World Book Heritage. 39a. Press control and the Stationers' Company

World Book heritage A series of talks on the history of the written word 39a. Press control and the Stationers' Company. (Contents list)

The Stationers' Company was granted a charter on 4 May 1557. In 1554 it had moved its hall to Saint Peter's College on the south side of Saint Paul's Churchyard close to the hub of book trade activity. A form of grant had existed before; this was more a coming of age, the first official document to go beyond the mere mention of its existence.

The Stationers' Company was one of several score of London livery companies. These were descendants of the medieval guilds, bodies for organizing and fostering crafts and trades. It now received a livery or distinctive costume by the royal grant and it was also privileged to attend the Lord Mayor at all common showrooms and to vote in mayoral and parliamentary elections. There was a strict order of precedence the Stationers' Company was the next after the Poulterers.

The term "stationarius" was used in Oxbridge from the 13th century and in London from the 14th century. The term applied to stallholders as opposed to hawkers; they were soon attached to book manufacturers: parcheminers, scriveners, limners, binders.

By 1357 the London guild of scriveners and limners was formed. In 1373 a scriveners company was formed by a breakaway group of legal text writers. Later another branch of scriveners separated from the lymners.

On 12 July 1403 they formally rejoined to form the ancestor of the Stationers' Company. Little of their ordinances, by-laws and administrative records survive before 1557 and there is little historical detail about them.

The background to the Company's attempt to obtain a charter with the proviso that all printers must be members of a company or royally privileged comes from a variety of causes.

1. The development of the specialisation in trade. Practitioners had to give up some aspects as increasing competition demanded ever more capital investment.

2. Control of aliens. At first they were welcomed but set up presses outside the city (Pynson in Saint Clement Danes), or in the liberties (Machlinia on Fleet Bridge). Acts of 1523 and 1529 made all aliens more closely linked to their respective companies, paying dues etc. By an act of 1534 it was forbidden to buy books retail from aliens. The stationers took action within three years against imported bound boooks from Rouen. Aliens had to become citizens. Between 1500 and 1530 only one alien and was admitted as a stationer. From the 1530s there was a steady stream. This gave them the advantages of guild membership, the right to trade within the city, exemption from toll, charitable charitable help for widows etc.

3. Control of "foreign" printers, that is to say those outside London without the privilege of membership of the Stationers' Company. The Company used the economic dominance of London to ease out provincial printing. Presses died out in the 1520s and 1539 the Company was associated with the suppression of a press in Saint Albans.

4. Government attitudes to the printed word. In 1484 an Act aimed at fostering the new invention but from 1528 onwards there was a stream of proclamations to control its products. In 1513 pre-publication censorship was introduced; books had to be approved by the local bishop, and in 1542 a proclamation was issued against reading or any other Bible than Grafton's. In 1542 the Stationers' Company drew up a draft charter which was debated at the convocation of Canterbury and referred to Henry VIII. This was rejected because its powrs were too wide. Mary had more to fear; in 1557 she accepted the Stationers' Company's organisation as a useful piece of administrative machinery.

5. Copyright. Before printing spread, the stationer provided customers with new books specially written and bound, and a single sale completed the transaction. Printers on the other hand required as many sales as copies of books printed in an edition. This required the security of knowing that no printer would pirate his works. For example Redman took advantage of Pynson's preparatory work for the typographically complex Littleton's Tenures. He could probably sell more cheaply than the original as he only had to worry about materials. Earlier protection had been offered by royal privilege, in Venice as early as 1469, in Paris in 1507 but in England not until 1516 when Richard Pynson was given a two year monopoly in Oratio Ricardi Pacei, an oration of the royal scretary Richard Pace, and others followed - most of Pynson's work was privileged There was also the post of King's Printer. In 1504 Richard Faques was granted a monopoly of official publications. Privileges were also granted to classes of books, for example Reginald Wolfe for Latin Greek and Hebrew printing, Grafton for the statutes. But as competition increased royal privilege was not possible for every item. However there was a need for the respect of monopolies and such an organisation was possible through the Stationers' Company. Before 1557 the register of claims to copies made it an offence to publish a book before it had been shown to the wardens or unless the writers had royal privilege. Thus it was that when the state was unable to control complexities of the press it employed the Stationers' Company to serve its own ends.

