Books and their makers during the Middle Ages

by George Haven Putnam

In 1342, the librarii were permitted to increase their selling commission from four deniers to six deniers in the case of manuscripts sold by them for clients who were not themselves members of the university. Kirchhoff points out, however, that this commission could by no means have represented the actual charges made. The University of Paris claimed the authority to license its librarii, and to carry on business not only in Paris but throughout France. Librarii from without were, however, strictly prohibited from carrying on business in Paris.

There were in Paris, in addition to the stationarii and librarii, a certain number of unlicensed dealers who were not members of the university, and who might be classed as book pedlars. While these book pedlars enjoyed no university privileges, their business was subjected to the supervision of the university authorities. It was the purpose of the regulations to prevent dealers of this kind from taking part in any higher grade book business. They were, for instance, forbidden to sell any volume for a higher price than ten sous, which, of necessity, limited their trade practically to chap-books, broadsides, etc. They were also forbidden to trade in any covered shops, their business being carried on in open booths. In case they were at any time found to be trenching upon the business of the licensed or certified book-dealers (libraires jurés), they forfeited promptly their permits as book pedlars.

In 1323, the Paris School was the most important in Europe for theological studies, as that of Bologna was the authority on jurisprudence, and that of Padua for medicine; and the trade of the Paris booksellers was, therefore, largely devoted to theological writings. It is partly on this ground that the records of the monasteries in which there was scholarly and literary activity make more frequent reference during this century to Paris as a book centre than to any one of the Italian cities. When, for instance, King Wenzell II. of Bohemia, at the time of the founding of the Cistercian abbey of Königsaal, presented two hundred marks of silver for the organisation of its library, the Abbot Conrad had, he reports, no other course to take than to travel to Paris in order to purchase the books. This was in the year 1327.[363] Johann Gerson, writing in 1395 to Petrus de Alliaco, speaks of the wealth of the literary stores available at this time in Paris. The list that he gives as an example of these treasures is devoted exclusively to theological works.

While it is difficult to understand from the evidence available what machinery may have been in existence during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries for the distribution of the books, there are various references to indicate that such distribution took place promptly over a very considerable territory. The anonymous author of a polemical tract, written in order to point out the errors of some heretical production, says:

Is autem erroneus liber positus fuit publice ad exemplandum Parisius anno domini 1254. Unde certum est, quod jam publice predicaretur, nisi boni prelati et predicatores impedirent.[364]

(In Paris in the year of our Lord 1254, this heretical book was openly given to the scribes to be copied. Whence it is evident what manner of doctrine would now be set forth to the public had not good priests and preachers interfered.)

Kirchhoff is of the opinion that there began to be at this time in connection with the work of the contemporary authors a kind of publishing arrangement under which the author handed over to the stationarii or to the librarii his literary production for multiplication and for publication, either through renting, through sale, or in both methods. He finds in the manuscript of a tract by Gerson, which was given to the public in the year 1417, a notice to the effect that this was published in Paris under the instructions of the author and under the license of Magister Johannus, Cancellarius.[365]

The work of the manuscript-dealers was carried on in booths or shops in various open places, but as a rule in the immediate neighbourhood of the churches. Certain booths were to be found, however, on the bridges and by the courts of justice; and a neighbourhood particularly resorted to by the booksellers was the Rue Neuve Notre Dame, where, in the year 1292, out of eight licensed book-sellers, no less than three had their work-shops. On the bridge Neuf Notre Dame, there were at the time of its falling, in 1499, a number of booksellers, three of whom are recorded as having lost their stock through the accident. The places selected by the earlier dealers in manuscripts became later the centre of the Parisian trade in printed books.

As a result of their membership in the university, the dealers in manuscripts shared in the exemption from the taxation enjoyed by the university body. The royal tax collectors persisted, however, from time to time in ignoring this right of exemption, and it was therefore necessary at different periods to secure fresh enactments from the royal ordinances in order to confirm the privilege. An example of such an ordinance is that issued by Philip the Fair, in 1307. In the cases in which the university placed an impost upon its members for any special purpose, the manuscript dealers were, of course, obliged to assume their share of such impost. At the time of their acceptance as official or licensed dealers, they had to pay a fee, in the first place of four sous, but after 1467 of eight sous. For the privilege of keeping an open shop, the fee was twenty-four sous. A further fee of eight sous was payable for each apprentice, and a weekly payment of twelve deniers payable for each workman. These fees went into the treasury of the booksellers’ corporation.

After 1456, under the enactment of the congregation of the university, each manuscript dealer and paper dealer was called upon to pay to the Rector of the university at the time of his acceptance and license a scutum of gold.