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Walton, Robert (1618-88) Printseller and publisher; one of the major figures of his day, and the only one who has a pronounced personality which comes across in the vitriolic campaign he waged against John Overton in print (see his advertisement of c.1674 and elsewhere). Walton was born in Welford in Northamptonshire, where his father William was a yeoman. He was apprenticed as a printer to John Costard of Lothbury in the Merchant Taylors' Company in 1632 for nine years; he was freed in 1641. He and Stent must have known each other as fellow apprentices in Lothbury, and the two men subsequently had many dealings (Globe p. 221). He set up in 1647 both as a printer and printseller. Unlike Stent, he hardly ever seems to have reprinted others' plates. His own ones are usually of mediocre quality, and are usually of subjects rather than portraits. He mainly dealt in engravings, often of emblematic character (e.g. Hind III 339.17), and played little part in the mezzotint fashion of the 1680s. Among the few that he published were some by the obscure Edward Rixon (CS 1-5). He also dealt in imported Italian, French and Dutch prints as well as maps (see London Gazette for 19 June 1686). His production is described in six catalogues or advertisements he issued between 1655 and c.1674. His career has been established by Tyacke (pp. 145-6). He published from three or perhaps four places. He began in 1648 at the Globe and Compasses in St Paul's Churchyard, between the two north doors. The Great Fire in 1666 drove him to Little Britain over against the Globe (or at the Dial). He stayed there until the end of 1671, but in 1673 was again at the Globe and Compasses at the west end of St Paul's as you turn towards Ludgate (so the Term catalogue). Sometime between 1676 and 1684 he either moved or decided to redescribe his address as at the Globe on the north (or back) side of St Paul's near the west end towards Ludgate (or at the corner shop towards Ludgate). The reason for his feud with Overton is unknown, but the Term catalogue for July 1672 shows that the two men had collaborated in an edition of The English Military Discipline. The feud lasted at least to 1682, when in an advertisement in the Protestant Mercury of 24 May he accused Overton of pirating Dutch maps. By his will in 1688 he left small sums of money to his sisters and to the poor, with the proviso that not a penny of it 'shall extend to any Papist' (see Tyacke). Such anti-Catholic fervour is seen in some of his prints (e.g.. 'The Christian Almanack with representations of the horrid Popish Plots of 1572,1588 etc.' advertised in the London Gazette for 27 December 1680). The will was witnessed by John Taylor, the bookseller who also published from the Globe at the west end of St Paul's, and by his apprentice Christopher Browne, who continued the business after Walton's death (see the Term catalogue for July 1688).

Warner, Thomas (active 1710) Publisher.

Warren, Thomas (active 1661) London bookseller and printer, apparently started as the partner of Joshua Kirton; registered a group of 28 woodcuts with the Stationers' Company on 4-5 April 1656. His widow, Alice, succeeded to the business in 1661; possibly the father of Francis and Thomas Warren, printers in Foster Lane c. 1663-6.

Watts, Joseph (active 1689) Publisher.

Webb, William (active 1628-45) Print publisher. His first address in Cornhill at the Globe over against the Exchange is the same as Compton Holland's, and he may have taken over what remained of his business. His earliest recorded print, a portrait of Henrietta Maria by an unidentified 'R.M.' (Hind III p.222), was issued in 1628. Later prints have an address in Cornhill right against Birchin Lane end; the fact that plates are sometimes altered to the new version (e.g. Hind II 291.9) suggests that he had moved, and that this was not a redescription of the same shop. In c.1630-1 Webb published an important series of oval portraits by Robert van Voerst copied from or in the manner of Delff after Mierevelt. Another print in this series is by Cornelis van Dalen (Frederick of Bohemia, Hind and Hollstein undesc.). Webb also issued some reprints; one is the second state of Willem de Passe's equestrian Duke of Buckingham altered to the Duke of Hamilton (Hind II 285.1) which can be dated 1630/4. Apart from portraits, Webb also re-issued some sets of half-length women: the Four Complexions, the Seven Deadly Sins and the Seven Liberal Arts (see Griffiths pp. 309-11). The first of these went to William Peake (d.1639); the last to Stent. Another print was a folio sheet of The Emperiall Achievements of our dread soveraigne King Charles ... (STC 5022). Webb issued very few prints after the mid 1630s. In 1641 he published a map of Ireland (BL 669 f.3), and was still alive in 1645, for in this year Saxton's set of country maps was re-issued with a title-page 'printed for William Webb at the Globe in Cornhill' (Skelton p. 71; he wrongly identifies Webb with an Oxford bookseller of the same name). The death of a William Webb was recorded in 1648 (PRO Prob.6/22 f.46).