The charter of 1557 granted 97 freemen of the city the right to be a corporate body with perpetual succession. They had the right to make rules, to meet to elect officers and to own property to an annual value of £20.00. These rights were common to all livery companies but the preamble explains that extra privileges were added to help control heretical books. No one was to be a printer unless he was a member of the Company or had royal privilege. The officials had the right to search and imprison malefactors for up to three months without trial and a fine of £5, to be split between the company and the crown. Membership rules concentrated printing in London and also cut across the right to practice the craft if free of any other company. The right to search had previously been given only to the Goldsmiths and Pewterers Companies.

Pattern of membership. There were four methods of entry:

1. Apprenticeship to a freeman of the company. Indentures were drawn up by a master, sponsor and clerk and enrolled with the company. At least seven years had to be served and by act of Common Council of the City of London in 1556 an apprentice could not be free before he was 23 years old.

2. Patrimony. This was possible if the father was a freeman of the company when his son was born, but most still served an apprenticeship.

3. Redemption. Payment of a fee was the normal method for aliens, and was mostly used to access politically powerful companies.

4. Translation. That is to say moving from another company. This was usually difficult as it needed permission from both companies.

Yeomanry (the commonality of the Charter) were the main body of members. Here there was no distinction between employer and employee.

Brothers. Members could acquire this status within the company by a fee of 10 shillings. This was usually reserved for aliens who could only work for full members of the company. Apprentices employed by them and to be bound to full members. There is evidence of anti-alien feeling by the city of London. Although they were competent they had no status and no easy way to the top.

Livery. The right to have a livery was granted by the City of London in 1560. This was open to all who could afford it, and the first six liverymen were elected next year including the printer John Day. Early election to the livery was essential to the ambitious.

Renter wardens. There were two wardens who collected the quarterage subscriptions. They had to serve his office before they were elected to the Court of Assistants.

The Court of Assistants consisted of experienced older members, about 18 in all. They were headed by Upper and Under Wardens and the Master.

Cutting across all levels were the different crafts of the members. Bookbinders, the oldest, could not compete with the booksellers. Booksellers, the next oldest, could build up capital by the exchange method of stocking their shops. Printers were the youngest and most powerful group for the first century after the granting of the charter; 33 of the 97 named in the 1557 charter were printers, including 20 of the first fifty named. The first Master Thomas Dockwray was an ecclesiastical lawyer and also an ardent catholic; he died in 1559.

When Elizabeth came to power the religious policy changed; the activities of the Stationers' Company also changed to the pursuit of catholic literature.

In 1559 Elizabeth confirmed the charter of 1557 though the Company had tried to get more control of booksellers on the same terms as printers, showing the printers' aim to keep control of the book trade.

In 1562 ordinances put the election of Master and Wardens into the hands of the Court of Assistants rather than the whole livery, as provided by the charter. This was in line with other livery companies and helped to perpetuate the dominance of the printers.

In the 1559 injunctions of Queen Elizabeth the 51st clause related to the licensing of books. The aim was that no printed books "should be either heretical, seditious or unseemly for Christian ears". By the injunction officials of the Stationers' Company might be held responsible for any such books, thus licensing was strictly enforced. It was as much an offence not to enter a book at Stationers Hall as to print another man's copy. Registration of copies also brought revenue to the Company – the charge was at least four pence - and it also meant that they had an interest in keeping a strict eye on printing. A work had to be licensed by one of the wardens before the clerk could enter it in the register. This licence was independent of the of the Queen, Privy Council, Archbishops of Canterbury or York, the Bishop of London or the Chancellors of both universities as laid down by the 1559 injunctions. However the wardens would normally require such a licence to have been obtained.

