Henry Herringman

Who was Henry Herringman?

Henry Herringman was a prominent London bookseller and publisher in the second half of the 17th century. He is especially noted for his publications in English Renaissance drama and English Restoration drama; he was the first publisher of the works of John 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 of Thomas Middleton's Hengist, King of Kent in 1661. Herringman had a reputation as a rare stationer who actually profited from the Great Fire of London, 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 of William Shakespeare and his contemporaries in the second half of the century, including the Shakespeare Fourth Folio, the third Ben Jonson folio, and the second Beaumont and Fletcher folio. Herringman also published the collected plays of Thomas Killigrew; the collected works of Sir William Davenant; the Dryden/Davenant adaptation of The Tempest; and plays by Thomas Shadwell, William Wycherley, George Etherege, and Sir Robert Howard, among others.