William Jaggard

William Jaggard (c. 1568 – November 1623) was an Elizabethan and Jacobean printer and publisher, best known for his connection with the texts of William Shakespeare, most notably the First Folio of Shakespeare's plays. Jaggard's shop was "at the sign of the Half-Eagle and Key in Barbican."

He was the son of a John Jaggard, a citizen of London and a barber-surgeon by profession; the elder Jaggard was already deceased when his son began an eight-year apprenticeship with printer Henry Denham at Michaelmas (29 September) 1584. William Jaggard became a "freeman" (a full member) of the Stationers Company on 6 December 1591.

In time, Jaggard developed one of the largest print shops of his generation; he was eventually assisted by his son Isaac (died 1627), who succeeded to his father's business in 1623. In their era, most members of the stationers guild were either printers or booksellers; both were businessmen with their own establishments, journeymen and apprentices, though in anachronistic modern terms printers could be regarded as blue-collar while the booksellers were white-collar retailers. Most commercial publishing was done by booksellers, who chose their books and commissioned printers to print them. The distinction, while generally valid, was not absolute; some successful printers, like Richard Field, published a significant minority of the works they printed. The Jaggards too did a significant amount of publishing as well as printing; in the most obvious case, they not only printed the First Folio but were partners in its publication with bookseller Edward Blount. Printers who published often needed a retail outlet for their wares; Jaggard's books were frequently sold by Matthew Lownes at his shop in St. Paul's Churchyard, the center of the book trade in London.

Jaggard in time rose to a prominent position in his profession; he became the official Printer to the City of London in 1611. When the Stationers Company decided to issue a general catalogue of English books published in 1618–19, Jaggard was chosen as its printer. William Jaggard's brother John Jaggard was also a printer and publisher, and held the rights to print the Essays of Sir Francis Bacon. John published editions of the Essays (1606, 1612, 1613) that were printed by his brother William.

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