However one third of books were not entered on the register. This is hard to explain. It could be a little like tax evasion; many books were more likely to be pirated and sometimes a gentleman's agreement existed between printers. Thus, if they thought they could get away with it, they probably didn't bother to register copies.

The selling of copies was common. They were usually sold by the printer to a publisher on condition that the publisher had the profits and the printer the work of printing. This shows a swing of power from printer to bookseller.

There were no ordinances regulating standards of printing but there were orders on the stitching of books as bookbinding was considered to be a craft. However regulations of quantity if not of quality in the 1587 ordinances laid down the maximum editions size of 1500 copies.

There were other ordinances about behaviour at meetings, rules for binding apprentices and so on. All these ordinances were read over at quarter day meetings. Thus it happened that Edward Bollifant was fined six pence for leaving a meeting early.

Stationers' Company routine. The election of masters and wardens was on the Saturday after Saint Peter's day (29 June). The election feast on the Sunday started the guild year. The earliest court was the first Tuesday in July. In later times apprentices and freedoms were made in the presence of the court. The court was not so important in Elizabethan days and there there were no formal minutes until 1576. Besides binding apprentices, admitting freeman and brothers, wardens also had to licence books prior to entry by the clerk in the ledger. There was also settlement of disputes between master and servant and disputes between printers, for example on copyright. Soon the court found it necessary to meet monthly. It was important to see that the ordinances were maintained and the renter wardens needed to collect the quarterage payments of members.

The warden's duties included keeping accounts. For example in 1577:

Income
Quarterage and rents	£12	5s	6d
Licensing of copies	£2	19s	2d
Apprentice bindings	£2	8s
Freedom admissions	£3	17s	4d
Six yeoman was called to livery	£6
Fines for breaking ordinances		1s
Letting hall	£1	5s
Expenditure
Servants (cook, butler, Lord Mayor's officer, clerk, beadle, porter	£4	16s	8d
Contributions to election feast	£5
Repairs to property		5s	3d

In most years there was also some poor relief.

The company and monopolies. The monopolists were holders of patents for printing whole classes of books. These we usually popular and easy to pirate, for example John and Richard Days' ABC, and there were also the monopolies of the Queen's printer for Bibles and proclamations. Monopolists were well represented on the court of assistants and the official policy at first was to represent their rights. However grievances grew in a disorganised manner from underprivileged printers and ambitious booksellers, journeyman, and bookbinders - a depressed section of the Stationers' Company.

In 1577 the Days obtained an extension of their monopoly and the government received a joint petition from glass-sellers, cutlers and printers against the injustice of "privileges granted to private persons". In the printer section nine patentees were listed. The petition was signed by 34 printers including two wardens.

In 1578 William Lobley and five others petitioned the Stationers' Company regarding privileges. The petition also covered foreigners taking trade and the excessive numbers of apprentices but the court in its response said that if a poor printer wished to exploit any copy so far unclaimed his request would receive sympathetic hearing. However in 1576 searchers had been appointed under the decree of 1566 which gave the company powers of search for illegal books, resulting in a series of hefty fines.

Thus although the company was was not responsible for creating monopolies, it was unpopular because of having to enforce the right of copy. Many printers took action into their own hands and pirated copies. John Wolfe, a member of the Fishmongers Company, and Roger Ward were the ringleaders. Both were imprisoned. Walls after a second term in jail still claimed in the right to print what he liked. There was general confusion and in 1582 a royal commission was appointed.

In 1583 the court allowed the important printer Henry Bynneman to enter profitable copies, for example Aristotle and Homer, but only on condition that he shared the printing with five members of the Company.

