1 - Print, Production, Authors and Readers

Summary

This chapter examines ways of measuring the growth in the output of different kinds of print and, where possible, shifts in subject areas and genres. It notes that the confrontational use of print for political purposes was strongly dependent on precise context. As had been the case since the Reformation, the market potential of print did not develop in a linear way. To manage a printing business required considerable investment, as well as a good feel for reader interests and a willingness to take risks in times of crisis or repression. In those parts of Europe which had strong print markets, not just for books but also pamphlets, serials and more ephemeral outputs, we can therefore use the new history of print not only to underpin a better understanding of changing political cultures, but also to re-evaluate the complexity of political interactions outside the educated elite.