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

by Frederick W. Hamilton

The two departments of composition and presswork were recognized then as now. Just as at present, there was keen rivalry between compositors and pressmen, each claiming that his was the superior art and required the greater skill.

In the composing room there were three subdivisions—compositors, stone-hands and make-up men, and distributors. These last appear to have been employed on that particular work exclusively. There were no divisions in the press room. As has been pointed out, two men were employed on the press, one on the ink balls and the other on the lever, but these were not separate occupations as the two men exchanged positions every hour.

The foreman was a man capable of oversight of all processes carried on in the plant. The foremanship was not divided as it now is between the foreman of the composing room and the foreman of the press room. These functions were discharged by first-class workmen under the supervision of the foreman. The foreman was also a proofreader, at least in part. He corrected the first proofs although they were afterwards corrected by the author and sometimes by the master or an editor in his employ. It was necessary, therefore, that the foreman should be not only a first-class workman but an accomplished scholar. He had to be thoroughly versed in his own language and highly trained in Latin and Greek or any other language in which books were printed in the plant. He was obliged also to be thoroughly familiar with theological, philosophical, or scientific terms, or any other special terms required for any particular kind of printing which the plant undertook.

When the workman became too old and infirm to hold his place or his eyesight failed there were several sources of at least partial support open to him if his family was not in a condition to support him. Some of these old workmen were licensed by the syndics of the Community to peddle tracts, almanacs, broadside sheets of ballads and notices, and other things which might be called the small wares of the printing trade. Some of them did a sort of junk business in old paper and parchments. In some places there were asylums for aged printers where a few found entrance. Others became pensioners on the Community. The Community in France and similar organizations elsewhere appear to have had funds especially for this purpose and to have used some of their current funds for charity. Other old men were allowed to make the rounds of the shops, particularly those in which they had been employed, taking a few coppers from their younger and more fortunate fellow workmen. There seems to have been a sort of comradeship among the printers which made these old fellows welcome as they made their periodical rounds for help.

The Master

The master has perhaps been sufficiently described as we went along. He was the capitalist who carried on the business. In the great days of Jenson and Aldus and the Estiennes he was often, himself, his own foreman and best journeyman. We have seen, however, how he gradually came to be in many cases a business man with little or no practical knowledge of the business.

In the early days of printing the masters seem to have been more prosperous than they were later. Godart and Merlin, of Paris, in 1538 employed 200 men. Such printers as these were rich and prosperous and held in high esteem by their fellow citizens. We have seen, however, that some of the greatest of the printers were constantly struggling with financial difficulties. The reorganization of 1618 did not seem to have the effect upon the prosperity of the masters which might have been expected. As we have seen, there was a cut-throat competition and even after the reorganization of the Community and the restrictions of mastership governmental control had a tendency to grow more and more burdensome while the market for their wares increased but slowly. It is said that in 1700 there were not two printers in Paris who were worth 25,000 francs or $5000. In 1700, $5000 was worth two or three times that amount now, but even so the fact stated shows the prostration of the industry.

CHAPTER IX
Relations Between Employer and Employed

The printing industry has always been liable to friction between the employers and the employed. We have already made reference from time to time to strikes and labor disputes, going back to the very beginnings of the industry. Previous to the reorganization of 1618 the workmen generally had recourse to strikes for the settlement of disputes and the masters in turn appealed to the civil authorities. In conformity with the ideas of those days the authorities intervened, if at all, to suppress the strike. The idea of authority was very strong at that period and rebellion or disobedience on the part of laborers was regarded as little less than sedition or treason. Social lines were sharply drawn and every attempt possible was made to secure and maintain the supremacy of those in authority, whether that authority were civil, ecclesiastical, or industrial.

After the reorganization of 1618, however, the strike as a means of settlement was rarely resorted to until revived in modern times. The very organization of the industry made it amenable to authority and made it possible to settle disputes by legal processes. Accordingly, we find that both masters and journeymen presented their cases before the courts or the executive officers having authority and endeavored to gain their points by means of laws or edicts. The journeymen on the whole were more successful by this method than they had previously been, although the points of dispute were never permanently settled.