In 1584 patentees released a large number of patents, John Day least 36. There was much rubbish amongst them but it included Barker's Statutes at large and Watkins sheet almanac. In the main this was directed to assuage the malcontents. In 1584 John Day died. His brother was in holy orders and so his copies were handed over to John Wolfe, who was translated specially from the Fishmongers Company to be able to take them over.

The Company decided to profit from the confusion by promoting an Act of Parliament or confirmation of the charter to obtain added authority. The resulting decree of 1586 reflects the ambitious policy of central control through the Company:

• All printers were to make return of equipment within ten days.
• No printing was allowed outside London except one press each at Oxford and Cambridge.
• All presses were to be accessible to officers of the Stationers' Comany.
• No new presses were allowed unless otherwise decreed by the Archbishop of Canterbury or the Bishop of London.
• Master printers were to be presented on election to the Court of High Commission.
• No copies were to be printed without licence on pain of six months gaol and being debarred from printing.
• The right to search was confirmed.
• Apprentices were limited in number - three to the Master or Upper Wardens, two to liverymen, one to yeomanry. The Queen's printer was allowed six.

The effect was only partial. It did not prevent the printing of the Martin Marprelate tracts by Waldegrave, despite official attempts to trace and destroy the press. Others, including Roger Ward, continued to print privileged books. Punishments were not always inflicted. The Company attempted to ease the lot of malcontents by premitting the printing of copies with certain provisos, such as the payment of 6d in the pound to the poor fund.

The Company also began to organise publishing ventures that were too large for a single member. For example in 1583 Barker presented the privilege of printing the statutes to the Company and in 1587 the statutes were printed "for the relief of workmen". The Company was also exploiting Day and Sere's privileges in the 1590s. Individuals were now investing in stock, financing publication and going shares in the exploitation of privileges. This was happening against the background of a growing dislike of granting monopolies to individuals. Despite this discontent Elizabeth made at least thee grants of author's copyright between 1598 and 1592 and in 1588 permitted Richard Watkins to renew his copyright in almanacs for a further 21 years.

In 1598 the House of Commons launched a successful attack on monopolies and in 1601 Elizabeth suspended all monopolies pending an investigation and approval by law offiers of the Crown.

On 24 March 1603 Elizabeth died. At the following court of the Stationers'Company a committee was appointed to promote an act of Parliament. The result was:

The Letters Patent of 29 October 1603, a grant "to the whole Company of stationers for the benefit of the poor of the same that they and none others shall imprint the books of private prayers, primers, psalters, psalms in English and Latin, and almanacks and prognostications". This became the basis for the English Stock. They were empowered to seize books printed in cotravention of their rights and were also allowed to make ordinances for the working of the privileges. About the same time the Stationers' Company had acquired the privilege of common law books.

In the same breath that James I had denounced monopolies, as had Elizabeth, he made this grant. The reasons were probably financial and also the emotional need of providing for the poor fund - there was £200 a year available from profits. James I did confirm several monopolies and granted others, even to non-Stationers.

The English stock was the means of financing the venture of publishing the items mentioned above. A nominal capital of £9,000 was didived into three equal parts.There were 15 shares of £200 for the assistants, 30 shares at £100 for the livery and 60 at £50 for the yeomanry. However the Court appropriated shares in all three grades. There was a great demand for shares when they came on the market. The yeomanry shares were often divided and Stationers used the influence of outsiders to obtain shares, for example Franis Bacon wrote in favour of John Jaggard. Shares were obtained by election when they became available through death or other reasons.The dividend was usually over 12%; in the late 17th century at the peak of prosperity it reached 60%. Special stock keepers were elected to manage the stock of books, arrange for sales to booksellers and so on. The full committee was responsible for allocating books to presses, aproving estimates and paper samples. Problems in management included printers producing more than the permitted number of stock books and selling the extra under the counter. This was solved by sharing the work between printers. There were problems in paying dividends due to excessive buying on credit. There were also claims by individuals to part of the Company's monopoly. A claim by Richard Watkins to an almanack privilege granted by Elizabeth cost the Company £160. In the main the English Stock was profitable. Further monopolies were acquired, in 1607 Henry Stringer's privilege for school books and in 1638 Speed's Genealogies. The support of these restrictive practices was unanimous although it stifled initiative and led to poor printing - and there remained serious rivals in Oxford and Cambridge.

