This major, revisionist reference work explains for the first time how the Stationers' Company acquired both a charter and a nationwide monopoly of printing. In the most detailed and comprehensive investigation of the London book trade in any period, Peter Blayney systematically documents the story from 1501, when printing first established permanent roots inside the City boundaries, until the Stationers' Company was incorporated by royal charter in 1557. Having exhaustively re-examined original sources and scoured numerous archives unexplored by others in the field, Blayney radically revises accepted beliefs about such matters as the scale of native production versus importation, privileges and patents, and the regulation of printing by the Church, Crown and City. His persistent focus on individuals – most notably the families, rivals and successors of Richard Pynson, John Rastell and Robert Redman – keeps this study firmly grounded in the vivid lives and careers of early Tudor Londoners.
• Based on a systematic re-examination of all known records and a search for new ones, this is the first study of this crucial period ever undertaken • Explains the origins of widespread misconceptions about the Stationers' Company and printers of London • Arranged in short chronological periods to allow changing circumstances to be seen in the context of rapidly changing times
Contents
Volume 1: 1. 1357–1500: historical and lexical introduction; 2. 1501–1509: in the beginning …; 3. 1510–1520: royal privilege and clerical scrutiny; 4. 1521–1528: the Church clamps down; 5. 1529–1534: the old order changeth; 6. 1535–1541: a septennium of bibles; 7. 1535–1541: the Company grows; 8. 1542–1546: the end of Henry's reign. Volume 2: 9. 1547–1553: the reign of Edward VI; 10. 1553–1557: from catastrophe to charter; 11. 1554–1557: the road to incorporation; 12. 1501–1557: conclusion; Appendices: A. The founding of the Company, 12 July 1403; B. Edition-sheets versus 'masterformes'; C. Importation statistics; D. Privileges, patents, and placards; E. A surfeit of Bourmans; F. John Day of Barholm; G. The sites of six printing houses; H. Maps: Fleet Street, St Paul's Churchyard, Paternoster Row; I. Stationers' Hall and its neighbours; J. The charter of 1557; K. STC books (and others) included in the graphs; Manuscripts cited; Bibliography; Index of STC numbers; General index.
Reviews
Advance praise: 'Blayney's book is quite an extraordinary feat of scholarship. Any future writing about this period by book historians, bibliographers, students of censorship and of press control, and literary or textual scholars will have to use his book as a starting point.' John Barnard, University of Leeds
Advance praise: 'Written by an author who over the course of a lifetime has become the world's leading authority on printing and the book trade in early-modern (and especially early-Tudor) England, this book represents a triumph and the gold standard. No one can match Peter Blayney's expertise. His book is a monumental work in every sense.' John Guy, University of Cambridge
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