Edwin S. Gaustad
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195305357
- eISBN:
- 9780199850662
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195305357.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: early to 18th Century
The tenth and youngest son of a poor Boston soapmaker, Benjamin Franklin would rise to become, in Thomas Jefferson's words, “the greatest man and ornament of his age”. This book offers a portrait of ...
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The tenth and youngest son of a poor Boston soapmaker, Benjamin Franklin would rise to become, in Thomas Jefferson's words, “the greatest man and ornament of his age”. This book offers a portrait of this towering colonial figure, illuminating Franklin's character and personality. Here is truly one of the most extraordinary lives imaginable, a man who, with only two years of formal education, became a printer, publisher, postmaster, philosopher, world-class scientist and inventor, statesman, musician, and abolitionist. The book presents a chronological account of all these accomplishments, delightfully spiced with quotations from Franklin's own extensive writings. The book describes how the hardworking Franklin became at age twenty-four the most successful printer in Pennsylvania and how by forty-two, with the help of Poor Richard's Almanack, he had amassed enough wealth to retire from business. The book then follows Franklin's next brilliant career, as an inventor and scientist, examining his pioneering work on electricity and his inventions of the Franklin Stove, the lightning rod, and bifocals, as well as his mapping of the Gulf Stream, a major contribution to navigation. Lastly, the book covers Franklin's role as America's leading statesman, ranging from his years in England before the Revolutionary War to his time in France thereafter, highlighting his many contributions to the cause of liberty. Along the way, the book sheds light on Franklin's personal life, including his troubled relationship with his illegitimate son William, who remained a Loyalist during the Revolution, and Franklin's thoughts on such topics as religion and morality.Less
The tenth and youngest son of a poor Boston soapmaker, Benjamin Franklin would rise to become, in Thomas Jefferson's words, “the greatest man and ornament of his age”. This book offers a portrait of this towering colonial figure, illuminating Franklin's character and personality. Here is truly one of the most extraordinary lives imaginable, a man who, with only two years of formal education, became a printer, publisher, postmaster, philosopher, world-class scientist and inventor, statesman, musician, and abolitionist. The book presents a chronological account of all these accomplishments, delightfully spiced with quotations from Franklin's own extensive writings. The book describes how the hardworking Franklin became at age twenty-four the most successful printer in Pennsylvania and how by forty-two, with the help of Poor Richard's Almanack, he had amassed enough wealth to retire from business. The book then follows Franklin's next brilliant career, as an inventor and scientist, examining his pioneering work on electricity and his inventions of the Franklin Stove, the lightning rod, and bifocals, as well as his mapping of the Gulf Stream, a major contribution to navigation. Lastly, the book covers Franklin's role as America's leading statesman, ranging from his years in England before the Revolutionary War to his time in France thereafter, highlighting his many contributions to the cause of liberty. Along the way, the book sheds light on Franklin's personal life, including his troubled relationship with his illegitimate son William, who remained a Loyalist during the Revolution, and Franklin's thoughts on such topics as religion and morality.
Beth L. Glixon and Jonathan E. Glixon
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195154160
- eISBN:
- 9780199868483
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195154160.003.0005
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter takes a broad look at the opera libretto; it considers the profession of librettist, the selection of the libretto for a particular season, publishing and printing privileges, revisions ...
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This chapter takes a broad look at the opera libretto; it considers the profession of librettist, the selection of the libretto for a particular season, publishing and printing privileges, revisions to the libretto, and the libretto as a source of income. During the 17th century, a number of men became professional rather than occasional librettists, and most librettos performed in Venice were written by Venetians themselves. The initial cost of the libretto was often borne by the printer, who then distributed profits either to the librettist or the impresario and his partners. The librettist also stood to gain a profit through the fees from dedication. As a result, an impresario could gain extra income for his company by mounting a revival — that is a previously performed libretto — thereby bypassing the need for a librettist altogether. Librettos were not just purchased for use at the theater, but were also preserved in collections, as well as sent to those unable to attend the performances themselves.Less
This chapter takes a broad look at the opera libretto; it considers the profession of librettist, the selection of the libretto for a particular season, publishing and printing privileges, revisions to the libretto, and the libretto as a source of income. During the 17th century, a number of men became professional rather than occasional librettists, and most librettos performed in Venice were written by Venetians themselves. The initial cost of the libretto was often borne by the printer, who then distributed profits either to the librettist or the impresario and his partners. The librettist also stood to gain a profit through the fees from dedication. As a result, an impresario could gain extra income for his company by mounting a revival — that is a previously performed libretto — thereby bypassing the need for a librettist altogether. Librettos were not just purchased for use at the theater, but were also preserved in collections, as well as sent to those unable to attend the performances themselves.