Competition from the universities.

By its charter of 1534 Cambridge was alowed three printers or stationers. No advantage had been take of this by 1557 when government policy stifled provincial printing. However in 1583, Thomas Thomas was appointed printer and obtained a press. The Company seized it and, although the university was allowed a press by right, harassed him by seizing books in London. In 1588 he was succeeded by John Legate who realized the need to print popular lines and, aided by the university, obtained the right to print certain privileged books including in 1629 Bibles, Psalms and Lily's grammar. In 1613 the Buck brothers, who were academics, succeeded as printers. The Stationers' Company managed to gain control over privileged books but in 1632 Thomas Daniel, a professional printer, succeeded and found the agreement irksome. The Stationers' Company now had to pay £200 a year to buy off competition from Cambridge.

In Oxford a press had been re-established 1584 with Joseph Barnes as printer, a situation recognised by the Star Chamber decree of 1586. Barnes was succeeded in 1617 by John Lichfield and he was succeeded by his son Leonard in 1635. By letter patent of 1632 three presses were allowed in Oxford along with the right to print the Bible. The King's printer and the company paid the university 200 pounds per annum to forebear from doing this. The last surviving monopoly is that of the Authorized Version at Oxford University press.

The Latin stock was founded in about 1616. The primary aim was to purchase through agents books printed abroad and distribute them through a shop in the garden of the Company's hall. There was a nominal capital of £4,800 divided in three ways. The aim was to take the sting out of the Cambridge concessions but it was a failure and was wound up in 1627 having never declared a dividend. It had relied excessively on loans and there was too much direct competition.

An Irish stock was founded in 1618 which obtained a grant of the rights of the King's printer in Ireland for 21 years. That was also unsuccessful but similar stocks were also organized by the Company for ballad printing and Bible printing.

Besides the Company's attempts to build a trading empire, the government also continued to employ the company as agents for press control, but there is little evidence of punishment. Many fines were for minor offences, striking an apprentice in front of the Court or "undecent speeches to the Master for example. Charitable activities continued including loans to booksellers to start businesses, something that was often abused. Occasional complaints were dealt with, esspecially with book binders over systems of apprenticeship. Though not all those in the book trade were in the Stationers' Company, numbers increased during the 17th century. There was an improvement in the social standing of the Company, apparent from a study of the occupations of fathers of apprentices; there were less orphans and husbandmen, more gentry and clergy.

On 11 July 1637 came the Decree in Star Chamber "concerning printing", an attempt to deal with seditious printing, probably promoted by the Company for their own benefit to deal with infringers of rights and sanctioned by the government as it promised more effective safeguards. Many of the clauses addressed long-standing problems. The printers were most severely affected; they could have their types defaced or equipment confiscated. There were 33 clauses in three main sections: general, booksellers, printers and typefounders.

