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THE
OLD PRINTER
AND THE
MODERN PRESS.
BY CHARLES KNIGHT.
"Plus on lit, plus on lira; plus il faut, plus il faudra des livres."
_Histoire des Français des divers états._
LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
1854.
+
LONDON: PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET,
AND CHARING CROSS.
TO
CHARLES DICKENS,
ONE OF THE MOST EARNEST LABOURERS IN THAT POPULAR
LITERATURE WHICH ELEVATES A PEOPLE,
THIS VOLUME
IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED.
_April 13th, 1854._
In 1844 I wrote, and published in my series of 'The Weekly Volume,'
WILLIAM CAXTON, A BIOGRAPHY. That little work sold as largely as any of
the collection. It will not be reprinted, as I have cancelled the
stereotype plates.
In the present work I have remodelled that biography; rendering it a
more compact narrative of the state of knowledge before the invention of
printing, of the personal history of the man who brought the invention
to England, and of the nature of his efforts to diffuse information
amongst his countrymen. This account forms the FIRST PART of this volume.
The SECOND PART embraces a very broad view of the PROGRESS OF THE PRESS
to our own day, especially in relation to the important subject of CHEAP
POPULAR LITERATURE.
In treating of the remarkable revolution of our times in the prices of
books, I cannot avoid incidentally noticing some of my own labours in
that direction. I have done so as slightly as possible; and, I trust, in
the impartial spirit of an honest chronicler.
CONTENTS.
PART I.
CHAPTER I.
The Weald of Kent—Caxton's School-days—French disused—English taught
—Variations in English—Books before Printing—Libraries—Transcribers—
Books for the Great—Book Trade—No Books for the People—Changes
produced by Printing Page 1
CHAPTER II.
The Mercer's Apprentice—His Book-knowledge—Commerce in Books—Schools
in London—City Apprentices—City Pageants—Spread of English Language—
English Writers—Chaucer—Gower—Lydgate—The Minstrels—National
Literature 19
CHAPTER III.
Caxton abroad—Caxton's mercantile pursuits—Restrictions on Trade—
Caxton's Commission—Merchants' Marks—Beginnings of Printing—Playing
Cards—Wood-engraving—Block-books—Moveable Types—Guttenberg—
Guttenberg's Statue—Festival at Mentz 44
CHAPTER IV.
The Court of Burgundy—Caxton a Translator—Literature of Chivalry—
Feudal Times—Caxton at the Ducal Court—Did Caxton print at Bruges—
Edward the Fugitive—The new Art 62
CHAPTER V.
Rapidity of Printing—Who the first English Printer—Caxton the first
English Printer—First English Printed Book—Difficulties of the first
Printers—Ancient Bookbinding—The Printer a Publisher—Conditions of
Cheapness in Books 85
CHAPTER VI.
The Press at Westminster—Theological Books—Character of Caxton's
Press—The Troy Book—The Game of the Chess 109
CHAPTER VII.
Female Manners—Lord Rivers—Popular History—Popular Science—Popular
Fables—Popular Translations—The Canterbury Tales—Statutes—Books of
Chivalry—Caxton's last days 125
CHAPTER VIII.
The Chapel—The Companions—Increase of Readers—Books make Readers—
Caxton's Types—Wynkyn's Dream—The first Paper-mill 153
APPENDIX 167
PART II.
CHAPTER I.
Cheap Popular Literature—Conditions of Cheapness—Popular Literature
of Elizabeth's reign—Who were the Readers 179
CHAPTER II.
Imperfect Civilisation—Reading during the Civil Wars—Reading after
the Restoration—French Romances—First London Catalogue, 1680—Authors
and Booksellers—Subscription Books—Books in Numbers—The Canvassing
System 197
CHAPTER III.
Periodical Literature—Prices of Books—18th Century—Two Classes of
Buyers—The Magazines—Collections of the Poets—The Circulating
Library—Cheap Book-Clubs 218
CHAPTER IV.
Continued dearness of Books—Useful Knowledge Society—Modern Epoch of
Cheapness—Demand and Supply—The Printing-machine—The Paper-machine—
Revival of Woodcutting 238
CHAPTER V.
