing, Shipping, Pleasure, Profit, Justice, Whipping. London: Printed [by E. Allde] for Henry Gosson, and Are to Be Sold [by E. Wright?], 1623. 4to. Woodcut illustration on title-page; browned, title-page cropped at top and fore-margin affecting the main title and woodcut, some fraying on bottom margin obscuring imprint date, several old repairs to title-page verso, headlines mostly shaved or cropped. Marbled wrappers previously glued to the fragment of a seventeenth century vellum binding (preserving the whole of the blind-stamped lozenge). Second edition, variant with imprint date (STC 23789.3; ESTC S113531). provenance: George Anthony Smith.  acquisition: Maggs, 2010

Two humorously titled quarto pamphlets by this prolific, rough-hewn poet and wit. Saint Hillaries Teares, Shed Upon All Professions from the Judge to the Petty Fogger. From the Spruce Dames of the Exchange, to the Durty Walking Fishmongers. From the Coven-Garden Lady of Iniquity, to the Turnebal-Streete-Trull. And Indeed, from the Tower-Staires to Westminster-Ferry. For Want of a Stirring Midsommer Terme, This Yeare of Disasters, 1642. Written by One of His Secretaries That Had Nothing Else to Do. London: [s.n.], 1642. Title within doube rules; minor loss of upper margin of A3. Modern half teal blue morocco. Second edition (Wing T508; ESTC R15224). provenance: H. Bradley Martin; Dr. Gerald Slater. acquisition: E.M. Lawson, 13 November 1990.— The Praise of Hemp-Seed ... The Profits Arising by Hempseed Are Cloathing, Food, Fishing, Shipping, Pleasure, Profit, Justice, Whipping. London: Printed [by E. Allde] for Henry Gosson, and Are to Be Sold [by E. Wright?], 1623. 4to. Woodcut illustration on title-page; browned, title-page cropped at top and fore-margin affecting the main title and woodcut, some fraying on bottom margin obscuring imprint date, several old repairs to title-page verso, headlines mostly shaved or cropped. Marbled wrappers previously glued to the fragment of a 17th century vellum binding (preserving the whole of the blind-stamped lozenge). Second edition, variant with imprint date (STC 23789.3; ESTC S113531). provenance: George Anthony Smith. acquisition: Maggs, 4 June 2010.
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Taylor was the first poet to mention the deaths of Shakespeare and Francis Beaumont (1616) in his poem In Praise of Hemp, first published in 1620.  As a boatman, he also achieved notoriety by a series of eccentric journeys. In Praise of Hemp describes his trip from London to Queensborough in a paper boat with two stockfish tied to canes for oars.