Milton Ernest
 Book Publishing

Places > Milton Ernest > Literature and Writing

The First Book Published in Bedfordshire

During the early part of the eighteenth century a young man called Underhill Robinson set up his printing press in Milton Ernest. He had recently finished his apprenticeship as a printer to William Sayes of Aldersgate, London and was returning to the county of his birth; his father had been Rector of Colmworth.

His first job was for the Reverend John Hunt of Newport Pagnell and was called Vindiciae verae pietatis or evangelical sanctification truly stated and vindicated: and the common mistakes of many detected (1719). Unfortunately, this job was also to be his last; he died suddenly in May 1719 at the age of 27 and was buried in Saint Albans.

After Underhill Robinson the first regular printer in the county was Bartholomew Hyatt who set up a press in Bedford about 1760.

Sources:

• Bedfordshire's first printer by Chris Pickford, Bedfordshire Magazine Vol. 20, p.235
• Discovering Bedfordshires Past by Dennis Bidwell

The first book published in Bedfordshire, by Bedfordshire Libraries, 2005.

Page last updated: 3rd February 2014