A Dictionary of the Booksellers and Printers who Were at Work in England, Scotland and Ireland from 1641 to 1667/Sowle (Andrew)

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SOWLE (ANDREW), printer in London, (1) Pye Corner Smithfield; (2) Crooked Billet, Holloway Lane, Shoreditch, 1653-67. Son of Francis Sowle, of the parish of St. Sepulchres, yeoman. Born in 1628. Apprenticed on July 6th, 1646, to Ruth Raworth, q.v., for seven years. [Apprenticeship Register, Stationers' Hall.] Although his name is not found in an imprint before 1683, there is no doubt that he was the printer of most, if not all, of the early Quaker literature. In the obituary notice of him that appeared in Piety Promoted, Part I, p. 192, it was stated that he engaged himself freely in printing Friends books, and that his printing materials were several times seized and broken to pieces, and on one occasion a thousand reams of printed books were taken from him. On another occasion he was taken before Sir Richard Browne, who threatened to send him "after his brother Twyn," who had been executed in 1664 for printing a seditious book. Andrew Sowle's daughter, Elizabeth, married in 1685 her father's apprentice, William Bradford, who emigrated to America and set up his press in Pennsylvania, and afterwards in New York. Another daughter, Tace Sowle, succeeded her father in his business, and ultimately married Thomas Raylton. Andrew Sowle died in 1695, aged 67.