George Humble (-1640)

"Also known as
George Humble
primary name: Humble, George
Details
individual; publisher/printer; British; Male
Life dates
1603 fl-1640 died
Address
At the signe of the White Horse, Popes Head Alley
Biography
Print publisher in London. Nephew of John Sudbury (qv), with whom he worked in partnership c.1603-18. After Sudbury's retirement, Humble continued the business alone from c.1618 to 1632.
According to Burke's Extinct Baronetcies, Humble was the son of the London stationer and bookseller Thomas Humble (active 1566-81, d.1588: see STC). Humble's entry into the printselling business began in 1603 when he became partner of his uncle George Sudbury (qv). In 1608 the pair were given a twenty-one year privilege to publish Speed's Theatre of the Empire and they financed its engraving by Jodocus Hondius in Holland (CSP Dom. 1608, p.425). After Sudbury's retirement in 1618, Humble carried on the print business alone, but increasingly concentrated on maps, where he had a virtual monopoly (see Skelton p.233-5), more than on portraits, drawing and writing books (for which see STC and Griffiths). In 1626 he had already begun selling plates to William Peake (cf.Globe p.216): the portrait of the 4th Earl of Pembroke by Simon de Passe (Hind II 265.45) has the date 1626 added with Peake's address. This may have been to finance the maps of Speed's Prospect of the most famous parts of the world, which was also engraved in Amsterdam and published in 1627.
Humble's address was always at the White Horse in Pope's Head Alley over against the Royal Exchange. In 1615 'Palace' is substituted for 'Alley', but this does not represent a move. His shop and map business were continued by his son William (qv). Humble had interests in other activities besides printselling; in September 1639 he and a partner petitioned the House of Lords about a brewhouse that they wished to set up (CSP Dom, 1639, p.532 and 1639/40, p.152).
Humble, although his profession is always described in documents as stationer, was a Leatherseller. In 1628-9 he was Master of the Company, and his portrait still hangs in Leatherseller's Hall. In 1633 he was deputy of Langborn Ward (Burke). He died on 7 August 1640, and his will shows that he was a very wealthy man: he left property in Gracechurch Street to the Company to provide scholarships at Oxford and Cambridge for two scholars or children of members of the guild, as well as £500 for charitable activities. He also left the Company money for four silver tankards that still survive (see Hunting pp.92-4, and Skelton p.242). His tomb in St Mary Overies was engraved in the eighteenth century, and gives the names of his two wives.
His son Sir William (1612-87) continued the business. Most of his publications were maps; two were copybooks (Globe cat.490 and 501). In March 1659 he sold the rights and plates of Speed's works to William Garrett, who must have soon passed them on the Roger Rea (qv). In 1653 he was given a special license by the Commonwealth to import globes and maps 'for the use of the State' (CPS Dom. 1652-3, p.480): 31 bales of globes and three packets of maps arrived in November (CSP Dom 1653-4, p.444). His will was signed on 11 December 1686, and proved on 3 January the following year. John Garrett (qv) was named as a trustee and overseer of the very large and complex estate.
Another dimension of William's career is given in Burke's Extinct Baronetcies. On 21 June 1660 he was created a baronet 'in consideration of £20,000 which he furnished to King Charles II in his Majesty's exile'. (The baronetcy expired after the sixth generation in 1745.) Since he was at the same time chief supplier of maps to Cromwell's régime, he was evidently adept at keeping in with both sides.
Bibliography
Hind, M Arthur. Engraving in England in the sixteenth & seventeenth centuries. Cambridge, 1952" - https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG63787, 07.12.2020