• The printing and selling of heretical and seditious pamphlets was forbidden.
• All books were to be licensed, usually by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and entered at Stationers' Hall.
• Two two copies of the manuscript were to be provided, one to be retained for reference, to avoid subsequent changes to the text.
• Reprints had to be relicensed.
• The names of the author, printer and publishers were to be printed on the publication.
• The right to search was reaffirmed.
• Nobody who had not served an apprenticeship as a stationer could retail books.
• It was an offence for a foreigner to sell in London books printed abroad.
• No books were to be printed abroad for import.
• All books were to be landed in London.
• Bales were only to be opened in the presence of a member of the Stationers'Company and the ecclesiastical authorities.
• A list of books was to be sent to the Archbishop of Canterbury or the Bishop of London before the books were put on sale.
• Twenty named masters were allowed in London (the same number as in 1586).
• Two presses were allowed per printing office, three for upper wardens and the Master.
• The twenty were to bind themselves for £300 within ten days not to print unlicensed books.
• Unauthorised printers were to be pilloried or whipped through the streets. This was more severe than previously.
• Apprentices were limited to the number of presses.
• Only freemen ofthe Stationers' Company were to be employed.
• Each press was to find work for at least one free journeyman, even if their services were not needed.
• There were penalties for those refusing to find journeymen work.
• University printers were allowed as many apprentices as they wanted, provided that they first found work for their own freemen.
• No joiner was to make a press without informing the Company.
• Only four named typefounders were permitted and any replacements would be authorised by the Archbishop of Canterbury or the Bishop of London with six other high commissioners.
• A copy of each book would be deposited in the Bodleian Library in Oxford. This clause, which confirmed an agreement reached with the Company by Sir Thomas Bodley in 1610, formed the basis of later legal deposit legislation.

In July 1641 the Long Parliament abolished the court of star chamber. The consequent breakdown of royal authority meant that the Stationers' Company lost some control.

In 1641 there was an attack on monopolies by Michael Sparke in Scintilla, or a light broken into dark warehouses. It only stopped short of the English stock for the sake of the people it benefitted. He urged parliament to release copies that had not been printed and to increase the number of Assistants. He attacked the oligarchic nature of the Company. It was effective after two or three years when the number of Assistants was increased to 23.

In 1644 there was a challenge by the yeomanry who demanded to be present at elections. On January 23 at Common Hall a petition complaining against abuses was handed in. A committee was set up to examine the ordinances, but it worked under opposition from the Court of Assistants and in 1645 the Company managed to obtain the signatures of the majority in a petition to the Mayor against Sparke and others who were trying to upset the method of choosing the governing body. Thus, by appealing to the self-interest of those involved with the English Stock, the court remained as oligarchic as before.

Monopolies accrued to the company after 1641 through Miles Flesher. He had enlarged his business by partnership with John Haviland and Robert Young. He took over three printing houses and acquired privileges including a share in the King's printer. He was also prominent in the Company an Assistant in 1642 and Master from 1652-3 and 1662-3. In 1642 the King had left London. In 1644 the company set up a committee to attempt to obtain the Office of King's printer. One partner, Bill was a Royalist, the other Barker was in financial trouble, so by January 1646 the Company was printing Bibles. In 1647 the company obtained patent as Scottish royal printer. In 1661 Flesher sold the patent for common law to the company for £240.

Seditious printing caused parliament to reimpose restrictions. This was the cause of Milton writing Areopagitica, a speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc'd Printing, to the Parlament of England in 1644, his stirring appeal opposing licensing and censorship.

In 1643 an ordnance for the regulation of printing was passed. All books were to be licensed and entered and the company had powers of search. However the power of the Long Parliament was increasingly ineffectual until in 1649 an Act for better regulating of printing was passed with the same regulations as before but no limit to the numbers of master printers. A 1653 Act placed the final responsibility for printing and the behaviour printers in the hands of the Council of State.

The company of printers. Relaxation after the Court of Star Chamber was abolished increased the number and power of printers. Until then they had been subservient to booksellers and in 1651 petitioned to be made a separate company. This was unsuccessful but there was another attempt in 1663, a petition to relieve one mystery from control by another. In A brief discourse concerning printing and printers, published in 1663, it was shown how printers now had little say. This bid for independence failed through the opposition of the Stationers' Company. Also the printers themselves were not united; some saw the restriction of numbers as beneficial to the trade.