Jane A. Bernstein
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195141085
- eISBN:
- 9780199871421
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195141085.003.0002
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter offers a general overview of the book trade in 16th-century Venice. It emphasizes the community of printers and publishers, indicating the leading firms, the number of books published, ...
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This chapter offers a general overview of the book trade in 16th-century Venice. It emphasizes the community of printers and publishers, indicating the leading firms, the number of books published, and the locations of the presses around the city. The chapter observes how familial relationships or the fraterna provided the structural underpinnings for most commercial activities, how the bookmen governed themselves, and what their connections were to the intellectual and artistic world of Venice. Specialization in subjects printed became the basis for marketing strategies in the industry. The chapter concludes with a survey of those specializations with particular attention given to the field of music.Less
This chapter offers a general overview of the book trade in 16th-century Venice. It emphasizes the community of printers and publishers, indicating the leading firms, the number of books published, and the locations of the presses around the city. The chapter observes how familial relationships or the fraterna provided the structural underpinnings for most commercial activities, how the bookmen governed themselves, and what their connections were to the intellectual and artistic world of Venice. Specialization in subjects printed became the basis for marketing strategies in the industry. The chapter concludes with a survey of those specializations with particular attention given to the field of music.
Jane A. Bernstein
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195141085
- eISBN:
- 9780199871421
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195141085.003.0003
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter focuses on the production of a music book. The organization of the workforce within the print shop, how a music book was produced, and what materials and supplies were required are ...
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This chapter focuses on the production of a music book. The organization of the workforce within the print shop, how a music book was produced, and what materials and supplies were required are explored. Details are provided concerning editorial practices, typographical materials, paper, formats, title pages, type fonts, decorative initials, and printers' marks used by Venetian presses, giving us a sense of the operation of a 16th-century music print shop.Less
This chapter focuses on the production of a music book. The organization of the workforce within the print shop, how a music book was produced, and what materials and supplies were required are explored. Details are provided concerning editorial practices, typographical materials, paper, formats, title pages, type fonts, decorative initials, and printers' marks used by Venetian presses, giving us a sense of the operation of a 16th-century music print shop.
Jane A. Bernstein
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195141085
- eISBN:
- 9780199871421
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195141085.003.0006
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter considers the influence the music-printing industry had upon its clients. It reveals the ways composers could augment their income by underwriting and then selling their own editions ...
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This chapter considers the influence the music-printing industry had upon its clients. It reveals the ways composers could augment their income by underwriting and then selling their own editions and, in some cases, even entering into the business of printing and publishing. The role of the patron and the involvement of the composer in the printing process are also addressed.Less
This chapter considers the influence the music-printing industry had upon its clients. It reveals the ways composers could augment their income by underwriting and then selling their own editions and, in some cases, even entering into the business of printing and publishing. The role of the patron and the involvement of the composer in the printing process are also addressed.
Clive Griffin
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199280735
- eISBN:
- 9780191712920
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199280735.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
Although the history of the book is a booming area of research, the journeymen who printed 16th-century books have remained shadowy figures because they were not thought to have left any significant ...
