A History of British Publishing

"The invention of printing created a revolution in human communication. This comprehensive history covers the five centuries in which books have been printed in Britain. Although England was not in the forefront of the international book trade until the eighteenth century, a domestic trade in printed books was quickly established after Caxton introduced printing into this country. Manuscripts were almost immediately displaced as a commercial commodity, and a trade developed which brought the Bible, ballads and chapbooks, and an ever-widening range of literature within popular reach. This trade was carefully controlled by governments until almost the end of the seventeenth century, the agency of control was the Stationers' Company, whose history is central to the broader history of trade itself. From the early eighteenth century onwards, however, commercial forces dominated the trade, and by the reign of Queen Victoria publishing was the competitive industry which we see today. Its 'modern' characteristics, including such things as cheap reprint series, remainders, and the distinction between the publisher and the bookseller, are all products of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The book concludes with a survey of the present century, the age of the Net Book Agreement, the book club, and electronic media. Revisions to the final chapter bring the story up to the nineties." -- Provided by publisher