COPLAND

copland, robert (fl. 1515), english printer and author, is said to have been a servant of william caxton, and certainly worked for wynkyn de worde. the first book to which his name is affixed as a printer is _the boke of justices of peace_ (1515), at the sign of the rose garland, in fleet street, london. anthony a wood supposed, on the ground that he was more educated than was usual in his trade, that he had been a poor scholar of oxford. his best known works are _the hye way to the spyttell hous_, a dialogue in verse between copland and the porter of st bartholomew's hospital, containing much information about the vagabonds who found their way there; and _jyl of breyntfords testament_, dismissed in _athenae oxonienses_ (ed. bliss) as "a poem devoid of wit or decency, and totally unworthy of further notice." he translated from the french the romances of _kynge appolyne of thyre_ (w. de worde, 1510), _the history of helyas knyght of the swanne_ (w. de worde, 1513), and _the life of ipomydon_ (_hue of rotelande_), not dated. among his other works is _the complaynte of them that ben too late maryed_, an undated tract printed by w. de worde. william copland, the printer, supposed to have been his brother, published three editions of _howleglas_, perhaps by robert, which in any case represent the earliest english version of _till eulenspiegel_. the _knyght of the swanne_ was reprinted in thom's _early prose romances_, vol. iii., and by the grolier club (1901); the _hye way_ in w. c. hazlitt's _remains of the early popular poetry of england_, vol. iv. (1866). see further the "forewords" to dr f. j. furnivall's reprint of _jyl of breyntford_ (for private circulation, 1871) and j. p. collier, _bibliographical and critical account of the rarest books in the english language_, vol. i. p. 153 (1865). for the books issued from his press see _hand-lists of english printers_ (1501-1556), printed for the bibliographical society in 1896.