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Although the history of the book is a booming area of research, the journeymen who printed 16th-century books have remained shadowy figures because they were not thought to have left any significant traces in the archives. However, Griffin’s research on unpublished trial-records and a mass of associated inquisitional correspondence reveals a clandestine network of Protestant-minded immigrant journeymen — printers who were arrested by the Holy Office in Spain and Portugal in the 1560s and 1570s at a time of international crisis. A startlingly clear portrait of these humble men (and occasionally women) emerges allowing the reconstruction of what Namier deemed one of history’s greatest challenges: ‘the biographies of ordinary men’. We learn of their geographical and social origins, educational and professional training, travels, careers, standard of living, violent behaviour, and even their attitudes, beliefs, and ambitions. In the course of this study, other subjects are addressed: popular culture and religion; heresy; the history of skilled labour; the history of the book and of reading; the Inquisition; foreign and itinerant workers and the xenophobia they encountered; popular patterns of sociability; and the ‘double lives’ of lower-class Protestants living within a uniquely vigilant Catholic society. This study is relevant not only to the Iberian Peninsula or to the printing industry. It fills a gap in our knowledge of artisan history in the 16th-century throughout Europe. This study of the lives of immigrant workers in a society intolerant of foreigners and of religious diversity has much to say to readers in the early 21st century.Less
Although the history of the book is a booming area of research, the journeymen who printed 16th-century books have remained shadowy figures because they were not thought to have left any significant traces in the archives. However, Griffin’s research on unpublished trial-records and a mass of associated inquisitional correspondence reveals a clandestine network of Protestant-minded immigrant journeymen — printers who were arrested by the Holy Office in Spain and Portugal in the 1560s and 1570s at a time of international crisis. A startlingly clear portrait of these humble men (and occasionally women) emerges allowing the reconstruction of what Namier deemed one of history’s greatest challenges: ‘the biographies of ordinary men’. We learn of their geographical and social origins, educational and professional training, travels, careers, standard of living, violent behaviour, and even their attitudes, beliefs, and ambitions. In the course of this study, other subjects are addressed: popular culture and religion; heresy; the history of skilled labour; the history of the book and of reading; the Inquisition; foreign and itinerant workers and the xenophobia they encountered; popular patterns of sociability; and the ‘double lives’ of lower-class Protestants living within a uniquely vigilant Catholic society. This study is relevant not only to the Iberian Peninsula or to the printing industry. It fills a gap in our knowledge of artisan history in the 16th-century throughout Europe. This study of the lives of immigrant workers in a society intolerant of foreigners and of religious diversity has much to say to readers in the early 21st century.
Peter Sutcliffe
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199510177
- eISBN:
- 9780191700972
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199510177.003.0026
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
Oxford University shared with Cambridge University and the King's Printer the exclusive privilege of printing the Authorized Version of the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer. For most of the 18th ...
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Oxford University shared with Cambridge University and the King's Printer the exclusive privilege of printing the Authorized Version of the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer. For most of the 18th century, Oxford leased its privilege to master printers: the most successful of these was Thomas Baskett, a tycoon among Bible printers. Towards the end of the century, however, the market for Bibles was uncertain, partly because of the collapse of the American trade during the War of Independence. A compromise was reached in the form of a joint stock company: of forty-eight shares Oxford as owner partner would hold half. The rest were allocated to master printers or others experienced in the book trade. So began the partnership, a form of coexistence which worked effectively and lasted nearly a hundred years. The privilege survived. The first two partners were the local capitalist William Jackson and wealthy publisher Archibald Hamilton. The latter was to be responsible for the sale and distribution of Oxford Bibles.Less
Oxford University shared with Cambridge University and the King's Printer the exclusive privilege of printing the Authorized Version of the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer. For most of the 18th century, Oxford leased its privilege to master printers: the most successful of these was Thomas Baskett, a tycoon among Bible printers. Towards the end of the century, however, the market for Bibles was uncertain, partly because of the collapse of the American trade during the War of Independence. A compromise was reached in the form of a joint stock company: of forty-eight shares Oxford as owner partner would hold half. The rest were allocated to master printers or others experienced in the book trade. So began the partnership, a form of coexistence which worked effectively and lasted nearly a hundred years. The privilege survived. The first two partners were the local capitalist William Jackson and wealthy publisher Archibald Hamilton. The latter was to be responsible for the sale and distribution of Oxford Bibles.
Nicholas Hope
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198269946
- eISBN:
- 9780191600647
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198269943.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Church History
Considers about the emergence of a new Protestant devotional canon (c.1550–1700). It shapes the practice of piety in the period covered by this book, and for this reason prefaces all of the following ...
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Considers about the emergence of a new Protestant devotional canon (c.1550–1700). It shapes the practice of piety in the period covered by this book, and for this reason prefaces all of the following chapters. Discusses prayer as the practice of piety, printers and editions and the reception of Anglican and Puritan spirituality.Less
Considers about the emergence of a new Protestant devotional canon (c.1550–1700). It shapes the practice of piety in the period covered by this book, and for this reason prefaces all of the following chapters. Discusses prayer as the practice of piety, printers and editions and the reception of Anglican and Puritan spirituality.
Jeffery A. Jenkins and Charles Stewart III
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691118123
- eISBN:
- 9781400845460
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691118123.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This chapter examines the evolving roles and responsibilities of House officers in the antebellum era. An analysis of each of the major House officer positions—mainly the Speaker, but also the Clerk ...
