Pepper and Puddle – a coda

by mercuriuspoliticus

In a comment on my post on Pepper and Puddle, a reader kindly pointed out that I’d missed a picture of Prince Griffin and his dog, Towzer, in another pamphlet. The image above is taken from A letter of a sad tragedy by Prince Griffin at Sayton, neere Chester: and his severall attempts against the Lady Causely. And the bloody murther for which he is fled into Scotland.

This was printed in March 1648 for A.C. and A.W. and was a rather less favourable account of John Griffith’s murder of a servant than the one Griffith himself published, which I mentioned in my previous post. Which printers A.C. and A.W. were, I’m not sure – I haven’t been able to get to a library for a few days to check Plomer’s Dictionary of Booksellers and Printers (I wish this was on Google Books as full view). Once I find out I will hopefully be able to say a bit more about who the pamphlet might have been linked to. Failing that, it may be another trawl for similar colophons and woodcuts. I have mentioned this a few times in recent posts, not least because I am currently looking at methods of communication in early modern Europe for my course – hence the glut of pamphlet-related posts recently. When I get more time I am hoping to do a round-up post of tips to bear in mind when analysing pamphlets.

In the meantime, it’s worth noting that the picture of Griffith fits exactly the same stereotypes as the woodcut in my previous post: long boots with spurs, long hair (with equally long hair on the dog), and a feathered hat.