John Windet

Who was John Windet?

John Windet was an English printer, notable for his music publications. He was a close business associate of fellow printer John Wolfe. After 1591, Wolfe ceased printing the lucrative metrical psalter of Thomas Sternhold and John Hopkins, and Windet succeeded him in becoming the sole printer of the work for patent-holder Richard Day. At some point, Windet succeeded Wolfe as London's City Printer. Wolfe passed on some of his printing ornaments to Windet after he decided to stop printing and focus solely on publishing in 1594. On Wolfe's death in 1601, Windet was appointed administrator of his estate.

In 1604, Windet printed John Dowland's influential Lachrimae, or Seaven Teares, a collection of the composer's pavans and one of the most important musical works of the era. He also printed all of composer Tobias Hume's known compositions in two compilations—First Part of Ayres and Captaine Humes Poeticall Musicke. Windet probably needed to use all his skills as a printer to accommodate the unconventional Hume. The First Part of Ayres contains instructions for what may be the earliest examples of pizzicato and col legno, which were probably eccentricities at the time.