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This chapter examines the evolving roles and responsibilities of House officers in the antebellum era. An analysis of each of the major House officer positions—mainly the Speaker, but also the Clerk and Printer—reveals that the Speaker's role has varied over time, and that the speakership was not the only House office worth fighting for, especially before the Civil War. The chapter first provides a background on the speakership before the Civil War before discussing two major features of the House of Representatives's formal organization: committees and floor debate. It then explores how the Speaker, Clerk, and Printer positions could bestow significant policy and patronage to the political parties that controlled them. It shows that all three positions were regularly viewed as political resources and that party leaders saw the potential of these resources for helping to solidify the foundation of a party-centered legislative institution.Less
This chapter examines the evolving roles and responsibilities of House officers in the antebellum era. An analysis of each of the major House officer positions—mainly the Speaker, but also the Clerk and Printer—reveals that the Speaker's role has varied over time, and that the speakership was not the only House office worth fighting for, especially before the Civil War. The chapter first provides a background on the speakership before the Civil War before discussing two major features of the House of Representatives's formal organization: committees and floor debate. It then explores how the Speaker, Clerk, and Printer positions could bestow significant policy and patronage to the political parties that controlled them. It shows that all three positions were regularly viewed as political resources and that party leaders saw the potential of these resources for helping to solidify the foundation of a party-centered legislative institution.
Jeffery A. Jenkins and Charles Stewart III
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691118123
- eISBN:
- 9781400845460
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691118123.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This chapter examines how viva voce voting raised the stakes in speakership elections and all House officer elections more generally. The move to a viva voce vote for House Speaker helped inaugurate ...
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This chapter examines how viva voce voting raised the stakes in speakership elections and all House officer elections more generally. The move to a viva voce vote for House Speaker helped inaugurate an era of contentious fights over the speakership, even as the precipitating events that prompted the change had to do more with the position of the Printer and, to some degree, the Clerk. Thus, opening the choice of House officers to public scrutiny was significant not only to the organization of the chamber itself but also to the broader project of building national political parties. The chapter first considers how the issue of electing House officers was contested on the floor during the 23rd, 25th, 26th, and 27th Congresses before discussing the effects of viva voce voting on House officer nominations and speakership elections. It also highlights the ways in which viva voce voting interacted with region and party.Less
This chapter examines how viva voce voting raised the stakes in speakership elections and all House officer elections more generally. The move to a viva voce vote for House Speaker helped inaugurate an era of contentious fights over the speakership, even as the precipitating events that prompted the change had to do more with the position of the Printer and, to some degree, the Clerk. Thus, opening the choice of House officers to public scrutiny was significant not only to the organization of the chamber itself but also to the broader project of building national political parties. The chapter first considers how the issue of electing House officers was contested on the floor during the 23rd, 25th, 26th, and 27th Congresses before discussing the effects of viva voce voting on House officer nominations and speakership elections. It also highlights the ways in which viva voce voting interacted with region and party.
Jeffery A. Jenkins and Charles Stewart III
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691118123
- eISBN:
- 9781400845460
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691118123.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This chapter examines the Republican Party's efforts to organize the House of Representatives and build a lasting coalition following the election of Nathaniel Banks as Speaker in the 34th Congress. ...
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This chapter examines the Republican Party's efforts to organize the House of Representatives and build a lasting coalition following the election of Nathaniel Banks as Speaker in the 34th Congress. It first considers the organization of the 34th House, focusing on the election of House officers and the appointment of the standing committees, before discussing the Republicans' fortunes in the 35th Congress. It shows that the Republicans lost control of the chamber to the Democrats in the 35th Congress, but reemerged as the plurality party in the 36th Congress. In particular, it explores how the party weathered another extended speakership race in 1859–1860 before winning all major House officer positions, with the exception of the Sergeant at Arms and the Printer. The chapter suggests that the Republicans succeeded in organizing all aspects of the House by compromising with the Anti-Lecomptons and changing party nominees midstream when necessary.Less
This chapter examines the Republican Party's efforts to organize the House of Representatives and build a lasting coalition following the election of Nathaniel Banks as Speaker in the 34th Congress. It first considers the organization of the 34th House, focusing on the election of House officers and the appointment of the standing committees, before discussing the Republicans' fortunes in the 35th Congress. It shows that the Republicans lost control of the chamber to the Democrats in the 35th Congress, but reemerged as the plurality party in the 36th Congress. In particular, it explores how the party weathered another extended speakership race in 1859–1860 before winning all major House officer positions, with the exception of the Sergeant at Arms and the Printer. The chapter suggests that the Republicans succeeded in organizing all aspects of the House by compromising with the Anti-Lecomptons and changing party nominees midstream when necessary.
