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

by Frederick W. Hamilton

A fairly careful study of the conditions of this period shows that according to our modern ideas the journeymen generally appear to better advantage than the masters. There is no question, of course, that there were unreasonable demands and that individual journeymen or even groups of journeymen behaved at times in objectionable ways. On the whole, however, the effort of the journeymen of this period seems to have been only to obtain fair treatment and a reasonable recognition of their rights. They especially desired to be treated as men and to confer on equal terms with their employers instead of being treated as inferior beings bound to accept without protest what was handed down to them. It must be remembered that they were far more highly educated than the workers in any other industry and that they had been officially recognized many times as being in a class apart from the ordinary workmen. They appear to have attempted only to secure in the industry the same recognition which they legally enjoyed socially. While they did attempt to have a voice in the fixing of wages and hours there is very little evidence of any attempt to enforce upon the shops the observance of rules and regulations made by themselves. The masters on the other hand had those ancient ideas of authority which have already been mentioned. They were not willing that their employees should rise above the level of other workers and they were not willing to recognize them as men entitled to fair consideration, to say nothing of equal rights. They lived in the days of serfdom and they took their position as masters quite seriously and quite literally. This opposition in spirit between the masters who, by their wealth, their education, and their social position were associated with the upper classes and imbued with all of their ancient pride, and the men who, themselves educated and imbued with a spirit of progress and a desire for freedom, were attempting to rise above the condition of serfdom in which the laborers of that age were commonly held was the real root of the struggles in the medieval printing trade. The purely industrial questions involved were the occasions rather than the causes of strife.

The end of the old regime is marked in France by the date 1789. This date marks the beginning of the French Revolution when great masses of medieval statutes were swept from the statute books, including all those which regulated the trade of printing. The Community, censorship, licenses to print, and all the edicts regulating conditions in the industry went by the board together. The French Revolution, however, was only an incident of a change which was coming over the thinking of the whole world. A new condition had been growing up under the old forms and the time had come when the old forms had to break to make way for the new life. They broke in the most dramatic and tragic fashion in France and therefore we think and speak of this event as the French Revolution, but the change took place elsewhere in as real though a less striking manner.

One of the features of this change was the birth of the newspaper and an enormous production of pamphlets and other minor literature. There had been newspapers and periodicals for a long time before, but the ferment of men’s minds which began in the middle of the eighteenth century naturally caused a great production of printed matter and a demand that it should be produced very quickly. Much of this printed matter was of a sort forbidden by the old laws and regulations. The greater part of it, being produced under conditions of haste inconsistent with good workmanship and under a demand for cheapness also inconsistent with good workmanship, was of a very poor quality. The industry was disordered by a great increase in the number of shops, particularly shops of a poorer character. At first the workmen profited greatly, but as is always the case conditions gradually settled back to a normal state.

The general history of printing may be left at this point. From this time on the conditions with which we are familiar are coming into shape. The old day with its old conditions has gone. We need to know the history of these old times in order that we may understand the records and experiences of the early day. The later conditions we understand from our own surroundings. The periodical literature which forms so large a part of the output of the press has fairly come to life by the end of the eighteenth century. Commercial printing, which is now entering upon so positive a career of usefulness and importance, is about to begin. The invention of the Stanhope press about 1800 is the first of that long series of inventions which have made possible the printing establishments of today and their wonderful product. These things are elsewhere treated. Here we say good-bye to our elder brothers of the home-made type, the ink balls, and the hand press.

Supplementary Reading

The material bearing on the economic history of printing is very scattered. So far as the present writer is aware there is no book on the subject in English. The nearest approach to such a treatment will perhaps be found in the second volume of Mr. George Haven Putnam’s excellent book Books and Their Makers in the Middle Ages. Some information may be obtained from Mr. DeVinne’s Invention of Printing; Notable Printers of Italy During the Fifteenth Century; and Christopher Plantin and the Plantin-Moretus Museum at Antwerp. The “Plantin” is a publication of the Grolier Club, but may be found in substance in The Century for June, 1888. Some very excellent historical articles have been published in recent years in The Inland Printer by Mr. Henry L. Bullen and Mr. John Rittenour. The student will do well to examine the files of this and other leading trade journals for some years back and to consult the local librarian for such material as may be found in libraries.

SUGGESTIONS TO STUDENTS AND INSTRUCTORS

The following questions, based on the contents of this pamphlet, are intended to serve (1) as a guide to the study of the text, (2) as an aid to the student in putting the information contained into definite statements without actually memorizing the text, (3) as a means of securing from the student a reproduction of the information in his own words.

A careful following of the questions by the reader will insure full acquaintance with every part of the text, avoiding the accidental omission of what might be of value. These primers are so condensed that nothing should be omitted.

In teaching from these books it is very important that these questions and such others as may occur to the teacher should be made the basis of frequent written work and of final examinations.