  RICHARD BENTLEY—THE FIRST PRESS SYNDICATE In the movement for the revival of Cambridge typography at the end of the seventeenth century the most prominent name is that of Richard Bentley. The renovation of the University Press (writes his biographer, Monk), which had continued in decay since the Usurpation, was projected by him, and mainly accomplished through his agency. New buildings, new presses, and new types were all requisite; and the University itself being destitute of funds, a subscription for these purposes was procured principally by his exertions; and the deficiency was made up by the Senate borrowing a thousand pounds. The task of ordering types of every description was absolutely committed to his discretion by a grace in very complimentary terms; and the power of attorney given him on this occasion is the most unlimited I recollect ever to have seen The reference to the continuous decay of the Press during fifty years savours of exaggeration. The typographical inaccuracies in Field's bibles, it is true, became notorious; but it was Field who built the new printing-house and from 1655 onwards there is no year in which the continuity of book-production is broken. RICHARD BENTLEY On the other hand, it is clear that the old system inaugurated by the charter of 1534 had broken down. Under that system the university simply licensed tradesmen (who might, or might not, be members of the university) to print and sell books; and the proper working of the Press was dependent on the capabilities of the individual printer. He might be bullied by the London Stationers, as were Thomas Thomas and John Legate (the elder), and involve the university in a long series of petitions and counter-petitions; on the other hand he might make commercially profitable arrangements with the Stationers' Company, as did Thomas Buck, and disregard the interests of the university; he might accept the office with no intention of printing, but simply in the interests of a family monopoly, as did Francis Buck; or he might neglect his duties altogether, as did John Legate, the younger. Consequently, the standard of typography, the expansion of the Press buildings, and the purchase of new type were at the mercy of the commercial fortunes of the holders of the patents. It was with the object of bringing the Press directly under the control of the university and, at the same time, of making it worthier of Cambridge scholarship that the movement associated with Bentley's name began. The formal initiative came from the Chancellor himself. On 29 June, 1696, the Duke of Somerset wrote to the members of the Senate: Gentlemen As I have ye honour to be a servant to you all, soe am I ever thinking of wt may be most for yr interest, and for ye support of that reputation, and great character wch ye University have soe worthily deserved in ye Now, Gentlemen, their is nothing wanting of my part, to endeavour the procuring the like su[m]e againe from others, but yr aprobation, and consent, to have a Presse once more erected at Cambridge: and when that shall bee resolved on, then to give a finishing hand (like great Masters as you are) to my unfinished thoughtes, that I may be proude in having done some thing, yt you think will bee for your service; wch I doe hope will bee a meanes to procure mee a general pardonn from you all, for laying this Matter before you, having noe other ambition, than to bee thought your most obedient and most faithfull humble servant. Somerset. The duke himself lent the university the sum of £200 towards the cost of the scheme potestatem generalem et mandatum speciale omnimoda literarum et characterum genera ab exteris gentibus comparandi et omnia ad idem negotium spectantia et pertinentia pro arbitratu suo perquirendi et sumptibus Academiae in nostrum usum coemendi. "The commission," says Monk, "was executed with promptitude and judgment: he procured to be cast in Holland those beautiful types which appear in Talbot's Horace, Kuster's Suidas, Taylor's Demosthenes, &c." The next step was a grace of the Senate for the appointment of the first Press Syndicate: Placeat vobis, ut Dnus Procancellarius, Singuli Collegiorum Praefecti, Dni Professores, Mr Laughton Coll. Trin. Academiae Architypographus, Dr Perkins Regin. Mr Talbot and Mr Lightfoot Trin. Mr Nurse Joh. Mr Beaumont Petr. Mr Moss CCC. Mr Banks Aul. Pemb. Mr Leng Aul. Cath. Mr Pierce Eman. Mr Wollaston Sidn. Mr Gael Regal. aut eorum quinque ad minus, quorum semper unus sit Dnus Procancellarius, sint Curatores Praeli vestri Typographici lect. & concess. 