Paula McDowell
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198183952
- eISBN:
- 9780191674143
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198183952.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 17th-century and Restoration Literature, 18th-century Literature
The period 1678–1730 was a decisive one in Western political history and in the history of the British press. Changing conditions for political expression and an expanding book trade enabled ...
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The period 1678–1730 was a decisive one in Western political history and in the history of the British press. Changing conditions for political expression and an expanding book trade enabled unprecedented opportunities for political activity. This book argues that women already at work in the London book trade were among the first to seize those new opportunities for public political expression. Synthesizing areas of scholarly inquiry previously regarded as separate, and offering a new model for the study of the literary marketplace, it examines not only women writers, but also women printers, booksellers, ballad-singers, hawkers, and other producers and distributors of printed texts. Part I examines the political activity of women workers in the London book trdes, Part II focuses on the largest category of women's writing in this period (religious and religio-political works), and Part III examines in depth one woman's strategies as a political writer (Delarivier Manley). Original in its sources and in the claims it makes for the nature, extent, and complexities of women's participation in print culture and public politics, this book provides new information about middling and lower-class women's political and literary lives, and shows that these women were not merely the passive distributors of other people's political ideas. The book's central argument is that women of the widest possible variety of socioeconomic backgrounds and religiopolitical allegiances played so prominent a role in the production and transmission of political ideas through print as to belie claims that women had no place in public life.Less
The period 1678–1730 was a decisive one in Western political history and in the history of the British press. Changing conditions for political expression and an expanding book trade enabled unprecedented opportunities for political activity. This book argues that women already at work in the London book trade were among the first to seize those new opportunities for public political expression. Synthesizing areas of scholarly inquiry previously regarded as separate, and offering a new model for the study of the literary marketplace, it examines not only women writers, but also women printers, booksellers, ballad-singers, hawkers, and other producers and distributors of printed texts. Part I examines the political activity of women workers in the London book trdes, Part II focuses on the largest category of women's writing in this period (religious and religio-political works), and Part III examines in depth one woman's strategies as a political writer (Delarivier Manley). Original in its sources and in the claims it makes for the nature, extent, and complexities of women's participation in print culture and public politics, this book provides new information about middling and lower-class women's political and literary lives, and shows that these women were not merely the passive distributors of other people's political ideas. The book's central argument is that women of the widest possible variety of socioeconomic backgrounds and religiopolitical allegiances played so prominent a role in the production and transmission of political ideas through print as to belie claims that women had no place in public life.
Clive Griffin
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199280735
- eISBN:
- 9780191712920
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199280735.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
Two older Frenchmen, the compositors Juan Franco and Pierre Régnier, are studied in this chapter. Franco studied in Paris before training as a typographer in Lyon where he worked for several years, ...
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Two older Frenchmen, the compositors Juan Franco and Pierre Régnier, are studied in this chapter. Franco studied in Paris before training as a typographer in Lyon where he worked for several years, subsequently being recruited to work in Salamanca. He married in Spain and found employment principally in Salamanca and Medina del Campo, but also augmented his wages by retailing on his own behalf. His trial reveals that Reformist ideas were not only assimilated abroad, but circulated in the Spanish presses. Régnier, who had worked in northern France and England, was also recruited at Lyon by a Barcelona press. He settled in that Catalan city, becoming a master-printer and owner of a press in which he employed numerous fellow-Frenchmen. He eventually fell prey to personal antagonism and commercial rivalry, being denounced to the Inquisition.Less
Two older Frenchmen, the compositors Juan Franco and Pierre Régnier, are studied in this chapter. Franco studied in Paris before training as a typographer in Lyon where he worked for several years, subsequently being recruited to work in Salamanca. He married in Spain and found employment principally in Salamanca and Medina del Campo, but also augmented his wages by retailing on his own behalf. His trial reveals that Reformist ideas were not only assimilated abroad, but circulated in the Spanish presses. Régnier, who had worked in northern France and England, was also recruited at Lyon by a Barcelona press. He settled in that Catalan city, becoming a master-printer and owner of a press in which he employed numerous fellow-Frenchmen. He eventually fell prey to personal antagonism and commercial rivalry, being denounced to the Inquisition.
Graham Rees and Maria Wakely
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199576319
- eISBN:
- 9780191722233
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199576319.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 17th-century and Restoration Literature, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature
Based on hitherto unexplored and unpublished legal and business records, this study presents the fullest account so far published of any London printing firm in the reign of James I. In particular it ...
