A Brief History of Printing in England / A Short History of Printing in England from Caxton to the Present Time

by Frederick W. Hamilton

From about 1525, which will be recalled as the date of the publication of Froissart’s “Chronicle,” there was a change in the demand for books. The revival of learning was beginning to make itself felt in England. The influence of Erasmus on the intellectual life of the age was very great. This influence was especially felt in England because Erasmus had himself spent considerable time there and was a friend of John Colet, Dean of St. Paul’s, who was not only an influential clergyman but a very great scholar. England was also beginning to feel the stirrings of philosophical and religious discussion. There was a great demand for educational books to meet the needs of the scholars and there began to be a great output of controversial literature. Wynkyn de Worde sometimes printed three or four editions of the same Latin grammar in one year, so great was the demand for educational books.

Up to the middle of the century, however, very little original work was printed in England, or at any rate is now extant. The popular demand was for reprints of old books and for translations of French poems and romances. The classics and other works of more serious literature were commonly imported. There was also a considerable amount of printing for the English trade done on the continent. Not content with furnishing the English with books in Greek and Latin and the modern languages, some of the continental printers did a flourishing trade in the printing of books in English. Their work was generally better and cheaper than that of the English printers.

As has already been said, English printing was left very much alone up to 1557 excepting that privileges were granted by the crown rather freely. Beginning with the privileges to print statutes and law books, the practice spread until by the middle of the sixteenth century practically all profitable printing was covered by privilege.

During this period, and indeed for several centuries later, the industry was free from labor troubles. The reason, however, is to be found in the peculiar situation which existed under English law. Under English common law all combinations of workmen were considered as contrary to public policy, regarded as combinations in restraint of trade, and dealt with very harshly. A single workman might work or refuse to work for whatever pay or under whatever conditions he pleased, but an agreement of two or more on this basis, that is to combine for pay, hours, and the like, was a criminal conspiracy. Not only were any agreements such a group of men might make absolutely void, but the very fact of entering such a combination was itself a criminal offence. From the reign of Edward I (1272–1307) to George IV (1820–1830) thirty or forty acts of Parliament, commonly called “Statutes of Laborers,” were passed on this basis. The reënactment of legislation on this subject from time to time was not caused, as is usual in such cases, by the ineffectiveness of the legislation but by the necessity of meeting special conditions which were created by visitations of the plague, wars, and other events having far-reaching industrial effects.

The development of the factory system of production, beginning about the middle of the eighteenth century, with the consequent gathering of great groups of workmen in certain localities and the rapid increase in the town population, rendered a continuance of the old regulations more and more difficult. The laws against combinations of workmen were evaded by the organization of secret societies, while the displacement of large numbers of hand workers by the introduction of machinery caused serious labor troubles and rioting. Other conditions too familiar to need description arose which caused friction between the workmen and their employers. Attempts were made at first to put a stop to the combinations of the workmen by more and more stringent legislation. This proving unsuccessful, the legislation was modified in the direction of leniency. Gradually the unions won their way to recognition, although this recognition was developed in the slow and inconsistent way which is common with English legislation.

In 1875 the whole matter was put on a new basis by the legal acceptance of the principle that it is lawful for any combination of men to do any act which it would be lawful for either of them to do singly. This, of course, was a reversal of the fundamental principle of more than six hundred years of labor legislation, that it was not lawful for a combination of men to do things which any one of them might lawfully do. Since that time the unions have rapidly won their way to full recognition and to great importance in the industry. In England to-day practically all trades are very thoroughly unionized. The printing industry is no exception. Union membership is much more universal among the workmen in the industry than it is in the United States. This development of organization among the workmen has been accompanied by a development of strong organizations of employers in all industries. To-day practically all industrial bargaining in England is collective bargaining carried on between associated employers and associated employees.

The same difficulties arising out of lack of regulation which had vexed the industry on the continent had made themselves felt in England, but with their usual good sense the English attacked the problem at a very early period. Nearly sixty years before the organization of the Community of Printers in France, in 1618, the English had put printing in line with the other industries by the organization of the Stationers’ Company in 1557, the last year of Queen Mary I.

The organization of the Stationers was by no means an innovation. It was rather the legalizing and regularizing of a condition which had risen under the familiar conditions of English industry. As early as 1403 we find the guild or fraternity of scriveners. This guild or fraternity developed into the “Craft” of stationers, influential in fixing and controlling trade customs. The growth of the craft or trade guilds in England was not unlike that of similar organizations in Europe. Their control of the situation, however, seems to have been even more close than elsewhere. An ordinance of Edward II (1307–1327) compelled every citizen of a town to be a member of some craft or mystery.

In 1375 the election of the city officials of London was turned over to the craft guilds or, as they were termed, liveried companies. The liveried companies were so called because each had a distinctive dress which was worn on formal occasions. From this time on the liveried companies controlled the political and municipal power of London for several centuries, electing the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, controlling the train-bands, or city militia, and to a great extent holding the defence of the kingdom in their hands. About seventy-six of these companies still continue to exist. They survive mainly for charitable and philanthropic purposes, conserving and administering the large funds which were accumulated in early centuries.

The Stationers’ Company was organized in 1557 partly because the printers saw the necessity for organization and regulation of the industry, and partly because the crown desired a better means for controlling printing than had theretofore existed. It will be remembered that this was in the midst of the age of religious controversy. King Henry VIII had attempted to set himself up as the head of a national church which was not Protestant and at the same time did not acknowledge allegiance to the Pope. King Henry executed with great impartiality both those who defended the ecclesiastical supremacy of the Pope and those who professed Protestant opinions. His successor, King Edward VI, was a Protestant and attempted to make England Protestant. His short reign was followed by that of Mary I, who was a Catholic and attempted to make England Catholic. Her comparatively short reign was followed by the long reign of Elizabeth, in whose time Protestantism became the established state church of England. It will be remembered that it was near the close of Mary’s reign that the Stationers’ Company was chartered, and the interest of the crown in securing a better control of the printing press and its output is obvious. In 1560, the second year of Elizabeth, the incorporation of the Stationers’ Company was rendered complete by the enrolment of the new company in the list of the liveried companies of London, and we shall presently see that the royal hand was laid heavily upon the printers and their work.