London Catalogue, 1816-1851—Annual Catalogues, 1828, 1853—Classes of
Books, 1816-1851—Periodicals, 1831, 1853—Aggregate amount of
Book-trade—Collections and Libraries—International Copyright—Readers
in the United States—Irish National School-books 260
CHAPTER VI.
Cheap Fiction—Penny Periodicals 277
CHAPTER VII.
Degrees of Readers—General Improvement—Newspaper Press—Newspaper
Press National—Agricultural Readers—General desire for Amusement—
Supply of real Knowledge 286
CHAPTER VIII.
Free Libraries—In Towns—In Rural Districts—Influences of the
best Books 303
[Illustration]
PART I.
THE OLD PRINTER.
CHAPTER I.
The Weald of Kent—Caxton's School-days—French disused—English taught—
Variations in English—Books before Printing—Libraries—Transcribers—
Books for the Great—Book Trade—No Books for the People—Changes produced
by Printing.
In the first book printed in the English language, the subject of which
was the 'Histories of Troy,' William Caxton, the translator of the work
from the French, in his prologue or preface, says, by way of apology for
his simpleness and imperfectness in the French and English languages,
"In France was I never, and was born and learned mine English in Kent,
in the Weald, where I doubt not is spoken as broad and rude English as
in any place of England." The Weald of Kent is now a fertile district,
rich in corn-land and pasture, with farm-houses and villages spread over
its surface, intersected by good roads, and a railway running through
the heart of it, bringing the scattered inhabitants closer and closer to
each other. But at the period when William Caxton was born, and learnt
his English in the Weald, it was a wild district with a scanty
population; its inhabitants had little intercourse with the towns, the
affairs of the busy world went on without their knowledge and
assistance, they were more separated from the great body of their
countrymen than a settler in Canada or Australia is at the present day.
It is easy to understand therefore why they should have spoken a "broad
and rude English" at the time of Caxton's boyhood, during the reign of
Henry V. and the beginning of that of Henry VI. William Lambarde, who
wrote a hundred and fifty years after this period, having published his
'Perambulation of Kent' in 1570, mentions as a common opinion touching
this Weald of Kent, "that it was a great while together in manner
nothing else but a desert and waste wilderness, not planted with towns
or peopled with men as the outsides of the shire were, but stored and
stuffed with herds of deer and droves of hogs only;" and he goes on to
say that, "although the property of the Weald was at the first belonging
to certain known owners, yet it was not then allotted into tenancies."
The Weald of Kent came to be taken, he says, "even as men were contented
to inhabit it, and by piecemeal to rid it of the wood, and to break it
up with the plough." In some lonely farm, then, of this wild district,
are we, upon the best of evidence, his own words, to fix the birth-place
and the earliest home of the first English printer.
The father of William Caxton was in all probability a proprietor of
land. At any rate, he desired to bestow upon his son all the advantages
of education which that age could furnish. The honest printer, many
years after his school-days, looks back upon that spring-time of his
life with feelings that make us honour the simple worth of his
character. In his 'Life of Charles the Great,' printed in 1485, he says,
"I have emprised [undertaken] and concluded in myself to reduce
[translate] this said book into our English, as all along and plainly ye
may read, hear, and see, in this book here following. Beseeching all
them that shall find fault in the same to correct and amend it, and also
to pardon me of the rude and simple reducing. And though so be there no
gay terms, nor subtle nor new eloquence, yet I hope that it shall be
understood, and to that intent I have specially reduced it after the
simple cunning that God hath lent to me, whereof I humbly and with all
my heart thank Him, and also am bounden to pray for my father's and
mother's souls, that in my youth set me to school, by which, by the
sufferance of God, I get my living I hope truly. And that I may so do
and continue, I beseech Him to grant me of His grace; and so to labour
and occupy myself virtuously, that I may come out of debt and deadly
sin, that after this life I may come to His bliss in heaven." Caxton
seems to have had the rare happiness to have had his father about him to
a late period of his life. According to a record in the accounts of the
churchwardens of the parish church of St. Margaret's, Westminster, in
which parish the first printer carried on his business, it appears that
one William Caxton, who is conjectured to have been the father, was
buried on the 18th of May, 1480.