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Based on hitherto unexplored and unpublished legal and business records, this study presents the fullest account so far published of any London printing firm in the reign of James I. In particular it examines the businesses of men associated with that crucial instrument of cultural production: the King's Printing House. This institution stood four-square at the top of the London printing and publishing trade, for it monopolized the right to print the Bible, the Book of Common Prayer, and other indispensable works promoted or encouraged by the king. The office of King's Printer, initially owned by Robert Barker, was potentially very lucrative, and so attracted the predatory attentions of the prosperous book-trade partnership of John and Bonham Norton, and John Bill. The stage was set for bitter rivalry between Barker and his opponents — rivalry which involved sharp practice, deceit, bullying, and downright thuggery — with lawsuits to match. Barker was no fool, yet he was up against very able, resourceful individuals who understood better than Barker that they were in business to promote the king's politico-cultural programme, and extend his influence at home and abroad. That is exactly what John Norton and John Bill did to such good effect; and with his unique experience of the domestic and continental book trade, Bill eventually became the greatest London book trader, printer, publisher, disseminator of ideas, and cultural entrepreneur of his generation.Less
Based on hitherto unexplored and unpublished legal and business records, this study presents the fullest account so far published of any London printing firm in the reign of James I. In particular it examines the businesses of men associated with that crucial instrument of cultural production: the King's Printing House. This institution stood four-square at the top of the London printing and publishing trade, for it monopolized the right to print the Bible, the Book of Common Prayer, and other indispensable works promoted or encouraged by the king. The office of King's Printer, initially owned by Robert Barker, was potentially very lucrative, and so attracted the predatory attentions of the prosperous book-trade partnership of John and Bonham Norton, and John Bill. The stage was set for bitter rivalry between Barker and his opponents — rivalry which involved sharp practice, deceit, bullying, and downright thuggery — with lawsuits to match. Barker was no fool, yet he was up against very able, resourceful individuals who understood better than Barker that they were in business to promote the king's politico-cultural programme, and extend his influence at home and abroad. That is exactly what John Norton and John Bill did to such good effect; and with his unique experience of the domestic and continental book trade, Bill eventually became the greatest London book trader, printer, publisher, disseminator of ideas, and cultural entrepreneur of his generation.
Paula McDowell
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198183952
- eISBN:
- 9780191674143
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198183952.003.0010
- Subject:
- Literature, 17th-century and Restoration Literature, 18th-century Literature
Offering a new synthetic model for the study of the literary marketplace, this book has uncovered a legacy of female religio-political activity that existed long before the better-known political ...
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Offering a new synthetic model for the study of the literary marketplace, this book has uncovered a legacy of female religio-political activity that existed long before the better-known political activity of women in the 1790s. For the women printworkers and propagandists studied here, access to the press was a vehicle of significant if limited power. Their involvement in political culture, while little known today, was considered dangerous enough in their own time to necessitate their arrest. To understand the lives of persons across a broad class and ideological spectrum, this book has argued, we need to take greater risks to develop new methodologies. We get a different view of the chief concerns and voices of the age when we consider all aspects of textual producation and dissemination and include forms like broadsides, pamphlets, and newspapers than when we concentrate exclusively on authorship and on relatively decorous forms like the novel.Less
Offering a new synthetic model for the study of the literary marketplace, this book has uncovered a legacy of female religio-political activity that existed long before the better-known political activity of women in the 1790s. For the women printworkers and propagandists studied here, access to the press was a vehicle of significant if limited power. Their involvement in political culture, while little known today, was considered dangerous enough in their own time to necessitate their arrest. To understand the lives of persons across a broad class and ideological spectrum, this book has argued, we need to take greater risks to develop new methodologies. We get a different view of the chief concerns and voices of the age when we consider all aspects of textual producation and dissemination and include forms like broadsides, pamphlets, and newspapers than when we concentrate exclusively on authorship and on relatively decorous forms like the novel.
Thomas F. Bonnell
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199532209
- eISBN:
- 9780191700996
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199532209.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, 18th-century Literature
This chapter discusses the factors that led to the success and later downfall of the printing house of Robert and Andrew Foulis. It also examines the recognition of the Elzevir. The chapter claims ...
