 The son of an innkeeper in Barnet, Middlesex, Thorpe worked as an apprentice to Richard Watkins for nine years in a small shop.In 1594 Thorpe obtained his publishing rights, but was still without his printing rights.His first book published was "The First Book of Lucan", Marlowe's translation of the "Pharsalia," the copyright of which he received from Edward Blount, who would come to be a close friend of Thorpe's.