THE PUBLISHERS OF THE MIDDLE AGES.* IN this second volume

of Books and their Makers during the Middle Ages Mr. Putnam has set himself to describe the condition of the production and distribution of literature during the two centuries which immediately succeeded the invention of printing. It was a work in which the printer- publisher played a far more prominent part than the author, and Mr. Putnam's chapters are chiefly concerned with the history of the great printing families who rose to eminence at the different literary centres of Europe. With the exception of certain writers of the Reformation period, contemporary authors contributed only a very inconsiderable share to the early output of printed books. "The lists of the earlier publishers were devoted to editions of the complete Bible, and of the different groups of the Biblical books, editions of the Greek and Roman classics, and of the works of the Church Fathers, and issues of certain philosophical treatises, which also were largely the work of writers of an earlier generation." The author seems to argue from this that what literary taste existed amongst the public could only be regarded as the creation of the printer-publisher, who should also receive the credit for the definite position achieved by literature in the community, and its recognition by the laws of the State. There is, of course, some measure of truth in this contention, but it should be remembered that each of the old printers was surrounded by his band of scholars, just as every modern publisher has his band of authors, and that the latter, though they in many cases never achieved individual fame, were even in those days fully as responsible for the growth and character of the literary output as were their employers. Mr. Putnam seems rather disposed to magnify the printer unduly. No doubt his position and his personal influence were at first exceptional, but that was a good deal owing to the fact that he had a boundless quarry of ancient literature to draw upon for the material of his books, and had no need to trouble himself with the search for original matter. Scholarship of a kind was cheap in his day, and the poor scholar who laboured at new editions was of little importance by the side of the wealthy printer who pub- lished them. The relation of patronage, however, between publisher and author lasted long after the close of the seven- teenth century ; indeed, it may not be altogether unknown to-day.

The first great increase in the production of the works of

living authors came with the Reformation, during which period there was an enormous output of controversial literature. This, while it undoubtedly tended to popularise the printing-press, did not prove an unmixed blessing to the printers. The Ecclesiastical authorities, alarmed at the rapid dissemination of ideas over which they exercised no control, promptly demanded and obtained the right of censorship; and from that time forward a constant struggle for freedom had to be waged by authors and printers alike. The publica- tion of unauthorised books in some places was attended with very serious danger to the printer. The censorship of the Press in Germany and the Low Countries was placed by an Imperial edict of Charles V. in the hands of the Ecclesiastical authorities, and when these latter found that they could not easily stem the tide of heretical literature, the most stringent measures were enacted against all offenders. In 1529 the penalty for printing any book without the authorisation of the Government was fixed at five florins gold :— "Two years later a supplementary edict added to this fine the punishment of public exposure and of branding with a hot iron, or of having an eye put out or the hand chopped off, as the judge might decide. In 1550, an Imperial ordinance punished with death those who printed or published the books condemned in 1529, and the fine for printing other books without authorisation was raised to twenty florins. No one could become a printer without an Imperial license. Booksellers could open their pack- ages only in the presence of the censors. They were obliged to post in their shops the lists of books condemned, and also the lists of the books kept for sale."

Some idea of the rigour of this censorship may be gathered from the Louvain Indices of 1546 and 1580, which the author quotes. That all the writings of Wycliff, Luther, Huss, and their many compeers and followers, should have been pro- hibited, might of course be expected; but it is difficult to con- jecture for what reason the Tusculan Disputations of Cicero, or treatises upon the origin of the Germans and universal

• Books and their Makers during the Middle Ages. Vol. II. By G. B. Putnam. London: G. P. Putnam's Sons.

history should have fallen under the ban. Nor were these edicts merely empty threats, as witness the case of Plautin of Antwerp, one of the greatest printer-publishers of his time :—

" In 1562, a grave misfortune came upon Plautin, which caused serious interruption to his business, and consequent loss. He was accused by the Margrave of Antwerp of heresy, because there had been printed in his establishment an edition of a treatise entitled Bri4fve instructton pour prier. Plautin was condemned in absentitt (he was at the time in Paris), and his goods were seized and sold at auction. He was able, however, later, to show that the book had been printed during his absence and without his knowledge, and for the account, not of his own publishing concern, but of some outside customer of the printing office, and he was finally acquitted."

