The Stationers' Company and the Printers of London, 1501–1557 2 Volume Hardback Set

An exhaustively researched, radically revisionist account of how the Stationers' Company came to be incorporated and given a monopoly of printing.

Peter W. M. Blayney (Author)

9781107035010, Cambridge University Press

, published 21 November 2013

1300 pages, 38 b/w illus. 4 maps
23.5 x 16.2 x 6.7 cm, 2.3 kg

'Blayney has sought to examine all the available evidence concerning the book trade, not least the books themselves, and to use this material to correct and revise the historical record of book production in the period and so also the history of the period itself. As in all his work, he has set himself to achieve a formidably high standard of industry, understanding, knowledge, analysis, and exposition; he has succeeded triumphantly in achieving and exceeding it.' H. R. Woudhuysen, Common Knowledge

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.

Volume 1: 1. 1357–1500: historical and lexical introduction
2. 1501–9: in the beginning …
3. 1510–20: royal privilege and clerical scrutiny
4. 1521–8: the Church clamps down
5. 1529–34: the old order changeth
6. 1535–41: a septennium of bibles
7. 1535–41: the Company grows
8. 1542–6: the end of Henry's reign. Volume 2: 9. 1547–53: the reign of Edward VI
10. 1553–7: from catastrophe to charter
11. 1554–7: the road to incorporation
12. 1501–57: 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.

Subject Areas: Publishing industry & book trade [KNTP], Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], Literature: history & criticism [DS]