On this day in Tudor history, 23rd July 1584, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, Protestant printer, bookseller and publisher John Day died at Walden in Essex.
Suffolk-born Day was in London by 1540 working for printer and physician Thomas Raynalde. In 1546, he was awarded the freedom of the city of London and began printing in partnership with William Seres.
Day printed works by evangelicals like John Hooper, Hugh Latimer, John Poynet, and William Turner, and even John Calvin.
In 1550, Day opened his own print shop in Cheapside.
He was briefly imprisoned by Mary I after being implicated in the publication of works hostile to her, but his printing really took off in Elizabeth I's reign and he famously published martyrologist John Foxe's "Actes and Monuments" ("Book of Martyrs").
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Image: A woodcut of John Day (dated 1562) included in the 1563 and subsequent editions of "Actes and Monuments".
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