cheap popular literature—conditions of cheapness—popular literature of elizabeth's reign—who were the readers.

the history of cheap popular literature is a long and instructive chapter of the history of the condition of the people. before the invention of printing there was little literature that could be called popular, and none that could be called cheap. but in the very earliest stages of the press all books would be comparatively cheap, and all literature to a certain extent popular. our first printer, as we regard his works, had a most especial eye to the largest number of readers. we have no record of the price of his books beyond the fact that one of them was sold for 6s. 8d., a price equal to that of a quarter of wheat. but the subjects of his books, for the most part, show that he thought it his especial business to simplify knowledge, and to furnish reading for amusement. we can scarcely call any of his books learned. what there is of science in them was of a popular sort, and illustrated by diagrams. the histories were those of our old {180} legendary chronicles, as attractive even as the romances of chivalry which accompanied them. his poetry was chiefly that of one of the great minds whose essential attribute is that of universality. caxton went to the largest number of readers that his age presented to him.

it is a remarkable characteristic of the first century of printing, not only in this country, but wherever a press was erected, that the highest and most constant efforts of the new art were addressed to the diffusion of the old stores of knowledge, rather than to an enlargement of the stores. the early professors of the art on the continent, in germany, italy, and france, were scholars who knew the importance of securing the world's inheritance of the knowledge of greece and rome from any further destruction, such as the scattered manuscripts of the ancient poets, orators, and historians had experienced, through neglect and ignorance. the press would put them fairly beyond the reach of any new waste. but after the first half-century of printing, when these manuscripts had been copied in type, and the public libraries and the princes and nobles of europe had been supplied, a fresh want arose out of the satisfaction of the former want. men of letters, who did not belong to the class of the rich, anxiously demanded copies of the ancient classics; and their demands were not made in vain. the alduses, and stephenses, and plantins, did not hold it good to keep books dear for the advancement of letters; they anxiously desired {181} to make them cheap, and they produced, therefore, not expensive folios only, as their predecessors had done, but neat and compactly printed octavos and duodecimos, for the general market. the instant that they did this, the foundations of literature were widened and deepened. they probably at first over-rated the demand; indeed, we know they did so, and they suffered in consequence. but the time was sure to come when their labours would be rewarded; and, at any rate, they were at once placed beyond a servile dependence upon patrons. when they had their customers in every great city and university, they did not wait for the approving nod of a pope or a cardinal before they began to print.

a new demand very soon followed upon the first demand for cheap copies of the ancient classics, and this was even more completely the demand of the people. the doctrines of the reformation had proclaimed the bible as the best spiritual guide and teacher, and the people would have bibles. the first english bible was bought up and burnt; those who bought the bibles contributed capital for making new bibles, and those who burnt the bibles advertised them. the first printers of the bible were, however, cautious; they did not see the number of readers upon which they were to rely for a sale. in 1540 grafton printed but 500 copies of his complete edition of the scriptures; and yet, so great was the rush to this new supply of the most important knowledge, that we have {182} existing 326 editions of the english bible, or parts of the bible, printed between 1526 and 1600.

the early english printers did not attempt what the continental ones were doing for the ancient classics. down to 1540 no greek book had appeared from an english press. oxford had only printed a part of cicero's epistles; cambridge, no ancient writer whatever: only three or four old roman writers had been reprinted, at that period, throughout england. but a great deal was done for public instruction by the course which our early printers took; for, as one of them says, "divers famous clerks and learned men translated and made many noble works into our english tongue, whereby there was much more plenty and abundance of english used than there was in times past." the english nobility were, probably, for more than the first half-century of english printing, the great encouragers of our press: they required translations and abridgments of the classics, versions of french and italian romances, old chronicles, and helps to devout exercises. caxton and his successors abundantly supplied these wants; and the impulse to most of their exertions was given by the growing demand for literary amusement on the part of the great. caxton, as we have seen, speaking of his 'boke of eneydos,' says, "this present book is not for a rude uplandish man to labour therein, nor read it." but a great change was working in europe; the "rude uplandish man," if he gave promise of talent, was sent to school. the priests {183} strove with the laity for the education of the people; and not only in protestant but in catholic countries, were schools and universities everywhere founded. here, again, was a new source of employment for the press—a, b, c's, or abseys, primers, catechisms, grammars, dictionaries, were multiplied in every direction. books became, also, during this period, the tools of professional men. there were not many works of medicine, but a great many of law; and even the people required instruction in the ordinances they were called upon to obey, which they received in the form of proclamations.

