[2] For years, scholars wrongly assumed that he was the son of famed printer Reyner Wolfe on the basis of their mutual name and occupation.
Because apprenticeships generally ended when the apprentice turned 24 (the minimum age for London freemen), scholars surmise that Wolfe was born around 1548.
[1] In the same testimony in which he mentioned his "poore oulde father", he claimed that he served Day for a "space of seaven yeares",[5] the minimum term for an apprenticeship under the Statute of Artificers of 1563.
[7] In 1579, he published his first books in England and became one of the few non-members of the Stationers' Company granted the privilege of entering titles in its Register.
In 1581, Wolfe began entering more works in the Stationers' Register, and the next year, he established a residence in Distaff Lane, southeast of St Paul's Churchyard.
On 19 June 1581, the Privy Council reprimanded him and demanded that he halt the printing of Latin grammar books, which were the privilege of Francis Flower.
[9] One of his other victims was Queen Elizabeth I's printer, Christopher Barker, who held the exclusive rights to print the Bible, the Book of Common Prayer, and the Royal Statutes and Proclamations.
Barker found Wolfe to be "a man unreasonable to deale withall", and the meeting terminated with no appreciable result.
He was imprisoned twice and found himself in legal troubles for his alleged "dangerous and undutifull speaches of her Majesties most gracious government".
[1] Despite this move, Wolfe continued his penchant for piracy, and began pirating Day's lucrative metrical psalters.
Wolfe challenged the raid in the Court of Star Chamber: on 18 May 1584, he issued a bill of complaint accusing Day of illegally damaging his property.
While ostensibly, the office of Beadle entailed the maintenance of Stationers' Hall and the summoning of members to company meetings, Wolfe used his title to pursue and stamp out illicit printing.
Around this time, Wolfe made the transition from printer to publisher, distributing increasing amounts of work for others to print on his behalf.