21 Jan. 169?. Though Hayes retained his position as printer, the active part in the renovation of the Press was taken by Crownfield in his capacity as Inspector. Crownfield is described by Ames as "a Dutchman, who had been a soldier, and a very ingenious man"; and the earliest orders of the newly-appointed Curators seem to have been carried out by him. A new printing-house, facing Queens' Lane, was built to the north of that established by John Field; The Curators' activities may be illustrated by some extracts from the first Order Book Aug. 23rd 1698 1 Agreed then at a meeting of ye Curators of ye University-Press, yt Mr Jacob Tonson have leave to print an edition of Virgil, Horace, Terence, Catullus, Tibullus and Propertius in 4to with ye double Pica Letter: he paying to such persons as shall be appointed by ye said Curators 12s p. Sheet for ye impression of 500 copies: 14s for 750; and so in proportion for a greater Number: and yt Dr Mountague, Dr Covell, Mr Leng, Mr Laughton and Mr Talbot shall sign ye Articles of ye agreement above mentioned, on ye part of ye University. 2 Agreed at ye same time, yt Mr Edmund Jeffries have leave to print an Edition of Tully's works in 12mo with the Brevier Letter: he paying 1l. 10s. ye sheet for 1000 Copies. 3 That Cornelius Crownfield have leave to send to Roterdam for 300l weight of ye double Pica letter in order to ye Printing of Virgil, Horace, &c in ye manner above mentioned. The next extract shows the executive arrangements made by the Curators; clearly the whole body (including the Heads of Houses and Professors) was too large to handle the details of administration and committees of delegates were appointed to take monthly tours of duty. Provision was also made for the reading of proofs by competent scholars to be nominated by the editor and approved by the delegates. Octob. 17. 98. Present Dr James Vicechancellour, Dr Covell, Dr Blithe, Dr Roderick, Dr Smoult, Dr Perkins, Mr Barnet, Mr Laughton, Mr Leng, Mr Beaumont, Mr Pearse, Mr Wollaston, Mr Talbot, Mr Bennett. 1 Agreed yt all resolves made at any meeting of ye Curatours for the press be entered in ye Register for ye Press. 2 That ye Major part of ye Curatours present at any meeting shall determine who shall write ye resolves then made into ye said Register. 3 That all graces granted by ye Senate relating to ye Press be entered into ye said Register. 4 That there shall be a general meeting of ye Curatours upon ye first Wednesday in every month. 5 That ye general monthly meeting shall determine, wt persons shall be delegates for ye said Month. 6 That the sd delegates appointed by them shall meet weekly on Wednesdays at 2 of ye clock in ye afternoon. 7 That every Editour shall appoint his own inferiour Correctour to attend ye press. 8 That no Editour shall have power to appoint any inferiour Correctour to attend ye Press, but such as shall be approved by the delegates, & yt ye allowance for ye Correctours labour be set by ye delegates. The delegates for this month are Mr Vice-Chancellour Mr Peirse, Mr Leng, Mr Talbot, Mr Bennett. Wednesday Octob. 26. 1698 1 Ordered, yt Mr Cornelius Crownfield do go to London to procure an Alphabet of Box flourish't Letters, and to retain Workmen for the Press, and to take care for ye Carriage of Mr Tonson's Paper: and to hasten ye return of ye double Pica Letter from Holland. 2 Upon ye proposall of Mr Talbot of Ds Penny January ye 4th 1698/9. At a meeting of Eight of ye Curators— Ordered that Mr Talbot have full power to treat about & procure a Rolling press fit for ye service of ye Printing house the charges thereof to be defrayed out of such money as he shall receive upon subscriptions to ye press at London. Agreed also that 4 pence p_ week for copy money be allowed to ye workmen at ye Press and half a crown p_ Quarter for cleaning ye Press The three following entries show that in their first few years of office, at any rate, the Curators approached their duties in a business-like way: March 4 1698 1 Orderd, that a particular account of each Body of Letter, & of all Tooles & Moveables belonging to ye New Printing House be taken in writing in ye presence of the Delegates for ye weekly meetings of this Month, and yt it be entered into ye Journal Book by ye person appointed to keep that Book: and yt ye 3 Order'd, That all Combinations, Verses, and other exercises upon Public Occasions be printed only at ye University's New Printing House. May 3rd 1699 Ordered—that 400 lbs weight of Paragon Greek Letter be sent for to the Widow Voskins in Holland. At a general meeting of the Curators June 7th 1699 Order'd that Dr Green & Dr Oxenden or either of them do examine Dr Bentley's account in relation to our Press, and upon his delivery of the Vouchers relating to it, and all other things in his hands belonging to the University Press; give him a full discharg; and likewise take a discharg of him for the Summ of four hundred and thirty three pounds received by him of the University. 1 At a General Meeting of the Curatrs Septebr ye 6th 1699 'twas then agreed yt Mr Crownfield be order'd to buy twelve Gallons of Linseed Oyle and a rowl of Parchment. 