the course of the early printers was based upon the principle that they could produce books cheaper by the press than by the scribe. this point once established, the next fact would be also clear—that the more impressions they printed the cheaper the book could be afforded. beyond this great fact there was a difficulty. there would arise in their minds the same doubt which has puzzled all printers and booksellers from the time of caxton to our times; which is at the bottom of all controversies about dear books and low-priced books at the present hour; and which will continue to perplex the producers of books, even should the entire population beyond infancy become readers, and have the means of purchasing books in some form or other. that question is simply a commercial one, and is perfectly independent of any schemes of public or private generosity for the enlightenment of the people; it is—given the subject {184} of a book, its mode of treatment, the celebrity or otherwise of its author, its amount of matter—what is the natural limit of its first sale, and the necessary ratio of its published price? if the probable demand be under-rated, there will be a high price, which will restrict the natural demand; and if over-rated, there will be a low price, which will curtail the natural profit. this is scarcely a question for enthusiasts for cheapness to decide, upon the broad assertion that a large sale of low-priced books will be more profitable than a small sale of high-priced books.

in 1825, archibald constable, then the great publisher, propounded to the then 'great unknown' his plan for revolutionising "the art and traffic of bookselling." he exhibited the annual schedule of assessed taxes, having reckoned the number of persons who paid for each separate article of luxury; and from that document he calculated that, if he produced every year "twelve volumes so good that millions must wish to have them, and so cheap that every butcher's callant may have them, if he please to let me tax him sixpence a week," he should sell them, "not by thousands or tens of thousands, but by hundreds of thousands—ay, by millions." it is recorded that a worthy divine, instructing his bookseller to publish a sermon of his composition, decided that at least twelve thousand should be the number printed, he having calculated that one copy would be required in each parish by the clergyman alone, to {185} say nothing of chance customers. these statistics were ingenious, but they were not safe guides. the callants did not consent to be taxed sixpence a week; and the rectors and curates did not rush to st. paul's churchyard to buy up the limited impression of the sermon.

but the edinburgh publisher, and the rural divine, were nevertheless right in their endeavour to find some principle upon which they could determine the probable demand for a literary work. constable proposed to himself the union of goodness and cheapness, to create a demand that (still using his own words) would have made him "richer than the possession of all the copyrights of all the quartos that ever were, or will be, hot-pressed." the goodness without the cheapness might have produced little change in the market; the cheapness without the goodness might have been more influential but, with the truest combination of these qualities, there is nothing so easy or so common as to over-rate a demand in the commerce of books. the price of a book aspiring to the greatest popularity can only be settled by an estimate of the probable number of readers at any one time in the community, and by a still more difficult estimate of the sort of reading which is likely to interest the greatest number. the same difficulty arises with regard to every new book, and has always arisen. the amount of the "reading public," with its almost endless subdivisions, arising out of station, or age, or average intelligence, or {186} prevailing taste, is very difficult to be estimated in our own day; and there are not many authentic details ready to our hand upon which we can make an estimate for any past period. we will endeavour, out of these scanty landmarks, to collect some facts relating to the former state and progressive extension of the realms of print.

