William Ponsonby (1546? – 1604) was a prominent London publisher of theElizabethan era. Active in the 1577–1603 period, Ponsonby published the works ofEdmund Spenser, SirPhilip Sidney, and other members of the Sidney circle;[1] he has been called "the leading literary publisher of Elizabethan times."[2]
Ponsonby completed his apprenticeship understationer William Norton on 11 January 1571. Around 1576 he established his own bookshop at the sign of the Bishop's Head inSt. Paul's Churchyard.[3]
Ponsonby's relationship with the works of Spenser began when he issued the1590 volume ofThe Faerie Queene, Books 1–3. Ponsonby published all of Spenser's future works, including the complete edition ofThe Faerie Queene in1596; he issued the entire Spenserian canon except for the poet's earliest volume,The Shepherd's Calendar (1579).
In regard to Sidney, Ponsonby issued both the 1590 and1593 editions of theArcadia, the1595 edition ofThe Defence of Poesie and the large 1598folio collection that includedAstrophil and Stella. The works of Sidney's sisterMary, Countess of Pembroke, includingAntony (1592, 1595), her translation ofGarnier's tragedy, were also published by Ponsonby.
Ponsonby nourished a reputation as an elite publisher, and so avoided what the Elizabethans considered lower-prestige product – like stage plays. Ponsonby printed none of the plays ofEnglish Renaissance drama that are such a strong focus of modern interest in his era, and he generally avoided the non-dramatic works of dramatists as well – though his1583 edition ofRobert Greene'sMamilia, Part II, and his1594 publication ofGeorge Chapman'sThe Shadow of Night, are exceptions to this general trend. In 1595 Ponsonby tried to register ownership ofLewes Lewkenor'sThe Estate of English fugitives under the King of Spain and his ministers but the edition was printed, possibly piratically, by John Drawater, assistant toThomas BlagraveMaster of the Revels (Ponsonby's apprenticeEdward Blount largely followed his master's example of avoiding plays during his own independent career – though Blount made a few exceptions, most notably theFirst Folio ofShakespeare's plays in1623.) Ponsonby made occasional exceptions forcloset drama, as with the Countess of Pembroke'sAntony noted above.
In an age when the disciplines of publishing and printing were largely (though not entirely) separate, Ponsonby concentrated on publishing and commissioned professional printers to print his texts. The 1590Faerie Queene volume, for example, was printed by John Wolfe, while Ponsonby's 1595 edition of Spenser'sAmoretti and Epithalamion was printed byPeter Short. The 1583Mamilia was printed byThomas Creede.
On Ponsonby's death in 1604, many of his copyrights passed to his brother-in-law, stationer Simon Waterson.[4]
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