Some time before the period of Caxton's boyhood, a great change had
taken place in the general system of education in England. In the time
of Edward III., about half a century before the period of which we
speak, the children in the grammar-schools were not taught English at
all. It was the policy of the first Norman kings, long continued by
their successors, to get rid of the old English or Saxon language
altogether; and to make the people familiar with the Norman French, the
language of the conquerors. The new statutes of the realm were written
in French; so were the decisions of the judges, and the commentaries on
the laws in general. Ralph Higden, in a sort of chronicle which Caxton
printed, says, "Children in schools, against the usage and manner of all
other nations, be compelled for to leave their own language, and for to
construe their lessons and their things in French; and so they have
since Normans came first into England. Also gentlemen be taught for to
speak French from the time that they rocked in their cradle, and can
speak and play with a child's brooch [stick or other toy], and uplandish
men [countrymen] will liken themselves to gentlemen, and delight with
great business for to speak French, to be told of." John de Trevisa, the
translator of Higden's 'Polychronicon,' writing some forty years later,
"This manner was much used before the Great Plague, and is since some
deal changed; for Sir John Cornewaile, a master of grammar, changed the
teaching in grammar-schools, and construction in French; and other
schoolmasters use the same way now, in the year of our Lord 1385, the
ninth year of King Richard II., and leave all French in schools, and use
all construction in English. Wherein they have advantage one way:—that
is, that they learn the sooner their grammar; and in another,
disadvantage, for now they learn no French, which is hurt for them that
shall pass the sea." It was this change of system, operating upon his
early instruction, which caused Caxton, as a translator, to be so
diffident of his own capacity to render faithfully what was before him
out of French into English. Indeed from his earliest youth to the close
of his literary career, the English language was constantly varying,
through the introduction of new words and phrases; and there was a
marked distinction between the courtly dialect and that of the
commonalty. We have seen how he speaks of the broad and rude English of
his native Weald. But towards the close of his life, in a book printed
by him in 1490, he mentions the difficulty he had in pleasing "some
gentlemen, which late blamed me, saying, that in my translations I had
over curious terms, which could not be understood of common people, and
desired me to use old and homely terms in my translations. And fain
would I satisfy every man; and so to do, took an old book and read
therein; and certainly the English was so rude and broad that I could
not well understand it. And also my Lord Abbot of Westminster did show
to me late certain evidences written in old English, for to reduce it
into our English now used, and certainly it was written in such wise
that it was more like to Dutch than English; I could not reduce nor
bring it to be understood. And certainly our language now used varieth
far from that which was used and spoken when I was born: for we
Englishmen be born under the domination of the moon, which is never
stedfast, but ever wavering, waxing one season, and waneth and
decreaseth another season; and that common English that is spoken in one
shire varieth from another. Insomuch that in my days happened that
certain merchants were in a ship in Thames, for to have sailed over the
sea into Zealand, and for lack of wind they tarried at Foreland, and
went to land for to refresh them; and one of them named Sheffelde, a
mercer, came into an house and asked for meat, and especially he asked
after _eggs_; and the good wife answered, that she could speak no
French; and the merchant was angry, for he also could speak no French,
but would have had eggs, and she understood him not. And then at last,
another said that he would have _eyren_; then the good wife said that
she understood him well. Lo, what should a man in these days now write,
_eggs_ or _eyren_? certainly it is hard to please every man, by cause of
diversity and change of language. For in these days, every man that is
in any reputation in his country will utter his communication and
matters in such manners and terms that few men shall understand them.
And some honest and good clerks have been with me, and desired me to
write the most curious terms that I could find. And thus between plain,
rude, and curious, I stand abashed; but in my judgment, the common terms
that be daily used be lighter [easier] to be understood than the old and
ancient English." In these days, when the same language with very slight
variations is spoken from one end of the land to the other, it is
difficult to imagine a state of things such as Caxton describes, in
which the "common English which is spoken in one shire varieth from
another," and there was a marked distinction between plain terms and
curious terms. Easy and rapid communication, and above all the
circulation of books, newspapers, and other periodical works, all free
from provincial expressions, have made the "over curious terms which
could not be understood of common people" more familiar to them than the
"old and homely terms" which their forefathers used in their several
counties, according to the restricted meanings which they retained in
their local use. When there were no books amongst the community in
general, there could be no universality of language. Of this want of
books we may properly exhibit some details, chiefly to show one of the
most remarkable differences which the lapse of four centuries has
produced in our country.
