Marmaduke Johnson

Marmaduke Johnson (1628 – December 25, 1674) was a London printer who was commissioned and sailed from England to Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1660 to assist Samuel Green in the printing of The Indian Bible, which had been laboriously translated by John Eliot into the Massachusett Indian language, which became the first Bible printed in America. Johnson printed several further works for Eliot containing religious material translated for the Indian nations of Massachusetts. Johnson was the first highly skilled letterpress printer in America. When he attempted to open his own printing house in Boston, without an official license from the Crown, the Massachusetts General Court interceded and censured his operation, disallowing printing outside of Cambridge. This started one of the first 'Freedom of the Press' disputes in colonial America. After several appeals the Court conceded and Johnson moved to Boston, set up and outfitted his printing shop, and became the first printer allowed to operate his own private printing press in the colony.