Henry Herringman (1628–1704) was a prominentLondon bookseller and publisher in the second half of the 17th century. He is especially noted for his publications inEnglish Renaissance drama andEnglish Restoration drama; he was the first publisher of the works ofJohn Dryden. He conducted his business under the sign of the Blue Anchor in the lower walk of the New Exchange.
Herringman had established himself as an independent bookseller and publisher by 1655. He issued the first edition ofThomas Middleton'sHengist, King of Kent in1661. In the 1662 edition of William Howel's General history it states that Howel's history was "printed for Henry Herringman...to be sold in his shop, at the Anchor in the lower Walk in the New Exchange, 1662". Herringman had a reputation as a rare stationer who actually profited from theGreat Fire of London (1666), in which most of his compatriots lost their stocks of printed books. He was a member of the syndicates of stationers who issued the major collections ofWilliam Shakespeare and his contemporaries in the second half of the century, including theShakespeare Fourth Folio (1685), thethird Ben Jonson folio (1692), and thesecond Beaumont and Fletcher folio (1679). Herringman also published the collected plays ofThomas Killigrew (1664); the collected works of SirWilliam Davenant (1673); the Dryden/Davenant adaptation ofThe Tempest (1670); and plays byThomas Shadwell,William Wycherley,George Etherege, and SirRobert Howard, among others.
Dryden appears to have had a close professional relationship with Herringman early in his career, when he served as a sort of general editorial assistant in Herringman's business, perhaps to the point of taking his board and lodging with Herringman. In this capacity as a supervisor and reviser of texts, Dryden may have worked on Shakespearean plays for Herringman.[1]
In addition to dramas, Herringman published a large body of nondramatic literature, including (partnered withJohn Martyn) the1678 edition ofSamuel Butler'sHudibras, which contained the poem's third and final part. Herringman published works byAbraham Cowley,Katherine Philips,John Donne,Francis Bacon,Roger Boyle, andRobert Boyle. He also produced a wide variety of general-interest works, as well as law books.
Herringman became master of theStationers Company in 1685. After selling his retail business in 1684, Herringman became, in effect, the first wholesale book publisher in England; his imprint exists on 532 publications from his era.[2]
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