HUNSCOT (JOSEPH), bookseller in London; Stationers Hall, 1624-60. Son of John Hunscot, of Wardenton, co. Oxon. Apprentice to Thomas Ensor for eight years from March, 1604. [Arber, ii. 275.] Took up his freedom March 23rd, 1612. [Arber, iii. 683.] First book entry January 9th, 1624. Appointed Beadle to the Company of Stationers. Was for some time printer to the Long Parliament, in which he was succeeded by Edward Husband. Joseph Hunscot was very active in seeking out secret presses, and in 1645 he unearthed one such press at Goodman's Fields in the East end of London. In 1649 he was appointed to assist the Masters and Wardens of the Company in carrying out the Act of that year, and seized a press belonging to Edward and John Crouch and was allowed to retain it as a reward for his services. He was still living in 1660, when he appointed a deputy to carry the Company's banner on horseback at the entry of Charles II into the City, and was allowed 20s. for his fee. [Timperley, p. 529; Library, October, 1904, pp. 385 et seq.]
HUNT (JOHN), (?) bookseller in London (?), 1643. His name is found on a political pamphlet entitled Most Joyful Newes by Sea and Land, 1642. [E. 126 (11).] No address is given.
HUNT (THOMAS), bookseller in Exeter; St. Peter's Churchyard, 1640-48. Probably the son of Christopher Hunt, of Exeter, who was publishing between 1593 and 1606. His name is found on a broadside in verse entitled Stand up to your belief. [Lutt Coll. ii. 209.] A contemporary news-sheet, Mercurius Civicus for October 1st, 1645, states that a press had lately been brought to Exeter and that Thomas Fuller's Good Thoughts in Bad Times was printed at it for "malignant Hunt." Mr. Allnutt in his papers on English Provincial Presses notices some other books on sale by Thomas Hunt, notably Robert Herrick's Hesperides, 1648. [Biblographica, vol. ii. p. 289.]
HUNT (WILLIAM), bookseller and printer in London; Pye-Corner, 1647-60. His name is first met with on the petition of the Clothiers and Weavers presented to the House of Commons in 1647. [B.M. 669, f. 11 (2).] In 1651 he added printing to his bookselling business, and jointly with Edward Griffin printed an edition of Amos Komenski's Janua Linguarum Reserata in 1652. His most important work was Randle Cotgrave's