it is no modern discovery that a book cheap enough for the many amongst reading people to buy, and at the same time a book which the many would have a strong desire to buy, would be more advantageous to the manufacturer of books than a dear book which the few only could buy, and which the few only would desire to buy. there is preserved, in the handwriting of christopher barker, in 1582, 'a note of the offices and other special licences for printing granted by her majesty, with a conjecture of their valuation.'[18]

this worthy printer to the queen probably a little under-rated his own gains, when he says that the whole bible requires so great a cost, that his predecessors kept the realm twelve years without venturing a single edition, but that he had desperately adventured to print four in a year and a half, expending about 3000l., to the certain ruin of his wife and family if he had died in the time. of these four editions, three were in folio, and one in quarto. the sale of the folios would necessarily be limited by the cost, in the way that the same unhappy patentee complains of as to his book of {187} common prayer, "which few or none do buy except the minister." but how stands the sale of smaller and less expensive books? mr. daye prints the psalms in metre, which book, "being occupied of all sorts of men, women, and children, and requiring no great stock for the furnishing thereof, is therefore gainful." the small catechism is "also a profitable copy, for that it is general." mr. seres prints the morning and evening prayer, with the collects and the litany; and where poor mr. barker sells one book of common prayer, "he (seres) furnisheth the whole parishes throughout the realm, which are commonly a hundred to one." but with all his laments and jealousies, queen elizabeth's printer, in those anti-commercial days, had hit the sound principle that is at the root of the commerce of books. there is one of the printers, he says, whose patent contains all dictionaries in all tongues, all chronicles and histories whatsoever; and his position is thus described:—"if he print competent numbers of each to maintain his charges, all england, scotland, and much more, were not able to utter them; and if he should print but a few of each volume, the prices would be exceedingly great, and he in more danger to be undone than likely to gain." here are the scylla and charybdis of the book-trade. let "all good books on their first appearance appeal to the needy multitude," says one adviser. mr. barker answers, "all england, scotland, and much more, were not able to utter them." "let the rich and luxurious {188} be first addressed," say the old traditional believers that dearness and excellence are synonymous. mr. barker answers—"print but a few of each volume, at exceedingly high prices, and there is more danger of ruin than gain."

the note of christopher barker to lord burghley is an answer to a complaint that had been made in 1582, that the privileges granted to members of the stationers' company "will be the overthrow of the printers and stationers within this city, being in number one hundred and seventy-five, and thereby the excessive prices of books prejudiciable to the state of the whole realm." in the absence of any knowledge of the numbers printed of a book, and of its consequent price, at the time of this complaint against the monopolists of charging "excessive prices," it may enable us to form some estimate of the character of the books issued in 1582, and thence of the quality of the readers of books, if we glance at two other sources of information—ames and herbert's 'typographical antiquities,' and mr. collier's 'extracts from the registers of the stationers' company.' the latter is especially valuable, as showing what was doing in the most popular literature—the literature of ballads and broadsides, of marvellous adventures and merry tales—which matters ames and herbert rejected in a great degree.

in the twenty-fifth year of queen elizabeth then, we learn that the printers of london had a good deal of work to do, in the production of {189} bibles, testaments, and prayer-books—of a b c's, primers, and catechisms; of divinity, chiefly controversial; of almanacs and prognostications; of latin books for grammar-schools; of grammars and dictionaries; of statutes and law-books. this was the staple work of the press, which had been going on from the beginning of the century, and constantly increasing. we learn from the 'privy-purse accounts of elizabeth of york,' that, in 1505, twenty pence were paid for a primer and a psalter. this sum was equal to a week's wages of a labourer in husbandry. the primer and the psalter were scarcely for the labourer. in 1516 'fitzherbert's grand abridgment,' then first published, cost the lawyer forty shillings—a price equal to the expense of a week's commons for all the students of fitzherbert's inn. no doubt a century of printing in england had greatly lowered the price of all books that were essential instruments in the learned professions, or for the conduct of school education. but in the reign of elizabeth the class of general readers had arisen; a class far more extensive than that of the clerks and noble gentlemen to whom our first printers addressed their translations of the classics, their french and italian romances, their 'gesta romanorum,' their old chronicles, and their early poetry. it was a time of travel and adventure. in this year, 1582, we find printed 'discovery and conquest of the east indies,' 'discovery and conquest of the provinces of peru, and also of the rich mines of potosi,' 'divers voyages touching {190} the discovery of america' (hakluyt), 'acts and gests of the spaniards in the west indies,' 'state of flanders and portugal.' 'a discourse in commendation of sir francis drake' had appeared in 1581. frobisher had received his poetical 'welcome home,' by churchyard, in 1579. of historical works, we have none printed in 1582, with the exception of 'the life, acts, and death of the most noble, valiant, and renowned prince arthur,' which the readers of all classes would receive with undoubting mind as an authentic record. but solid books of history had very recently been produced. holinshed had published his 'chronicles;' guicciardini had been translated by jeffrey fenton, and herodotus by b. r.