We shall find it, we think, a more agreeable, as well as more
instructive course, to look at the general subject of the supply of
books in connexion with the orders of people who were to use them,
rather than presenting a number of scattered facts, to exhibit the
relative prices and scarcity of books in what are called the middle
ages. We will first take the clergy, the scholars of those days. The
mode in which books were multiplied by transcribers in the monasteries
is clearly described by Richard de Bury, bishop of Durham, in his
'Philobiblon,' a treatise on the love of books, written by him in Latin
in 1344:—"As it is necessary for a state to provide military arms, and
prepare plentiful stores of provisions for soldiers who are about to
fight, so it is evidently worth the labour of the church militant to
fortify itself against the attacks of pagans and heretics with a
multitude of sound books. But because everything that is serviceable to
mortals suffers the waste of mortality through lapse of time, it is
necessary for volumes corroded by age to be restored by renovated
successors, that perpetuity, repugnant to the nature of the individual,
may be conceded to the species. Hence it is that Ecclesiastes
significantly says, in the 12th chapter, 'There is no end of making many
books.' For as the bodies of books suffer continual detriment from a
combined mixture of contraries in their composition, so a remedy is
found out by the prudence of clerks, by which a holy book paying the
debt of nature may obtain an hereditary substitute, and a seed may be
raised up like to the most holy deceased, and that saying of
Ecclesiasticus, chapter 30, be verified, 'The father is dead, and as it
were not dead, for he hath left behind him a son like unto himself.'"
The invention of paper, about a century and a half before Richard de
Bury wrote, and its general employment instead of vellum for manuscripts
in ordinary use, was a great step towards the multiplication of books.
Transcribers necessarily became more numerous; but for a long period
they wholly belonged to the monastic orders, and the books were
essentially for the use of the clergy. Richard de Bury says, with the
most supreme contempt for all others, whatever be their rank, "Laymen,
to whom it matters not whether they look at a book turned wrong side
upwards or spread before them in its natural order, are altogether
unworthy of any communion with books." But even to the privileged
classes he is not sparing of his reproach as to the misuse of books. He
reprobates the unwashed hands, the dirty nails, the greasy elbows
leaning upon the volume, the munching of fruit and cheese over the open
leaves, which were the marks of careless and idle readers. With a solemn
reverence for a book at which we may smile, but with a smile of respect,
he says, "Let there be a mature decorum in opening and closing of
volumes, that they may neither be unclasped with precipitous haste, nor
thrown aside after inspection without being duly closed." The good
bishop bestowed certain portions of his valuable library upon a company
of scholars residing in a Hall at Oxford; and one of his chapters is
entitled 'A provident arrangement by which books may be lent to
strangers,' meaning, by strangers, students of Oxford not belonging to
that Hall. One of these arrangements is as follows:—"Five of the
scholars dwelling in the aforesaid Hall are to be appointed by the
master of the same Hall, to whom the custody of the books is to be
deputed. Of which five, three, and in no case fewer, shall be competent
to lend any books for inspection and use only; but for copying and
transcribing we will not allow any book to pass without the walls of the
house. Therefore, when any scholar, whether secular or religious, whom
we have deemed qualified for the present favour, shall demand the loan
of a book, the keepers must carefully consider whether they have a
duplicate of that book; and if so, they may lend it to him, taking a
security which in their opinion shall exceed in value the book
delivered." Anthony Wood, who in the seventeenth century wrote the lives
of eminent Oxford men, speaks of this library which was given to Durham
College (now Trinity College) as containing more books than all the
bishops of England had then in their custody. He adds, "After they had
been received they were for many years kept in chests, under the custody
of several scholars deputed for that purpose." In the time of Henry IV.
