Cambridge Studies in Publishing and Printing History – serie

This series of studies, by experts in the relevant fields, comprehensively and systematically examines British book production and publishing in the hundred years before the introduction of printing. The terms 'book' and 'publishing' are usually employed in reference to the products of the printing press. This collection of essays, however, deals with the manuscript book, its materials and make-up, the people who made, commissioned and read such books, the kinds of reading matter they wanted, and the way books catered for - and created - the reading and book-buying public. Special attention is paid to the increasing systemization and commercialization of production. These essays constitute a valuable work of reference for scholars and students in a wide range of disciplines.

This volume contains almost all the letters that Charles Dodgson (alias Lewis Carroll) wrote to his publisher during a professional relationship that spanned the last thirty-five years of the Victorian era, a time when the reading public expanded a hundredfold, when the techniques of mass book production were being shaped, and when laws governing copyright and bookselling were first forged in the English-speaking world. Dodgson's correspondence touched critically on all these issues, and is a fascinating record of the contemporary evolution of publishing as well as of the production and distribution of his own immensely popular children's books and other works. At the same time it charts the growth of the House of Macmillan from modest beginnings to its status as a leading publisher. Professor Cohen and Professor Gandolfo have provided a useful introduction and explanatory notes to the letters.

It was not until the eighteenth century that books became widely available throughout the whole of England. Publishing remained largely London-based, but the provincial market grew steadily in importance. In this study, drawing on a wide range of primary sources, John Feather traces the economic, social and cultural forces which made possible this fundamental change, and assesses the impact of the metropolitan printed word on provincial society. He discusses the important issues of copyright and piracy; the various financial arrangements between booksellers and publishers; and above all the elaborate distribution and agency systems that enabled London publishers to retain their effective stranglehold by penetrating the provincial market at every level.

The emergence of print in late fifteenth-century Italy gave a crucial new importance to the editors of texts, who determined the form in which texts from the Middle Ages would be read, and who could strongly influence the interpretation and status of texts by adding introductory material or commentary. Brian Richardson here examines the Renaissance circulation and reception of works by earlier writers including Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio and Ariosto, as well as popular contemporary works of entertainment. In so doing he sheds light on the impact of the new printing and editing methods on Renaissance culture, including the standardisation of vernacular Italian and its spread to new readers and writers, the establishment of new standards in textual criticism, and the increasing rivalry between the two cities on which this study is chiefly focused, Venice and Florence.

This is a study of some of the central questions in literary publishing in mid-nineteenth-century North America and Britain, addressed through examination of the unusually rich archives of a unique publishing firm. Boston-based Ticknor and Fields, one of the pre-eminent literary publishers of its time, enjoyed close links with Britain, and also developed new production, distribution, and marketing skills as the settlement of North America pushed ever further west. Michael Winship has studied the firm's business records and publications in detail: he reveals what Ticknor and Fields published, its costs of production, the ways it marketed and distributed its books, and the profits it made. Winship goes on to explore the implications of the firm's work for the book trade in general, and to show how an investigation of Ticknor and Fields enriches our understanding of the literary and cultural history of Britain and North America.

Conventional literary history has virtually ignored the role of newspaper syndicates in publishing some of the most famous nineteenth-century writers. Stephen Crane, Henry James, Rudyard Kipling, Robert Louis Stevenson and Mark Twain were among those who offered their early fiction to 'Syndicates', firms which subsequently sold the work to newspapers across America for simultaneous, first-time publication. This newly decentralised process profoundly affected not only the economics of publishing, but also the relationship between authors, texts and readers. In the first full-length study of this publishing phenomenon, Charles Johanningsmeier evaluates the unique site of interaction syndicates held between readers and texts.

Conventional literary history has virtually ignored the role of newspaper syndicates in publishing some of the most famous nineteenth-century writers. Stephen Crane, Henry James, Rudyard Kipling, Robert Louis Stevenson and Mark Twain were among those who offered their early fiction to 'Syndicates', firms which subsequently sold the work to newspapers across America for simultaneous, first-time publication. This newly decentralised process profoundly affected not only the economics of publishing, but also the relationship between authors, texts and readers. In the first full-length study of this publishing phenomenon, Charles Johanningsmeier evaluates the unique site of interaction syndicates held between readers and texts.