Westerhout, Arnold van (1651-1725) Flemish. Engraver, painter, draughtsman and publisher. In 1665-66 he was apprenticed to Alexander Goutiers. In 1673-74 enlisted as a painter in the guild of St. Luke in Antwerp. In 1679 in Venice, from 1681 in Rome with bottega near San Ignazio. Between 1681 and 1685 he was boarding in the house of Cornelis Bloemaert. In 1691 and 1692 brief stay in Florence. Brother of the painter Balthasar van Westerhout. Published prints by Jan Baptist de Wael II.

Weyen, Herman (1638-72) Flemish/French. Engraver of Flemish origins, but entire career in Paris, where he became a major publisher of high-quality prints, mostly of devotional subjects.

White, John (fl. 1700) Newcastle printer. A large group of woodblocks evidently originating in his workshop descended through a series of Newcastle printers: Thomas Saint, Thomas Angus, George Angus, Emerson Charnley and William Dodd. A number are now in the collection of McGill University, Montreal; see C. Heppner, ‘A Collection of Woodblocks and Related Material at McGill University’, The Book Collector, 35 (1986), pp. 53-66. A further group of five blocks was purchased by the British Museum in July 2000.

Wilkins, Jonathan (active 1680) Publisher/printer.

Wilkinson, Robert (1768-1825) Map and printseller working at the top of the market. Took over John Bowles's stock on the latter's death in 1779. A copy of John Bowles's 1768 catalogue in the library of the Royal Geographic Society has slips of paper printed with Wilkinson's name and address pasted over Bowles's name on the title-page and on p.166 at the end of the volume. His will is at the National Archive, PROB 11/1056/335. The posthumous sale of his stock took place at Sotheby's on 13 April 1826.

Williams, John (17th cent.) Associated with The Balcony and The Crown. Issued tokens. Could be more than one person.

Wilson, William (late 17th cent.) Mezzotint engraver and publisher; possibly the architect of that name who was knighted in 1681 and died c.1702.

Withy, Robert (active 1760s-1780s) Print publisher in partnership with John Ryall.

Witt, Frederick de (fl. late 17th cent.) Dutch. Publisher, and possibly engraver, Amsterdam; flourished from 1648 and by the end of the 17th century was one of the largest publishers in Amsterdam.

Woodall, J (active 1616) Publisher.

Woons, Cornelis (1649-90) Flemish. Publisher in Antwerp.

Woutneel, Hans (fl.1585-before 1608) Flemish. Bookseller and print publisher. Born in Antwerp, emigrated as refugee to London after 1585; major figure in Anglo-Fremish book and art trade. Name spelt in myriad different versions. Bibliography: R. A. Gerard, ‘Woutneel, de Passe and the Anglo-Netherlandish Print Trade’, Print Quarterly, 13 (1996), 363-76.

Wyat, John (17th cent.) Publisher and bookseller.

Wyngaerde, Frans van den (1614-79) Etcher, engraver, publisher and art dealer (?). He worked in Antwerp. c.1627-28 pupil of Paulus Pontius; 1636-37 registered in the guild of St. Luke in Antwerp; married in 1640 Maria Cruijt.