a library was built in that college, and then, says Wood, "the said
books were put into pews, or studies, and chained to them." The statutes
of St. Mary's College, Oxford, in the reign of Henry VI., are quoted by
Warton, in his 'History of English Poetry,' as furnishing a remarkable
instance of the inconveniences and impediments to study which must have
been produced by a scarcity of books: "Let no scholar occupy a book in
the library above one hour, or two hours at most, so that others shall
be hindered from the use of the same." This certainly shows the scarcity
of books; but not such a scarcity as at an early period of the Church,
when one book was given out by the librarian to each of a religious
fraternity at the beginning of Lent, to be read diligently during the
year, and to be returned, the following Lent. The original practice of
keeping the books in chests would seem to indicate that they could not
be very frequently changed by the readers; and the subsequent plan of
chaining them to the desks gives the notion that, like many other things
tempting by their rarity, they could not be safely trusted in the hands
of those who might rather covet the possession than the use. It was a
very common thing to write in the first leaf of a book, "Cursed be he
who shall steal or tear out the leaves, or in any way injure this book."
[Illustration: Transcriber at Work.]
We have abundant evidence, whatever be the scarcity of books as compared
with the growth of scholarship, that the ecclesiastics laboured most
diligently to multiply books for their own establishments. In every
great abbey there was a room called the Scriptorium, where boys and
novices were constantly employed in multiplying the service-books of the
choir, and the less valuable books for the library; whilst the monks
themselves laboured in their cells upon bibles and missals. Equal pains
were taken in providing books for those who received a liberal education
in collegiate establishments. Warton says, "At the foundation of
Winchester College, one or more transcribers were hired and employed by
the founder to make books for the library. They transcribed and took
their commons within the college, as appears by computations of expenses
on their account now remaining." But there are several indications that
even kings and nobles had not the advantages of scholars by profession;
and, possessing few books of their own, had sometimes to borrow of their
more favoured subjects. We find it recorded that the Prior of Christ
Church, Canterbury, had lent to King Henry V. the works of St. Gregory,
and he complains that after the king's death the book had been detained
by the Prior of Shene. The same king had borrowed from the Lady
Westmoreland two books that had not been returned, and a petition is
still extant in which she begs his successors in authority to let her
have them back again. Lewis XI. of France wishing to borrow a book from
the Faculty of Medicine at Paris, they would not allow the king to have
it till he had deposited a quantity of valuable plate in pledge, and
given a joint bond with one of his nobles for its due return. The books
that were to be found in the palaces of the great, a little while before
the invention of printing, were for the most part highly illuminated
manuscripts, and bound in the most expensive style. In the wardrobe
accounts of King Edward IV. we find that Piers Bauduyn is paid for
"binding, gilding, and dressing" of two books, twenty shillings each,
and of four books, sixteen shillings each. Now twenty shillings in those
days would have bought an ox. But the cost of this binding and
garnishing does not stop here; for there were delivered to the binder
six yards of velvet, six yards of silk, laces, tassels, copper and gilt
clasps, and gilt nails. The price of velvet and silk in those days was
enormous. We may reasonably conclude that these royal books were as much
for show as for use. One of the books thus garnished by Edward IV.'s
binder is called 'Le Bible Historiaux' (The Historical Bible), and there
are several copies of the same book in manuscript in the British Museum.
In one of them the following paragraph is written in French: "This book
was taken from the King of France at the battle of Poitiers; and the
good Count of Salisbury, William Mountague, bought it for a hundred
marks, and gave it to his lady Elizabeth, the good Countess.... Which
book the said Countess assigned to her executors to sell for forty
livres." We learn from another source that the great not only procured
books by purchase, but employed transcribers to make them for their
libraries. We find, from the manuscript account of the expenses of Sir
John Howard, afterwards Duke of Norfolk, that in 1467 Thomas Lympnor,
that is, Thomas the Limner, of Bury, was paid the sum of fifty shillings
and twopence for a book which he had transcribed and ornamented,
including the vellum and binding. The Limner's bill is made up of a
number of items,—for whole vignettes, and half vignettes, and capital
letters, and flourishing, and plain writing. This curious account is
printed in the 'Paston Letters.' A letter of Sir John Paston, who is
writing to his mother in 1474, shows how scarce money was in those days
for the purchase of luxuries like books. He says, "As for the books that
were Sir James's (the Priest's), if it like you that I may have them, I
am not able to buy them, but somewhat would I give, and the remainder,
with a good devout heart, by my troth, I will pray for his soul.... If
any of them are claimed hereafter, in faith I will restore it." The
custom of borrowing books and not returning them was as old, we see, as
the days of the Red and White Roses. John Paston left an inventory of
his books, eleven in number, although some of the eleven contained
various little tracts bound together. One of the items in this catalogue
is, "A Book of Troilus, which William B—— hath had near ten years, and
lent it to Dame Wingfeld, and there I saw it."