the rude historical drama was then just arising to familiarise the people with their country's annals. in ten more years the press would teem with play-books; for the triumphant era was approaching of those who, in 1579, stephen gosson denounced to uttermost perdition in his 'pleasant invective against poets, pipers, jesters, and such-like caterpillars of a commonwealth.' that species of popular literature is almost absent from the registers of 1582; but the materials upon which much of the romantic drama is founded were familiar to the readers of this period. who were the readers, we may judge from the titles of some of these novels. one will indicate a class:—'the wonderful adventures of simonides, gathered as well for the instruction of our noble young gentlemen as our honourable {191} courtly ladies.' the translators and writers of these romances seem to have had no notion of a class of readers beyond the circle of the rich and the high-born. sidney's 'arcadia' is called 'the countess of pembroke's arcadia;' and in his dedication to "my dear lady and sister," he says, "it is done only for you, and to you; ... for indeed for severer eyes it is not, being but a trifle, and that triflingly handled." a few years after came robert greene, and other writers of imagination, who were equally starved in writing plays for the stage-managers and stories for the stationers. greene's 'pandosto,' afterwards called 'dorastus and fawnia,' is a small quarto of 56 pages, in which shakspere found the story of 'the winter's tale.' the author describes this novelet as "pleasant for age to avoid dreary thoughts; profitable for youth to eschew other wanton pastimes; and bringing to both a desired content." he dedicates it "to the gentlemen readers, health;" and to these "gentlemen" he says, "if any condemn my rashness for troubling your ears with so many unlearned pamphlets, i will straight shroud myself under the shadow of your courtesies." the scholar was addressing the "gentlemen" of the inns of court and of the universities. he was looking to a ruder class of readers when, in 1591, he published 'a notable discovery of cosenage,' having himself, as he confesses, kept villainous company. this tract he addresses "to the young gentlemen, merchants, apprentices, farmers, and plain countrymen." {192} here is a great extension of the reading public: but we have some doubts if greene's tract ever reached "farmers and plain countrymen." the question arises, how were books to be circulated in the provinces? it was more than a century later before some of the largest towns, such as birmingham, had their booksellers. the pedlers who kept the fairs and markets were the booksellers of the early days of the press. the last new pamphlet travelled into the country in the same pack with the last new ruff; it travelled many miles, and found few buyers. and yet for some popular books the demand was not contemptible. sir thomas challoner translated 'the praise of folly,' of erasmus, which was published in 1577; and the stationers' company stipulated with the publisher that he should print "not above 1500 of any impression," and that "any of the company may lay on with him, reasonably, at every impression." mr. collier, who gives this curious extract from "the stationers' registers," thinks that this meant "sharing the profits." it meant that whilst the sheets were at press any member of the company might print off a reasonable number for his own sale. to "lay on" is still a technical term in printing. challoner's erasmus was an amusing book for the scholar, and had, no doubt, a special sale amongst teachers and students. philip stubbes, in his 'anatomy of abuses,' first published in 1583, bitterly complains that "pamphlets of toys and babbleries corrupt men's minds and pervert good wits;" {193} and he especially laments that such books, being "better esteemed and more vendible than the godliest and sagest books that be," have caused "that worthy book of martyrs, made by that famous father and excellent instrument in god his church, master john foxe, so little to be accepted." we might have concluded that, even in those days of limited bookselling, the great popular book of the 'acts and monuments' would have had an universal sale, with its wonderful woodcuts and its deep interest for the bulk of the people. but when its excitement was simply historical, two centuries afterwards, the same book would be found in many a peasant's cottage, for the sole reason that it might be purchased in small portions by a periodical outlay. whilst the wares of worthy john fox were sleeping in the bookseller's warehouse, the people were buying their 'almanacs and prognostications,' which christopher barker, speaking of their patentee, calls "a pretty commodity towards an honest man's living." they were buying, in this year of 1582, 'the dial of destiny,' an astrological treatise; 'the examination and confession of witches;' 'the execution of edmund campion, the jesuit;' 'the interpretation of dreams;' 'a treatise of the rare and strange wonders seen in the air.' they were buying 'a ballad of the lamentation of a modest maiden being deceitfully forsaken;' a ballad entitled 'now we go, of the papists' new overthrow;' 'the picture of two pernicious varlets, called prig pickthank and clem clawback;' 'a {194} ballad entitled a doleful ditty, declaring the unfortunate hap of two faithful friends, the one went out of her wits and the other for sorrow died.' they were buying story-books in prose and rhyme,—accounts of murders and treasons, of fires and earthquakes,—and songs, "old and plain." the court had its 'euphues, very pleasant for all gentlemen to read;' and the city its mirror of court manners, entitled 'how a young gentleman may behave himself in all companies.'