The Correspondence of Robert Dodsley 1733-1764 brings to light much previously unpublished detail for the study of eighteenth-century British literary and publishing history. It is a fully annotated edition of letters exchanged between Robert Dodsley - London's leading literary publisher of the mid eighteenth century - and his authors, members of the book trade, and friends. Numbering about four hundred pieces, the correspondence reflects the publisher's relations with such people as Edmund Burke, the 4th Earl of Chesterfield, David Garrick, Thomas Gray, David Hume, Samuel Johnson, Laurence Sterne, and Horace Walpole. A lengthy introduction provides an account of Dodsley's publishing career, including his negotiations with authors and other publishers, and offers many insights into the technical and financial operation of the contemporary book trade.

The cheap Bibles of nineteenth-century Britain were read in millions of homes, and were also potent symbols of national virtue. In an age of social ferment, cheap Bibles - most published by the British and Foreign Bible Society - represented both the promise of mass literacy and the benefits of industrialisation. This book, based on correspondence and other archival records, tells the story of the BFBS from two perspectives: its place in the history of publishing and printing and in contemporary society. The BFBS, founded in 1804, grew out of the evangelical revival and became a popular crusade. 'Ladies Bible Associations' sprang up to supply the poor with cheap Bibles and contribute to the production of Bibles in foreign languages for the salvation of souls abroad. To meet the growing demand the Society experimented with new technologies including stereotyping, machine printing and bookbinding, and a unique distribution system.

This is a study of some of the central questions in literary publishing in mid-nineteenth-century North America and Britain, addressed through examination of the unusually rich archives of a unique publishing firm. Boston-based Ticknor and Fields, one of the pre-eminent literary publishers of its time, enjoyed close links with Britain, and also developed new production, distribution, and marketing skills as the settlement of North America pushed ever further west. Michael Winship has studied the firm's business records and publications in detail: he reveals what Ticknor and Fields published, its costs of production, the ways it marketed and distributed its books, and the profits it made. Winship goes on to explore the implications of the firm's work for the book trade in general, and to show how an investigation of Ticknor and Fields enriches our understanding of the literary and cultural history of Britain and North America.

Following the discovery of manuscript materials, including hundreds of unpublished additions and changes, for Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language, Allen Reddick describes the conception, composition, writing, and subsequent revision of the first great English dictionary, and the only dictionary created by a great writer. In this second edition of his acclaimed study, Reddick incorporates new commentary and scholarship, and situates The Making of Johnson's Dictionary in current critical and scholarly debate.

This book examines the radical transformation of British literary culture during the period 1880-1914 as seen through the early publishing careers of three highly influential writers, Joseph Conrad, Arnold Bennett and Arthur Conan Doyle. Peter D. McDonald examines the cultural politics of the period by considering the social structure of the literary world in which these writers were read and understood. Through a wealth of historical detail, he links the publishing history of key texts with the wider commercial, ideological, and literary themes in the period as a whole. By tracing the complex network of relationships among writers, publishers, printers, distributors, reviewers, and readers, McDonald demonstrates that the discursive qualities of these texts cannot be fully appreciated without understanding the material conditions of their production. In so doing, he makes social history a central part of literary studies, and shows the importance of the history of publishing in questions of critical interpretation.

The emergence of print in late fifteenth-century Italy gave a crucial new importance to the editors of texts, who determined the form in which texts from the Middle Ages would be read, and who could strongly influence the interpretation and status of texts by adding introductory material or commentary. Brian Richardson here examines the Renaissance circulation and reception of works by earlier writers including Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio and Ariosto, as well as popular contemporary works of entertainment. In so doing he sheds light on the impact of the new printing and editing methods on Renaissance culture, including the standardisation of vernacular Italian and its spread to new readers and writers, the establishment of new standards in textual criticism, and the increasing rivalry between the two cities on which this study is chiefly focused, Venice and Florence.

When printing first began, a new book automatically fell into the public domain upon publication. Only a special law or privilegium enacted by a competent authority could protect it from being reprinted without the consent of the author or publisher. Such privileges for books are attested before 1480, but in Germany and Italy their efficacy was limited to a relatively small area by the political fragmentation of the country. During the 1480s and 1490s France became one of Europe's main centres of book production and, as competition intensified, privileges were sought there from 1498. Although privileges were to last as long as the Ancien Régime, the period to 1526 is the least-known stage of their development and the most important. Most privilege-holders printed the full text of their grant, and many others a summary.