r notable work of Field's
was Sir John Harington's translation of _Orlando Furioso_ (1591, fol.).
This book had an elaborate frontispiece, with a portrait of the
translator, and thirty-six engraved illustrations, that make up in
vigour of treatment, and breadth of imagination, for shortcomings in the
matter of draughtsmanship. The text was printed in double columns, and
each verse of the Argument was enclosed in a border of printers'
ornaments. A second edition, alike in almost every respect, passed
through the same press in 1607. In 1594 Field printed a second edition
of _Venus and Adonis_, and the first edition of _Lucrece_. His later
work included David Hume's _Daphne-Amaryllis_, 1605, 4to; Chapman's
translation of the _Odyssey_ (1614, folio); and an edition of _Virgil_
in quarto in 1620.

Foremost among the later men of this century stands Christopher Barker,
the Queen's printer, who was born about 1529, and is said to have been
grand-nephew to Sir Christopher Barker, Garter King-at-Arms. Originally
a member of the Drapers' Company, he began to publish books in 1569
(Arber, i. p. 398), and to print in 1576, and purchased from Sir Thomas
Wilkes his patent to print the Old and New Testament in English. Barker
issued in 1578 a circular offering his large Bible to the London
Companies at the rate of 24s. each bound, and 20s. unbound, the clerks
of the various Companies to receive 4d. apiece for every Bible sold, and
the hall of each Company that took L40 worth to receive a presentation
copy (Lemon's _Catal. of Broadsides_).

[Illustration: FIG. 24.--Christopher Barker's Device.]

In 1582 Barker sent to Lord Burghley an account of the various printing
monopolies granted since the beginning of the reign, and expresses
himself freely on them. He also attempted to suppress the printers in
Cambridge University. In and after 1588 he carried on his business by
deputies, George Bishop and Ralph Newbery, and in the following year, on
the disgrace of Sir Thomas Wilkes, he obtained an exclusive patent for
himself and his son to print all official documents, as well as Bibles
and Testaments. At one time Barker had no fewer than five presses, and
between 1575 and 1585 he printed as many as thirty-eight editions of the
Scriptures, an almost equal number being printed by his deputies before
1600. Christopher Barker died in 1599, and was succeeded in his post of
royal printer by Robert Barker, his eldest son.

On the 23rd June 1586