1 - The Mediation of the Press

Summary

Printers and stationers proved potent if fitful agents in religious and political change in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Europe but, during the eighteenth century, print exerted new influence in subtle and far-reaching ways. The impact of the printing press in finance and commerce was manifest in England and in the British Isles whose economies advanced so extensively from the late seventeenth century. Printers promoted and serviced unprecedented financial and commercial expansion. The scale of press activity was also exceptional. In England, book, pamphlet and newspaper production soared, but in the years between the lapse of the licensing laws in 1695 and the first successful mechanized printing of a newspaper in 1814, the volume, quality and location of small-item or ‘jobbing’ printing was transformed. Nothing as potent had been seen since the arrival of the printing press in London in the late fifteenth century. What was even more remarkable was that printing-house business accelerated despite a virtual technological standstill in the design of the common printing press. The printed output of the 120 years after 1695 was the crowning achievement of the manual press before its replacement by mechanical power. Intaglio engraving and etching processes greatly advanced. Engravers were busier than ever, with striking technical improvements to design and illustration. For the merchant, retailer, manufacturer and investor, the changing products of the printing house were nothing short of revolutionary.

Increasingly during the eighteenth century, print recorded trading achievement and debated its consequences. Writers, illustrators and compilers all became more certain of their audience and of the practicality and effectiveness of their instruction. Printed books introduced and popularized commercial techniques. Printers and stationers enabled and refined trading practice by means of paper ledgers and account books and a vast array of printed materials that ranged from simple documents, certificates and ‘blank’ forms, to sophisticated manuals and commentaries. Bound and ruled blank books revolutionized record keeping and the precision and authority of the balance sheet. Print, chronicling, evaluating and instructing, helped effect a business revolution.

This book updates and revises my first examination of the productive relationship between printing and the publication of financial and commercial news and information.