J A M E S R A V EN THE BUSINESS OF BOOKS BOOKSELLERS AND THE ENGLISH BOOK TRADE 00 Prelims 1533 27/4/07 13:08 Page i THE BUSINESS OF BOOKS 00 Prelims 1533 27/4/07 13:08 Page ii 00 Prelims 1533 27/4/07 13:08 Page iii THE BUSINESS OF BOOKS BOOKSELLERS AND THE ENGLISH BOOK TRADE 1450–1850 JAMES RAVEN YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS NEW HAVEN AND LONDON 00 Prelims 1533 27/4/07 13:08 Page iv Copyright © 2007 by James Raven All rights reserved.This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part,in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S.Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press) without written permission from the publishers. For information about this and other Yale University Press publications,please contact: U.S.Office:[email protected] www.yalebooks.com Europe Office:[email protected] www.yaleup.co.uk Set in Minion by J&L Composition,Filey,North Yorkshire Printed in Great Britain by St Edmundsbury Press Ltd,Bury St Edmunds Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Raven,James,1959– The business ofbooks:booksellers and the English book trade,1450–1850/James Raven. p.cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0–300–12261–6 (alk.paper) 1. Book industries and trade—Great Britain—History.2.Publishers and publishing— Great Britain—History. 3. Printers—Great Britain—History. 4. Literature publishing— Great Britain—History.I.Title. Z325.R27 2007 381’.450020941—dc22 2006032910 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 00 Prelims 1533 27/4/07 13:08 Page v FOR KAREN WALDEN-SMITH 00 Prelims 1533 27/4/07 13:08 Page vi 00 Prelims 1533 27/4/07 13:08 Page vii CONTENTS List ofillustrations,figures,and tables ix Acknowledgements xii Note on the text xv List ofabbreviations xvii Chapter One Introduction:the enterprise ofbooksellers 1 Chapter Two The arrival ofprint:domestic and foreign 11 Chapter Three Markets and martyrs:early modern commerce 46 Chapter Four The late Stuart trade:new horizons 83 Chapter Five Investing in books:the supremacy ofthe booksellers 119 Chapter Six High and low:locating the trades 154 Chapter Seven Boosting demand:stationers,printers, and sellers 193 Chapter Eight Challenges and survivals:the late eighteenth century 221 Chapter Nine Promoting the wares 257 Chapter Ten Risking failure 294 Chapter Eleven Steam and stamps:nineteenth-century transformation 320 Chapter Twelve Conclusion 351 00 Prelims 1533 27/4/07 13:08 Page viii viii CONTENTS Historiographical overview 373 Notes 379 Select bibliography 435 Index 456 00 Prelims 1533 27/4/07 13:08 Page ix ILLUSTRATIONS, FIGURES, AND TABLES Illustrations 2.1 Working the press,from Merk van Anthony Scoloker,Ordinarye ofChristians(London,1548),for William Seares (reproduced from H.R.Plomer,A Short History ofPrinting (London,1900), p.130 25 2.2 Woodcut portrait ofJohn Day,c.1562 (photograph by Karen Walden-Smith) 42 2.3 Brass plaque memorial to John Day,Little Bradley Church, Suffolk (photograph by Karen Walden-Smith) 43 3.1 Device ofRichard Grafton (a graft and tun),taken from Certayne Sermons and Homilies(1547),STC1948.07 (reproduced by permission ofthe Pepys Library,Magdalene College, Cambridge) 57 3.2 James Bainham at Paul’s Cross,February 1532,from John Foxe, The Ecclesiastical History Containing the Actes and Monumentes (1570) 2:300 (reproduced by permission ofthe Pepys Library, Magdalene College,Cambridge) 63 3.3 A martyr in flames,woodcut used to illustrate the burning of James Bainham,stationer,April 1532,from John Foxe,The Ecclesiastical History Containing the Actes and Monumentes(1570) 2:301 (reproduced by permission ofthe Pepys Library,Magdalene College,Cambridge) 64 4.1 Books ‘on the railes’at Moorfields,detail from Sutton Nicholls’s print of‘The Compleat Auctioneer’,c.1700,Harley 5947(1) (reproduced by permission ofthe British Library) 112 5.1 ‘A True Representation ofa Printing House with the Men at Work’,from the New Universal Magazine,1752 (from the author’s collection) 122