The Book in the Renaissance by Andrew Pettegree
070.5094 PET
Pettegree, a historian at the University of St. Andrews and director of the Universal Short Title Catalogue, a database including the surviving 345,170 books and pamphlets printed in Europe from about 1450 to 1600, provides a fascinating analysis of early printing based on the USTC, estate inventories of remaining stock at the time of a printer or bookseller’s death or bankruptcy, and other sources. Printed books did not initially attract a broad market: clerics and nobles in early decades still preferred manuscript books with colorful illuminated pictures and decorative elements, and these were generally produced by businesses with stables of copyists which knew in advance that each copy was already sold. Printers never had enough moveable metal type to print an entire book, so they had to set type for one section, redistribute type, and print following sections; so they had to decide in advance to print 500 or 1,000 or more copies without knowing how many would actually sell. Gutenberg was one of many who finally finished printing his famous Bible only to have banker Johann Fust demand immediate loan repayment and take over his presses, metal types, and shop. Gradually printers and publishers built capital reserves and a growing market for vernacular languages as well scholarly Latin publications for the revival of interest in classical Greek and Roman authors, conflicts between Protestants and Catholics during the Reformation, government proclamations, schools, science and exploration, medicine and healing, and fiction.