2 Order'd yt ye Sashes be renew'd. 3 Order'd yt twenty shillings per annu be allowed to Printers for their weigh-goes. This last entry refers to the printers' annual holiday of which Randall Holme, writing in 1688, says It is customary for all journeymen to make every year, new paper windows about Bartholomew-tide, at which time the master printer makes them a feast called a waygoose to which is invited the corrector, founder, smith, ink-maker, etc., who all open their purses and give to the workmen to spend in the tavern or ale-house after the feast. From which time they begin to work by candle light By 1701 Bentley's activities had begun to bear fruit. Already (says Monk) some handsome editions of Latin Classics had been printed.... Terence had been edited by Leng, of Catharine Hall, afterwards Bishop of Norwich; Horace by Talbot, the Hebrew Professor; Catullus, Tibullus, and Propertius by the Hon. Arthur Annesley, Representative for the University; and Virgil by J. Laughton of Trinity. Nor was it only in Holland that search was made for beautiful types. In 1700 Matthew Prior was sent, on behalf of the university, to procure Greek type (the famous Grecs du Roi) from the Paris press. The negotiations, however, fell through owing to the demand of the French that on the title-page of any book for which their type was used there should be added after the words typis Academicis, a full acknowledgment in the form Caracteribus GrÆcis e typographeo regio Parisiensi. Correspondence passed between Prior, the Earl of Manchester, the Chancellor, and the AbbÉ Bynon, but the university refused to comply with this condition Of the books printed about this time we may note first the works edited by Bentley himself. The title-page of the famous edition of Horace (1711) is reproduced here and a full account both of its compilation and of its reception may be read in Monk's Life: This publication had been long and anxiously expected; and its appearance excited much sensation and surprise. There were found between seven and eight hundred alterations of the common readings of Horace; all of which, contrary to the general practice of classical editors, were introduced into the text.... This book was, it must be confessed, unlike any edition of a Latin author ever before given to the world. TITLE-PAGE OF BENTLEY'S EDITION OF HORACE, 1711 Especially characteristic of the atmosphere in which Bentley lived and worked is "the important affair of the dedication." Having discovered that the Earl of Oxford was "anxious that the world should know, that his ancestors were related to the Veres and Mortimers of former centuries, and that his family estate in Herefordshire had been in possession of the Harleys since the reign of Edward the First," Bentley took particular pains that these glories should be "fully and accurately displayed." "Good taste" comments Monk "had not yet abolished the fashion, which demanded from every dedicator, whether classical or vernacular, the most unsparing praise that language could supply." Bentley's edition of Terence (1726) was designed, characteristically, to supplant and extinguish that of Francis Hare, Dean of Worcester. The text was corrected "in not less than a thousand places" and in every line the first accented syllable of every dipodia was marked with an acute accent—"a laborious task, which must have vastly increased the trouble of correcting the press." Included in the first half of the volume were a Schediasma or dissertation upon the metres of Terence and Bentley's Commencement Oration of 1725, on the occasion of the creation of seven Doctors of Divinity. The second half of the book consisted of an edition of Phaedrus and Publius Syrus, the Phaedrus being undertaken to A Sermon upon Popery, preached by Bentley before the university on 5 November, 1715, and printed in the same year, is of interest not only as an expression of the vigorous No-Popery spirit of 1715, but as supplying material and phraseology for the sermon recited by Corporal Trim in the second book of Tristram Shandy. It was Bentley, too, who arranged for the publication of a second edition of Newton's Principia in 1713. "The first impression being entirely exhausted," says Monk, "the lovers of philosophy were, in a manner, debarred access to the fountain of truth" and Bentley engaged Roger Cotes to supervise the new edition. Into the history of Bentley's many controversies it is fortunately unnecessary to enter, but one of his pamphlets, which brought the university printer into the Vice-Chancellor's court on a charge of libel, must be mentioned. In 1721 there appeared a pamphlet, written by Conyers Middleton, but published anonymously in London, entitled Remarks, Paragraph by Paragraph, upon the Proposals lately publish'd by Richard Bentley, for a New Edition of the Greek Testament and Latin Version, and full of "sheer personal malice." Bentley's proposals were described as "low and paltry higgling