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This chapter discusses the factors that led to the success and later downfall of the printing house of Robert and Andrew Foulis. It also examines the recognition of the Elzevir. The chapter claims that the Foulis' bid for international acclaim was to be their own meticulous edition of Plato, a lavish folio of size and magnificence for libraries. In their bread-and-butter work the Foulis brothers followed the threefold Elzevir paradigm. To most readers, the imprint ex officina Elzeviriana signified textual reliability and typographical quality, and any book whose advertisement invoked the Elzevir tradition brought to mind (1) a correct text, (2) printed handsomely, and (3) sold in a portable, inexpensive format. Yet the brothers could not manage their business nor capitalize on the success of their English poets sufficiently to reverse their disintegrating fortunes. The Glasgow printers ended their days in a pitiful, beggarly, precarious state.Less
This chapter discusses the factors that led to the success and later downfall of the printing house of Robert and Andrew Foulis. It also examines the recognition of the Elzevir. The chapter claims that the Foulis' bid for international acclaim was to be their own meticulous edition of Plato, a lavish folio of size and magnificence for libraries. In their bread-and-butter work the Foulis brothers followed the threefold Elzevir paradigm. To most readers, the imprint ex officina Elzeviriana signified textual reliability and typographical quality, and any book whose advertisement invoked the Elzevir tradition brought to mind (1) a correct text, (2) printed handsomely, and (3) sold in a portable, inexpensive format. Yet the brothers could not manage their business nor capitalize on the success of their English poets sufficiently to reverse their disintegrating fortunes. The Glasgow printers ended their days in a pitiful, beggarly, precarious state.
M. Pollard
- Published in print:
- 1990
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198184096
- eISBN:
- 9780191674174
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198184096.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 17th-century and Restoration Literature, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature
This chapter discusses the various restraints surrounding the Irish book trade in the 17th and 18th centuries. The most important factor in inhibiting the growth of the Dublin trade represents a ...
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This chapter discusses the various restraints surrounding the Irish book trade in the 17th and 18th centuries. The most important factor in inhibiting the growth of the Dublin trade represents a major departure from the English pattern. With the King's Printer's patent, a monopoly of the entire trade of the country was given to one man instead of to a company of stationers, a company made up of many individuals competing against one another. This proved an effectual curb on the development of any trade worth speaking of, while the English recipe ensured a lively growth. Throughout the 17th century, a faint reflection of the English system of licensing books was periodically brought into play. More important, perhaps, was the censorship of imports; in a country which could produce at home little more than government proclamations, the bulk of reading matter was imported, and censorship must have been more thorough that surviving evidence suggests. Naturally, both licensing and censorship concentrated on matter subversive to the state and for many years one of the chief adversaries was the Catholic religion and its connection with continental enemies.Less
This chapter discusses the various restraints surrounding the Irish book trade in the 17th and 18th centuries. The most important factor in inhibiting the growth of the Dublin trade represents a major departure from the English pattern. With the King's Printer's patent, a monopoly of the entire trade of the country was given to one man instead of to a company of stationers, a company made up of many individuals competing against one another. This proved an effectual curb on the development of any trade worth speaking of, while the English recipe ensured a lively growth. Throughout the 17th century, a faint reflection of the English system of licensing books was periodically brought into play. More important, perhaps, was the censorship of imports; in a country which could produce at home little more than government proclamations, the bulk of reading matter was imported, and censorship must have been more thorough that surviving evidence suggests. Naturally, both licensing and censorship concentrated on matter subversive to the state and for many years one of the chief adversaries was the Catholic religion and its connection with continental enemies.
M. Pollard
- Published in print:
- 1990
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198184096
- eISBN:
- 9780191674174
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198184096.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, 17th-century and Restoration Literature, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature
This chapter discusses the history of bookselling in Ireland before the 17th century. The historian's difficulties are compounded by the paucity of source material, a want that is true of the whole ...
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This chapter discusses the history of bookselling in Ireland before the 17th century. The historian's difficulties are compounded by the paucity of source material, a want that is true of the whole period of 1800. The single printer allowed to operate under the King's Printer's patent in the 17th century obviously could not, and did not, satisfy the country's basic needs, and until well into the 18th century almost all books had to be imported. While it seems likely that general wholesale merchants everywhere dealt in certain classes of books, in Ireland their importance was greater and lasted longer because no lively specialized trade could develop under monopoly. From before 1545 to the end of the 17th century a sizeable portion of the books on sale in Ireland was brought in by general merchants. A rapid expansion of the book trade followed the breaking of the monopoly in the 18th century, and both of these phenomena were to some extent dependent on the growing demand for books that Joseph Ray claimed to exist in 1680. The most ambitious bookselling operation in Ireland in the 17th century was that run by the Stationer's Company of London.Less
This chapter discusses the history of bookselling in Ireland before the 17th century. The historian's difficulties are compounded by the paucity of source material, a want that is true of the whole period of 1800. The single printer allowed to operate under the King's Printer's patent in the 17th century obviously could not, and did not, satisfy the country's basic needs, and until well into the 18th century almost all books had to be imported. While it seems likely that general wholesale merchants everywhere dealt in certain classes of books, in Ireland their importance was greater and lasted longer because no lively specialized trade could develop under monopoly. From before 1545 to the end of the 17th century a sizeable portion of the books on sale in Ireland was brought in by general merchants. A rapid expansion of the book trade followed the breaking of the monopoly in the 18th century, and both of these phenomena were to some extent dependent on the growing demand for books that Joseph Ray claimed to exist in 1680. The most ambitious bookselling operation in Ireland in the 17th century was that run by the Stationer's Company of London.
