Returning to the question of the distribution and price of books, we find a reference by Xenophon[86] to some “chests full of valuable books” having been saved “with other costly articles” from the cargo of an Athenian vessel shipwrecked at Salmydessus, a city on the Euxine.
This appears to be the earliest reference on record to any sending of supplies of books from Greece to the colonies, but even here there is no evidence that the volumes were forwarded by dealers, and it is probable that the “chests” contained the private library of some wealthy Athenian collector who had migrated to Pontus. There is no question, however, but that in the time of Xenophon (445-355 B.C.) Athens was the centre not only of the literary activity of Greece, but of any book-trade that existed.
It seems evident that in Greece, as later in Rome, the earliest booksellers were the scribes, who with their own labor had prepared the parchment or papyrus scrolls which constituted their stock in trade.
The next step in the development of the business was a very natural one, namely, the introduction of the capitalist, who, instead of working with his own hands, employed a staff of copyists and sold the products of their labor. It is only surprising that the continued high price paid for fair copies of noted works and the steady demand for such copies, should not have tempted dealers more rapidly into the business. The principal obstacle was for many years the difficulty of securing a sufficiency of skilled copyists the accuracy of whose work could be trusted. According to Schmitz, there is no mention of the appearance of booksellers in Athens earlier than the fifth century B.C.
The Athenian comedy, which touched with its keen raillery every phase of life, whether public or private, did not overlook this new mode of occupation. The references are as a rule not complimentary, but, as the comedians spared nothing in their mockery, the fact need not stand to the discredit of the first booksellers. Possibly the earliest mention of the trade is by Aristomenes, who, in a comedy entitled The Deceivers (performed about 470 B.C.), speaks of a “Dealer in Books.” Cratinus, in his play The Mechanics (written about 450 B.C.), mentions a copyist (βιβλιογράφος)[87]; Theopompus, writing about 330 B.C., uses the term “bookseller”[88] (βιβλιοπώλης); Nicophon gives a list of “men who support themselves with the labor of their hands” (χειρογάστορες), and in this list groups the bibliopoles in with the dealers in fish, fruit, figs, leather, meal, and household utensils.[89] It would seem as if in this instance the term βιβλιοπώλης must have been used as synonymous with or at least as including βιβλιογράφος, the scribe and the seller of the manuscripts being one and the same person. Antiphanes, born in Rhodes B.C. 408, who is credited by Suidas with having written over three hundred dramas, which were very popular in Athens, refers to “book-copyists,” and also to books which had been “sewed and glued.”[90] The comic writer, Plato, who was a contemporary of Socrates, makes first mention of “written leaves,” i. e., papyrus. The term used by him, χάρται, was, according to Birt, when standing alone, more usually applied to leaves of papyrus prepared for writing, but still blank; χάρται γεγραμμένοι standing for the inscribed leaves.
We may conclude from Nicophon’s having included the booksellers in his list of traders that they had their shops or stalls on the market-place. Eupolis also speaks of the “place where books are sold,” (οὗ τὰ βιβλία ὤνια),[91] and it appears therefore that as early as 430 B.C. a special place in the market must have been reserved for the book-trade—an Athenian Paternoster Row, or, more nearly perhaps, a Quai Voltaire. It was, however, not until the time of Alexander the Great that the business of making and selling books—that is, attested copies of the works of popular writers—appears to have developed into importance.
Until the business of book-making had become systematized, the admirers of a poet or philosopher were obliged to supply themselves with his works through their own handiwork, unless they were fortunate enough to possess slaves educated as scribes. This test of the reader’s admiration was assuredly rather a severe one. It is certain that the number of disciples of modern authors would be enormously limited if, as a first condition for the enjoyment of their writings, the would-be readers were under the necessity of transcribing the copies with their own hands. Imagine the extent of the task for the admirers of Clarissa Harlowe, or for those who absorbed their history through the ninety odd romances of G. P. R. James!
As the supply of educated slaves increased, there was, of course, less need for individual scholars to devote their own handiwork to copying of manuscripts for their libraries. It was cheaper to employ the labor of slaves, and to use their own time for more important work. The names of some of the slaves who did good service as scribes have been preserved in history. Mention has already been made of Cephisophon, the slave, secretary, and personal friend of Euripides. One of Plato’s dialogues is distinguished by the name of Phædon of Elis, who had been sold as a slave in his youth and had been employed as a scribe. The attention of Socrates was attracted by his capable work, and he persuaded Crito to purchase his freedom.[92]
The poet Philoxenus of Cythera was sold as a slave to Melanippides (the younger), whom he served as a scribe, and whose poetry he was said to have surpassed with his own productions. There are many similar instances both of slaves who succeeded in securing an education and in doing noteworthy literary work, and of men of education who had, through the fortunes of war or through the loss of their property, fallen into the position of slaves, and who were then utilized by their masters for literary work.
There is also evidence that the state caused intelligent slaves to be instructed in writing in order to be able to use them for work on the public records or as clerks for the officials.[93]