to squeeze our money from us," reminiscent of "those mendicants in the streets, who beg our charity with an half sheet of proposals pinned upon their breasts." Bentley's reply was prompt and vigorous; he chose to assume that the author of the pamphlet was Dr John Colbatch, the Casuistical Professor This was too much, even for academic controversy of the eighteenth century; Colbatch, having first disavowed the authorship of the Remarks, appealed to the Heads of Colleges. This body declared the book to be "a most virulent and scandalous libel" and Crownfield was prosecuted in the Vice-Chancellor's Court for having sold it. Dr Crosse, the Vice-Chancellor, was a "quiet and timid man" and after hazarding a judgment in Crownfield's favour, adjourned the case. In the next year Bentley was cited to appear in the Vice-Chancellor's Court to give evidence concerning the libel. "There was no difficulty," says Monk, "in obtaining the citation, but a great one in getting it served upon the Master: the Esquire-beadles ... were all as averse to such perilous service, as the mice in the fable were to undertake the office of belling the cat." One of the beadles, however, was bribed with a double The most ambitious work which the University Press undertook about this time was an edition of the Suidas Lexicon in three volumes folio. For this enterprise Bentley was chiefly responsible. Ludolf Kuster, a professor from Berlin, had collated three of the Suidas manuscripts at Paris and was invited by Bentley to take up his residence at Cambridge and to publish his edition of the lexicon at the Press. Accordingly on 4 October, 1701, the university made an agreement with John Owen, an Oxford stationer, by which Owen undertook to purchase an edition of 1500 copies (150 on large paper) of Suidas in three volumes at the price of £1 10s 6d per sheet The exact relation of Owen to Cambridge is not quite clear. Evidently, he was a protegÉ of Bentley and though there is no record of his official appointment as a Cambridge printer, several books bear his imprint as Typographus, including Cellarius, Geographia 1703; Ockley, Introductio 1706; Caesar, 1706; Minucius Felix, 1707; Sallust, 1710 June 23. 1705 Then received of Mr Corn. Crownfield (for the use of Mr Davies, and for correcting Caesars Commentary) the summe of thirty seven shillings and four pence, being for 28 sheets at 16d the sheet from A to Ee, inclusive by me
Compos'd in Caesar's Commentary's the sheets Ccc, Ddd, Eee, Fff at 8s the sheet—l1 12s 0d Sept. 17. 1705 Receiv'd by John Owen These receipts appear to show that Owen actually was at work as a compositor upon Davies's edition of Caesar which appeared with the imprint Impensis Joannis Oweni, Typographi From passages in Bentley's correspondence it also appears that Owen travelled in Holland on Bentley's behalf in 1706 But long before this Owen had found himself unable, "through great poverty and being imprisoned on the amount of debts contracted," to carry out the Suidas agreement, and on 8 May, 1703, a new contract was made with Sir Theodore Janssen, who had already supplied Owen with large quantities of paper, for the completion of the work at the joint expense of the university and of Janssen himself, the editor's fee being fixed at £200 As has been noted above, however, the Press continued to print certain other books for Owen. Thus Janssen writes to Crownfield on 19 October, 1704: I have sent you to-day 150 Reams of fine genoa paper which is to be for ye use of Mr Jon Owen when he hath signed an agreement such as Dr Bentley doth require ... In later years Owen seems to have laid his misfortunes at Bentley's door, since, in a dedication written by him to "Elias Abenaker of London, Gent." and prefixed to Ockley's translation of Modena, History of the present Jews (ed. 1711), he writes: I ... want Words to tell the World how much I am your Debtor, how often you have rescued me and my whole Family from the Jaws of Destruction; what noble Assistances you have supplied me with, to raise my Fortune in the World, and put my Affairs into a prosperous and flourishing Condition, had not a Person of an high Character, and a pretending Encourager of Arts and Sciences, and Printing in particular, (by the Encouragement of whose specious Promises I was induced to leave Oxford) been as Sedulous and Industrious to ruine and destroy me, by such Injustice and Cruelties, which if I should particularize, would gain Credit with few but those of the University of Cambridge, where the Fact is notoriously known In the meantime Kuster's edition of Suidas had duly appeared in 1705: Kuster (writes Monk) having now, by means of his [Bentley's] patronage, completed the three noble volumes of his Suidas, their appearance raised the fame of the editor, while it excited public admiration at the spirit and liberality of the University of Cambridge in undertaking