Our information about this printer is very meagre, so much so that little seems to be known of him beyond the fact that he was the first printer in the borough of Southwark. He printed for John Reynes, a bookseller in St. Paul's Churchyard in 1527; also for Laurence Andrewe, who carried on business in Fleet Street about the same date. Anthony à Wood, in his _History and Antiquities of Oxford_, says that Treveris printed some of Whitinton's pieces there in 1527, but no evidence of the fact appears to be forthcoming. The first book known to have issued from his press is the _Disticha Moralia_, 4to, 1514, though some bibliographers deny that Treveris was the printer. The whole number of his productions, inclusive of the grammatical treatises of Whitinton, which, on the authority of Wood and for purposes of convenience, are ascribed to him, does not amount to 30. They are, as usual, very scarce.
_The Grete herball whiche gyueth parfyt Knowledge_, &c., black letter, woodcuts, badly cut down, 1529, folio, £5.
This printer was one of the assistants of Wynkyn de Worde, and a legatee under his will. He was also a stationer and bookseller, dwelling at the Rose Garland in Fleet Street, where he carried on business from about 1515 to the year 1547 or beginning of 1548. His productions are not only few in number, but very rarely ever met with. He seems to have been fond of small and fugitive pieces, of which, doubtless, a large number have perished owing to the popularity which formerly attended publications of this kind. The number of his works catalogued by Ames amounts to 12. This printer must not be confounded with William Copland (_post_), whose productions are, comparatively speaking, common.
According to Bale, this printer was a citizen of London, and married the sister of Sir Thomas More. The date of his birth is not known, but he died in 1536, leaving two sons, one of whom, William, succeeded to his business. Ames mentions 31 works printed by John Rastell and 15 by William, and among the former is the famous _Pastyme of People, or Cronycles of Englond_, of which only three perfect copies are known to exist. A fac-simile reprint was issued in 1811 by Dr. Dibdin. An original copy of this work, which contains 18 woodcut full-length portraits of the kings, was, though imperfect, sold at the Wimpole sale, in June, 1888, for as much as £79. A copy of the reprint is worth about 30s.