In December 1595, a short pamphlet entitled A Most Strange and Wonderfull Prophesie upon this Troublesome World was published in London by a printer named Abel Jeffes. The work, allegedly authored in 1569 by two German astrologers, Dr. John Cypriano and Tarquatus Vandermers claimed, that the year 1596 would bring the end of human history. It was a daring prediction, though of course it was hot the first time, or the last, that someone attempted to forecast the end of the world. Unfortunately for the pamphlet's readership, the Company of Stationers, the guild charged with overseeing printing and bookselling in England, immediately confiscated all copies of the text and ordered Jeffes's press and letters destroyed. The complaint was terse. According to the company, Jeffes had "disorderly [and] without authority and contrary to the decrees of the Star Chamber printed a lewd prophecy called the most strange prophecy of Doctor Cipriano &c. and divers other lewd ballads and things very offensive."
    In the England of Queen Elizabeth I, the book trade was regulated by the Star Chamber, a governmental court with authority to censor publications it found subversive. Its name was inspired by the stars painted on the ceilings and walls of Westminster, the building in which it met. In 1586, the court issued a decree stipulating, among other provisions, that all books be approved by either the Archbishop of Canterbury or the Bishop of London before publication. Company of Stationers officials were authorized to inspect printers and to confiscate and destroy the equipment and books of those found in violation of the decree. Offenders faced imprisonment for six months and were forbidden to return to their former work.