Toward the end of the seventeenth century, with the passing away of the mediæval conditions which had previously prevailed, the Company’s control of the situation broke down. When the printing acts finally went into disuse in 1594, as has already been described, nobody had any protection. Everything in the way of copyright was entirely abolished. This condition was soon felt to be intolerable and in 1709 an Act of Parliament provided a system of copyright and recognized the author’s right to his work. By this act the owners of old books and unpublished manuscripts, whether they were the authors or not, had proprietary right in them for twenty-one years, beginning April 10, 1710. This part of the act, of course, was a temporary provision for existing conditions. New books were to be controlled by the author for fourteen years. If at the end of that time the author was still living his copyright might be renewed for fourteen years more. Within the limits during which the copyright was valid it could be transferred. Such transference did not act as an extension. The copyright was secured by registration with the Stationers’ Company as before.
This was really a booksellers’ act, as at that time they held nearly all of the copyrights and doubtless expected to be able to secure all the new ones of any value. That was what happened at first. The protection given to the authors by the new act greatly altered the terms upon which the booksellers or publishers could obtain the manuscripts. It was some years before the authors came to a full realization of their rights under the new law. When they did arrive at this knowledge authorship as a profession became possible. For a long time authors sold their manuscripts outright to the publishers. The royalty system, under which the author shares the profits of the work, was a later development.
From this time on new work was controlled by the authors and the use of their manuscripts could be obtained only by some sort of bargain. All old work not covered by copyrights existing in 1709, and after 1731 all work upon which copyrights had expired, might be freely printed by any one. From that time on the publication of such works became, as it is now, purely a manufacturing proposition. Whether or not such books shall be published and whether or not the publication is a commercial success depend entirely upon the soundness of the publisher’s judgment and the accuracy with which he gauges the popular demand for standard literature at a given price.
The publication of new work depends upon a variety of circumstances. The publisher pays either in cash or in royalty, or both, according to the prospects of sale. In case of authors of reputation this prospect can be reasonably well gauged. In case of unknown authors the publisher must take a risk if he buys a manuscript. In many cases the publisher will require a guarantee against loss on an edition of a certain size. He may require this guarantee because he has doubts about the success of the work or because it is a book of such limited circulation, although it may be of the most important character, that the publication will not be commercially profitable. Of course, if an author is determined to see himself in print and no publisher will take his work on any terms, he can hire a printer to make up an edition, can get it copyrighted, and can dispose of it in such way as he may find possible or desirable.
From this legislation really dates the differentiation of the trade. This was a matter of economic growth rather than of legislation. The author might print and publish and sell his work, the printer might publish and sell, the bookseller might print and publish, but in either case there was an added risk combined with a possibility of greater profit. Most persons are content with smaller profits, providing they can be released from risk. Under the system which now developed the publisher assumed the risk. In that way he became the patron of both author and printer.
The first of the modern type of publishers was Jacob Tonson, the elder, who began business in 1678. A consideration of the development of the publishing industry would take us too far afield and it will be touched upon only as it directly concerns the development of printing.
About 1720 a forward step was taken in the development of English printing by the entrance of William Caslon into the field of type-founding. Born in 1692, we know little of his early life. In 1706 we find him, then twenty-four years old, carrying on a little business in London as an engraver of gun locks and a maker of binders’ tools. Through this last he came in contact with printers, particularly John Walter and William Bowyer, the younger, two of the well-known London printers of that day. His connection with the printing trade, his artistic skill, and his training as an engraver led him to undertake the designing and cutting of type, in which he was encouraged by his printer friends. His type was immediately successful not only in England but on the continent, which had hitherto never looked to England for type. His type was very legible and had a certain air of distinction which made it much superior to any English type made at that time. His roman was regular, graceful, and well proportioned, a worthy successor of the types of Jenson and Aldus. His italic was almost as good as his roman. The influence of Caslon upon English and afterwards upon American type-cutting has been very great. Many of the types in most common use are either Caslon’s letter or some modification of it. This book is printed in one of the Caslon types. For many years no English type-founder could compete with him successfully.
The principal types of distinction which were then in the field were three, that of Giambattista Bodoni, that produced by the Didot family, and that made in Holland. Bodoni type was characterized by long ascenders and descenders, over-long serifs, and protracted hair lines. This general style of letter was very common in Italy for a long time both in typography and in manuscript. In the last century the so-called Italian hand, a handwriting showing these characteristics, was for a long time very fashionable, especially among ladies. The Didot type was characterized by sharp contrasts, the thick lines being very thick and the thin lines being razor-edged in their thinness. The Dutch type was rounded and regular with very little contrast between the thick and the thin lines. Caslon’s type was a rather successful effort to retain the good qualities and avoid the defects of all three. Avoiding the exaggeration of Bodoni, it retained, though in modified form, the contrasts of Didot and preserved the regularity of the Dutch without its monotony and lack of contrast. Toward the end of the century poor paper, poor presswork, and poor ink led to an attempt to get clearness and legibility by thickening the type lines. The result was the introduction, about 1800, of a very ugly, fat-faced type which had wide use. Mrs. Caslon, a widow, who was then in charge of the Caslon foundry, attempted to meet these demands by thickening the lines of the Caslon type, producing a modified form which had considerable success for some time. The old Caslon was revived by Whittingham about 1845. The better paper, ink, and presswork of those days revealed anew the excellence of the Caslon type and since that time it has never lost favor.
An interesting figure of this period is Samuel Richardson (1689–1761). Richardson was a very good printer and did a considerable business, but was tempted into authorship and became one of the first of the modern English novelists. He wrote, printed, and published three novels which yet survive, “Pamela,” “Clarissa Harlowe,” and “Sir Charles Grandison.” The new vein which these novels struck in English literature was immediately successful. The novels, though very long and written in a style which to modern readers seems anything but lively, were not only widely successful themselves, but were immediately imitated, and the good old printer’s modest efforts were the beginning of the flood of novels which is now poured out from the press. Because Richardson was a pioneer his novels are remembered and students of literature are set to read them, at least in part. It is doubtful, however, if anybody reads them to-day unless he has to. It is said that through the treachery of one of Richardson’s journeymen a Dublin printer got out a pirated edition of “Sir Charles Grandison” and sold it in Dublin before Richardson got it bound and published in London. This was possible because the English copyright law did not then apply to Ireland.
An interesting glimpse of the trade at this period may be obtained through the pages of Woodfall’s ledger from 1734 to 1747, which has been published. The student of these matters can find therein very interesting material for a study of comparative prices and the like. One entry shows that he charged for the printing of Pope’s translation of the Iliad, demy paper, long primer and brevier, 2000 copies, 6 volumes, 68½ sheets, £143 and 17 shillings, equal to about $1700 in American money.