The Licensing act of 1662 so called from an order that publications had to have a licence printed verbatim in the book. The three best copies were to be deposited with the Company for the King's library, Oxford University and Cambridge University. Printing in Oxbridge was not under the Stationers' Company's control. Many clauses of 1637 were reintroduced, but there was no need to licence reprints and produce two copies of the manuscript. Importing was less restricted and the powers of search were transferred to the Secretary of State. Also as a result of allegations of Sir Roger L'Estrange, a royalist journalist and pamphleteer, that the number of printers had now reached 60, the number was reduced to 20 at his suggestion. Petitions and complaints by the Stationers, including one for independence by printers, led to the appointment of L'Estrange by the King to inquire into printing.

In 1663 L'Estrange issued a long report condemning the printers. As a result the office of Surveyor of the Imprimerie and Printing Presses was established. L'Estrange was the first holder with powers of search and seizure similar to the Stationers' Company previously. Also he was one of the licencers of the press and given the monopoly of printing newspapers and advertising material. He took his duties seriously, made several raids on printing houses personally, and imposed severe penalties. His appointment aroused resentment and was allowed to lapse three years later, though he still remained influential.

In 1666 the Company lost its hall in the great fire of London. The archives were carried to safety by the clerk. They had lost a charter before the fire, and in 1667 the King granted a new inspeximus charter with the same wording as the old one.

The Stationers'Company were not adverse to the tightening of the restrictions imposed by the 1662 Licensing Act but the government merely renewed it in 1664 and 1665. The Company worked in an uneasy relationship with L'Estrange, feeling that his powers were too small. In practice though few actions were brought. In 1670 Robert Etherington claimed that he had set up a press without permission "because he served his time at the trade and no other reason". No action was taken in his case. Wardens were known to send out warnings of impending searches and generally printers were left alone, provided they did not print almanacks. In 1670 legal proceedings commenced as to why the Company had failed to act to suppress seditious literature. L'Estrange intervened to say that the Company should provide more effective bylaws.

In 1678 the new ordinances finally appeared, the old ones having been lost. They governed behaviour at meetings: those attending had to appear punctually in gowns, all debates must be serious. Nominations and elections were to be made by the Court alone, as before. They also covered keeping accounts, the chest, the use of the seal. The livery would be elected by the court, the renter wardens elected by the Court from the livery to collect quarterage (8d or 4d) and rents. Notice of new presses must be given to the Wardens or the Master; a "press in a hole" was not allowed. The number of presses was kept to 20.

The 1662 Act which had been renewed in 1664 and 1665 was allowed to lapse in 1679, and press control now relied on the ordinances. In 1681 supplementary ordinances repeated the 1662 provision that every book should bear the name of the printer or of a London bookseller. In 1683 a further ordinance made it compulsory to enter the full title of a book on the Stationers'Company register before printing or reprinting with a fine of £20 for non-compliance.

A new Stationers' Company charter was drawn up in 1684. The Stationers' Company was the first of the city livery companies to obtain a new charter in a period of general renewal of the charters by Charles II. The speed is probably because of the special relationship of the Company with the King in suppression of libel and not their standing in the City which was low. (When Sir Thomas Davis was elected Lord Mayor in 1676 he had to be translated to the Grocers' company. Also attempts to get booksellers who were not members of the Stationers' Company translated had failed.) The charter repeated the clauses of 1557. Letterfounders, builders of presses and binders and booksellers within four miles of London had to be members. Royal approval was given to the public register of books, and all copies had to be entered. The Company attempted to enforce the charter by forcing booksellers not members of the company to be translated but they failed. They also failed to prevent the Bishop of London issuing licences the hawkers of books. It was impossible for the Company to control the selling of books now.

There was also confusion on the accession of James II. In 1685 he renewed the Licensing Act for seven years. The King also used clauses in the charters to demote large numbers of Assistants and liverymen from city companies. The charter was also surrendered in 1689 and any further actions had to be undertaken on the authority of the bylaws, not the charter.

Parliament refused to renew the Licensing Act in 1695, effectively freeing printing from government control, lifting the limitationon the number of presses and opening the way to the expansion of printing into provincial towns in the 18th century.

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This page last updated 14 October 2020