But, even in the days before printing, there was a small book-trade; and
schemes were devised for making books of some general use. In Paris, in
the middle of the 14th century, the booksellers were commanded to keep
books for hire; and, in a register of the University of Paris,
Chevillier found a list of the books so circulated, and the price of
reading each. The hire of a Bible was ten sous. That the ecclesiastics
and lawyers constituted the great bulk of readers, and that the addition
of a book, even to the private library of a student, was a rare
occurrence, is evident from the absolute necessity for manuscript books
being dear. If the number of readers had increased—if there had been
more candidates for the learned professions—if the nobility had
discovered the shame of their ignorance—if learning had made its way to
the franklin's hall—manuscript books could never have been cheap. But
from the hour when a first large expense of transferring the letters,
syllables, words, and sentences of a manuscript to moveable type was
ascertained to be the means of multiplying copies to the extent of any
demand, then the greater the demand the greater the cheapness.
If the nobles, the higher gentry, and even the lawyers and
ecclesiastics, were indifferently provided with books, we cannot expect
that the yeomen had any books whatever. The merchants and citizens were
probably somewhat better provided. The labourers, who were scarcely yet
fully established in their freedom from bondage to one lord, were
probably, as a class, wholly unable to use books at all. Shakspere, in
all likelihood, did not much exaggerate the feelings of ignorant men,
who at the same time were oppressed men, when he put these words in the
mouth of Jack Cade when addressing Lord Say: "Thou hast most
traitorously corrupted the youth of the realm, in erecting a
grammar-school: and whereas, before, our forefathers had no other books
but the score and the tally, thou hast caused printing to be used; and,
contrary to the king, his crown and dignity, thou hast built a
paper-mill." The poet has a little deranged the exact order of events,
as poets are justified in doing, who look at history not with
chronological accuracy, but with a broad view of the connexion between
events and principles. The insurrection of Cade preceded the
introduction of printing and paper-mills into England. Although during
four centuries we have yet to lament that the people have not had the
full benefit which the art of printing is calculated to bestow upon
them, we may be sure that during its progress the general amelioration
of society has been certain, though gradual. There can no longer be any
necessary exclusiveness in the possession of books, and in the
advantages which the knowledge of books is calculated to bestow on all
men. The late Mr. Southey, a just and liberal thinker, but, like many
others of ardent feelings, sometimes mistaken and oftener
misrepresented, has truly pointed out the difference between the state
of society when William Caxton was raised up to do his work amongst us
and the present state. The following is an extract from his 'Colloquies
on the Progress and Prospects of Society:' "One of the first effects of
printing was to make proud men look upon learning as disgraced, by being
thus brought within reach of the common people. Till that time learning,
such as it was, had been confined to courts and convents, the low birth
of the clergy being overlooked, because they were privileged by their
order. But when laymen in humble life were enabled to procure books, the
pride of aristocracy took an absurd course, insomuch that at one time it
was deemed derogatory for a nobleman if he could read or write. Even
scholars themselves complained that the reputation of learning, and the
respect due to it, and its rewards, were lowered when it was thrown open
to all men; and it was seriously proposed to prohibit the printing of
any book that could be afforded for sale below the price of three soldi.
This base and invidious feeling was perhaps never so directly avowed in
other countries as in Italy, the land where literature was first
restored; and yet in this more liberal island ignorance was for some
generations considered to be a mark of distinction by which a man of
gentle birth chose, not unfrequently, to make it apparent that he was no
more obliged to live by the toil of his brain, than by the sweat of his
brow. The same changes in society, which rendered it no longer possible
for this class of men to pass their lives in idleness, have completely
put an end to this barbarous pride. It is as obsolete as the fashion of
long finger-nails, which in some parts of the East are still the
distinctive mark of those who labour not with their hands. All classes
are now brought within the reach of your current literature,—that
literature which, like a moral atmosphere, is, as it were, the medium of
intellectual life, and on the quality of which, according as it may be
salubrious or noxious, the health of the public mind depends."