if we look very broadly at the character of the popular literature of the middle period of the reign of elizabeth, and compare it with the popular literature of our own day, we shall find that the differences are more in degree than in kind. we have purposely selected the period before the uprising of our great dramatic literature, which must have had a prodigious effect upon the intellectual condition of the people. there was a great deal of training going forward in the grammar-schools for the sons of tradesmen, and of the more opulent cultivators; but the rudiments of knowledge were not accessible to the labourers in rural districts, and the inferior handicraftsmen. there was, probably, no great distinction in the acquirements of the gentry and the burgesses. some read with a real desire for information; some for mere amusement. newspapers were not as yet. in the country house where reading was an occupation, there was hall's 'chronicle,' and stow's 'chronicle,' and, may be, his rival grafton's; there was {195} painter's 'palace of pleasure,' tusser's 'five hundred points of good husbandry,' and, though philip stubbes denies its popularity, fox's 'book of martyrs.' chaucer and gower had become obsolete in the courtly circles; but surrey, and sackville, and gascoigne were dozed over after the noontide dinner. the peers and commoners who came to court and parliament bought the new travels and discoveries, and carried them into the country, for the solace of many a long winter evening's curiosity about "antres vast and deserts idle." the greek and roman classics were becoming somewhat popularly known through translations. but it is tolerably clear that much of the light reading, and most of the cheapest books, were rubbish spun over and over again out of the novels of bandello, and boccaccio, and boisteau, and losing their original elegance in hasty and imperfect translations. the taste for such reading received its best counteraction when the stage became a noble instrument of popular instruction; and when those who did not frequent the theatres had a wondrous store of exciting fiction opened to them by a few plays of shakspere and many more of his contemporaries. it was in vain that puritanism, such as that of prynne, denounced "the ordinary reading of comedies, tragedies, arcadias, amorous histories, poets," as unlawful. they held their empire till civil war came to put an end to most home-studies, except that of party and polemical pamphlets. but even in the tempestuous times {196} that preceded the great outbreak, sir henry wotton, quoting the saying of a frenchman, laments that "his country was much the worse by old men studying the venom of policy, and young men reading the dregs of fancy."