A Brief History of Printing. Part II: The Economic History of Printing

by Frederick W. Hamilton

Throughout this period, especially after 1618, all regulations as to apprenticeship were relaxed in favor of the sons of masters and other persons whom the masters desired particularly to favor. One of the most significant and far-reaching of the regulations of the printing trade was that which admitted the sons of masters directly to membership without any previous training. We shall discuss this a little more fully later.

Laborers

The class of workmen called laborers constituted a source of one of the greatest difficulties and abuses in the industry, especially during the seventeenth century.

At this period there were no restrictions on their employment, or at least none that were successfully enforced. After that period they were less freely employed. They were ignorant or unskilled workmen incapable of becoming journeymen. It was into this class that the apprentices dropped who were employed without sufficient previous education, more especially those who were ignorant in Greek and Latin. The class was further made up of apprentices who had not finished their time, workmen who proved incompetent to hold journeymen’s positions, and men who could do rough work but had never been apprentices. Obviously there was a good deal of work which these men could do. Part of it was work which would otherwise be done by apprentices, part work which would otherwise be done by journeymen. The unrestricted hiring of these men limited the number of journeymen’s positions, reduced wages, lowered standards, and was in every way detrimental to the industry.

Journeymen

In the printing industry the journeyman was not the same as the master. In other industries after the apprentice had finished his time and qualified by submitting a piece of work of approved standard, he became a master workman. He was made free of the guild and ordinarily set up in business for himself. Theoretically a somewhat similar condition prevailed in the printing trade. Before the reorganization of 1618 and the consequent restriction of mastership the apprentice became a master workman when he had completed his time, and was at liberty to set up for himself if he so desired.

After the reorganization the apprentice after having finished his time became a journeyman in the shop to which he had been apprenticed. Originally he was restricted to that shop. He was then required to serve as a journeyman from two to four years. At the expiration of that period he passed a theoretical and practical examination. This covered his proficiency in the languages and other academic subjects required and the submission of a piece of completed work. He was also obliged to submit a certificate of character covering the requirements of apprenticeship and testifying as to his conduct while an apprentice.

The question of his admission to the Community was then voted upon by the syndics, and if he was found qualified and admitted he was formally received into the Community at a public meeting at which were present the syndics and the elders of the Community. He was then sworn in as a member of the Community by the Lieutenant-General of Police. Before being sworn in, however, he was required to pay certain fees. Originally these fees were small, but they afterward became very large.

As a matter of fact, very few journeymen became masters. The heavy fees in themselves were almost prohibitive, but the greatest obstacle was the difficulty about raising the necessary capital. No other business at that time required so heavy an outlay for equipment, material, and labor before any return whatever could be realized. The equipment was very expensive and there were no small jobs such as are found in modern commercial offices, especially those of the less pretentious type, to keep the plant going. The printer was obliged to go to the entire expense for material and labor involved in getting out an edition of a book before he could begin to get any returns from it. Sometimes he knew where he could sell the book (Caxton seems to have been particularly successful in this regard), but more often he did not know. There is in existence a letter written by Sweynheym and Pannartz to the Pope asking him for assistance. They set forth their case by saying that they have sunk a great deal of money in procuring equipment and printing books which have sold slowly. They complain that they have a large house full of books but with nothing in it to eat, and beg that he will either assist them in the sale of their books or tide them over until they can find a market.

These conditions tended to keep the journeymen permanently in that position and to confine the masters to those who came into the business by inheritance or marriage. The printing industry has thus the unfortunate prominence of being the leading influence in breaking up the old unities of industry and bringing about the modern industrial system. It was the first industry in which there was developed a distinct class of masters who were not and never had been workmen, and in which the workman could become a master only under unusual circumstances. The sharp division of industry into employers and employed with antagonistic interests and divergent aims begins here.