Abel Jeffes

Abel Jeffes was a printer in London, 1584-95, and later a bookseller (1594-99) at shops including The Bell in Fore Street without Cripplegate (1584-8), The Bell in Philip Lane (1589-90), St. Paul's Churchyard at the Great North Door of St. Paul's Church (1591), and (?) Blackfriars, near Puddle Wharf (1594-9). His name is familiar to scholars of Elizabethan drama because of his work on Arden of Faversham, The Spanish Tragedy, Doctor Faustus, and Edward I. He registered the latter play at Stationers' Hall on 8 October 1593. In 1595, he was arrested and his presses seized for printing lewd matter (ballads, etc.); the presses were not returned when he was able to get out of prison (hence his shift to being a bookseller).