Paula McDowell
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198183952
- eISBN:
- 9780191674143
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198183952.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, 17th-century and Restoration Literature, 18th-century Literature
Part I surveys the politically dissident activities of women in the book trade, discussing women printers, publishers, ballad-singers, hawkers, and others. In this period between the decline of ...
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Part I surveys the politically dissident activities of women in the book trade, discussing women printers, publishers, ballad-singers, hawkers, and others. In this period between the decline of effective press regulations in the mid-seventeenth century and the consolidation of commercial controls and capital in the mid-eighteenth century, women workers seized the opportunity to support themselves by means of a newly energized press they helped create. While providing information regarding women's commercial dealings and institutional status, the primary task of Part I is to investigate print as a new mode of association for women and as a vehicle for their political expression. On the basis of examination of fifty years of State Papers pertaining to press prosecutions, this section argues that women printworkers, sometimes themselves illiterate, played a significant role in the production and dissemination of political literature, and that they were not merely the distributors of other people's political ideas.Less
Part I surveys the politically dissident activities of women in the book trade, discussing women printers, publishers, ballad-singers, hawkers, and others. In this period between the decline of effective press regulations in the mid-seventeenth century and the consolidation of commercial controls and capital in the mid-eighteenth century, women workers seized the opportunity to support themselves by means of a newly energized press they helped create. While providing information regarding women's commercial dealings and institutional status, the primary task of Part I is to investigate print as a new mode of association for women and as a vehicle for their political expression. On the basis of examination of fifty years of State Papers pertaining to press prosecutions, this section argues that women printworkers, sometimes themselves illiterate, played a significant role in the production and dissemination of political literature, and that they were not merely the distributors of other people's political ideas.
Paula McDowell
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198183952
- eISBN:
- 9780191674143
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198183952.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, 17th-century and Restoration Literature, 18th-century Literature
Chapter 1 discusses women printers, publishers, booksellers, ballad-singers, hawkers, and other material producers and distributors of printed texts. It provides an overview of their commercial ...
More
Chapter 1 discusses women printers, publishers, booksellers, ballad-singers, hawkers, and other material producers and distributors of printed texts. It provides an overview of their commercial activities and positions in the margins of the trade (or on its margins), discussing women workers ranging from the leading Quaker printer Tace Sowle, major trade publishers Ann Dodd and Elizabeth Nutt, and prolific printer-author Elinor James, to the destitute hawkers and ballad-singers who cried pamphlets and broadsides in London streets. This chapter outlines these women's crucial role in their family economies and in the still largely domestic economy of the print trades, before the capitalization and professionalization of the book trades diminished women's status by the mid eighteenth century. Above all, this chapter demonstrates that these women workers, though sometimes themselves illiterate, played a significant (and previously unrecognized) role in the production and dissemination of printed political literature in the revolutionary and postrevolutionary period.Less
Chapter 1 discusses women printers, publishers, booksellers, ballad-singers, hawkers, and other material producers and distributors of printed texts. It provides an overview of their commercial activities and positions in the margins of the trade (or on its margins), discussing women workers ranging from the leading Quaker printer Tace Sowle, major trade publishers Ann Dodd and Elizabeth Nutt, and prolific printer-author Elinor James, to the destitute hawkers and ballad-singers who cried pamphlets and broadsides in London streets. This chapter outlines these women's crucial role in their family economies and in the still largely domestic economy of the print trades, before the capitalization and professionalization of the book trades diminished women's status by the mid eighteenth century. Above all, this chapter demonstrates that these women workers, though sometimes themselves illiterate, played a significant (and previously unrecognized) role in the production and dissemination of printed political literature in the revolutionary and postrevolutionary period.