It was the publisher, the man of substance, who had to suffer in these cases, and one can well understand his disinclination

to embark upon the publication of new and original matter. In France the struggle for liberty on the part of the printing- press only won the day with the Revolution. In England the

question -was complicated with that of property in literature, and was solved peacefully in the ordinary development of the

law. The most prominent champion of literary freedom was Milton, in whose famous Areopagitica, quoted at some length by our author, may be found a rather quaint plea against the indiscriminate suppression of books. Books, he con- tended, "are not absolutely dead things, but doe contain a potencie of life in them" :—

" Unless wariness be us'd, as good almost kill a man as kill a good Book ; who kills a man kills a reasonable creature, God's image ; but bee who destroys a goode Book, kills reason itselfe,

kills the Image of God, as it were in the eye We should be wary therefore what persecution we raise against the living labours of publick men, how we spill that season'd life of Man, preserved and stored up in Books; since we see a kind of homicide may be thus committed, sometimes a Martyrdom; and if it extend to the whole impression, a kind of massacre."

What with the censorship and the growing sense of the right of literary property, the organisation of printers, book- sellers, and others of the trade grew apace. To judge from an examination-paper prepared by the Guild of Venetian Printers and Booksellers for those seeking matriculation as booksellers, the trade was by no means open to the first- corner. Eleven questions are asked which cover the whole field of literature, and we are told in addition that all candi- dates should be able to read and write their own tongue fluently, should have a thorough knowledge of Latin and a working knowledge of French. "Greek was not required, but was commended as a useful accomplishment." Greek was ever a stumbling-block to the old printers, chiefly on account of the difficulty in obtaining Greek type. At Nurem- berg, the home of the famous printing family of Koberger, there was less familiarity with Greek than at Venice and Paris, and the author quotes an amusing complaint against one of Koberger's authors :—" His style is bad ; he is bringing in too much Greek." The printer of the Geography of Ptolemy, too, protests to the editor, "The Greek is very troublesome, and is costing me altogether too much ; " whereupon the editor retorts : " Koberger promised me that there should be a full supply of Greek type, and I find out only now, in reading the proofs, that your type has neither accents nor points." The most interesting question, however, that our author deals with is the gradual evolution of the laws of copyright and the recognition of literary property. It is a question upon which he writes with some authority, having made it is his special study and the subject of more than one previous book. The position, or rather the want of position, held by the authors in early days is curiously illustrated by a letter written by Balzao to acknowledge the production in 1648 of an un- authorised edition of his Lettres Choisies, by the Elzevirs of Leyden. The French author is so far from indignant at this appropriation of his work that he writes to the publishers in this grateful strain :—

" Gentlemen : I am under larger obligations to you than you may yourselves fully realise. I consider the right of Roman citizenship to be a small privilege compared with that which you have conferred upon me in including my name in your list of authors. This is to give me rank with the Consuls and Senators of Rome; I am made an associate of the Ciceros and the Sallusts."

The times are changed, and the authors with them. One is irresistibly reminded of a story told by Anthony Trollope of an eminent firm of London publishers, who wished to pur- chase his book at what he considered too low a price. "You should remember," urged the publisher, "the benefit you would get from our name ; would you not like to have our name at the bottom of your book ?" "I should prefer it at the bottom of a cheque," retorted the businesslike Trollope.

The contents of Mr. Putnam's book cover too wide a field for us to do more than indicate them roughly. He gives a detailed account of the fortunes and businesses of the great printers, such as the Estiennes of France, William Caxton,. the Kobergers of Nuremberg, Froben of Basle, Plautin of Antwerp, and last, but not least, the Elzevirs of Leyden and Amsterdam ; of the book production, too, of Casanbon,. Erasmus, and Luther; and of the beginnings of property in literature in Italy, France, Germany, and England, and the censorship and privileges that were in force in these countries. His book may seem to be rather too long, but it is difficult to suggest how he might have cut down so extensive an inquiry within narrower limits, for there are few repetitions to complain of. Finally he has treated a scholarly subject in, a scholarly fashion, though it must be confessed his style is not attractive in itself. One small objection we are tempted to make. Is " twelvemo " American for " duodecimo " ? It is not English, and it does not commend itself to our mind.