Richard Tottel (c. 1528-1593) is chiefly remembered for printing the extremely influential English poetry anthology Songes and Sonnets, first published in 1557 and best known today as Tottel’s Miscellany. The collection had gone into seven editions by 1585; after that, the imprint went to John Windet (in 1585) and to Robert Robinson for the ninth and final edition in 1587 (“Tottel’s Miscellany”).
Born in 1528, Richard Tottel grew up in a family of altogether eleven children. His father, William Tothill (for variations of the name, see Greening, 2004), was a fishmonger in Exeter and a conscientious citizen who first acted as sheriff and bailiff and eventually became mayor of the city in …
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Citation: Bauer, Matthias, Sarah Briest, Sara Rogalski, Angelika Zirker. "Richard Tottel". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 28 July 2020 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4429, accessed 08 September 2024.]