so magnificent a publication. Correspondence between Janssen and Crownfield throws some interesting side-lights on business details—the fixing of the price and the choice of selling agents Now that ye hurry of treating her Majty is over KUSTER'S RECEIPT FOR A PORTION OF HIS FEE Dr Bentley had told me you would write to some booksellers in Holld. Since we refused Mr Mortier's offers it might perhaps be of service but I think we could not pitch on a fitter person for disposing of a good quantity of Suidas beyond sea. Bentley's financial negotiations with the Dutch booksellers were apparently not successful, since Feby 1th 1705/6. Agreed then also yt foreign booksellers be treated with for an exchange of an hundred The succession of troubles encountered by the university both in the production and distribution of this book illustrates the difficulties of the Curators in attempting to grapple with the details of stock-keeping and accountancy. By 1732 "part of ye impression was in ye University warehouse and ye rest was got into Mr Innys's After some two or three years of negotiation for the mutual purchase of sheets at ½d a piece, the university, having bought the whole of Innys's stock for £400, acquired 410 complete sets of the work and appointed a Syndicate to dispose of them. The Syndics, however, found remaindering difficult: It were well (says the writer of a memorandum of 1749) if we could get some one to take them all off our hands at almost any rate. I have tried Knapton and Whiston in vain. They durst not venture on the whole: but advise to advertize them at 30s a Book, and let ye Booksellers have them at 25s.... I have hopes yt Vailliant may take them all at 25s a book, especially if he be allowed time for payment of the money, & ye University would take some of it in books, which we really want for ye Rustat Library Eventually, in 1752, 75 sets were disposed of to T. Merrill (a Cambridge bookseller) at one guinea each and the rest seem to have been exchanged Amongst the other books printed during this period, editions of the classics are prominent. The titles of these will be found in Appendix II and Davies's editions of Cicero, Barnes's Anacreon (1705) and Homer (1711), Taylor's Lysias (1740) may be specially noted. The edition of the Medea and Phoenissae of Euripides by W. Piers (1703) contains, in its preface, an interesting tribute to the renovation of Cambridge typography: Si Typorum elegantiam mireris, gratias merito ingentes habeto Illustrissimo Principi Carolo Duci Somersetensium munificentissimo nostrae Academiae Cancellario, cui Cordi est nostrum imo suum denuÒ revixisse TypographÉum. Mathematics is represented primarily by the second edition of Newton's Principia (1713), by Le Clerc's Physica (1700 etc.), by Robert Green's Principles of Natural Philosophy (1712—an anti-Newtonian treatise) and by the Praelectiones (1707 and 1710) and other works of W. Whiston; biography by Knight's Life of Erasmus (1726); Oriental studies by Ockley's Introductio ad Linguas Orientales (1706) and Lyons's Hebrew Grammar (1735). A work of more general interest is the first edition of Sir Thomas Browne's Christian Morals, published from the ms of the Author by John Jeffery and printed by Crownfield in 1716. A COMPOSITOR'S RECEIPT, 1705 (Among the items may be noted one of Sir Isaac Newton's works and the Vice-Chancellor's order putting Sturbridge Fair out of bounds) These, of course, are only a few titles selected from the bibliography of the period. TITLE PAGE OF CHRISTIAN MORALS, 1716 Between 1725 and 1738/9 there are no entries in the Curators' minute-book; the driving power of Bentley's energy and enthusiasm was flagging and the Press had become a source of pecuniary loss to the university. The agreements of 1706 and 1727 with the Stationers, by which the university surrendered the right of printing a large number of school books in return for money payments, no doubt represent an attempt to meet this difficulty Similarly in December, 1730, it was resolved to lease the university's right of printing bibles and prayer-books to "Mr James & Company" for the sum of £100 per annum, an additional £5 per annum to be paid during the lifetime of Jonathan Pindar, whose formal resignation had been arranged by a grace of 28 August This arose out of an application which has a special interest in the history of printing. About the beginning of 1730 William Fenner, a London stationer, did bring up from Edinburgh a Scotsman named Wm Ged; who had or pretended to have found out the Art of casting, upon Plates, whole Pages of Letters ... wch 'twas thought would be of great advantage to the publick, as well as to the proprietors of the Invention. This invention came to the notice of a type-founder of opinion that the Design of printing by such plates would in short time be brought to such perfection as would greatly injure if not wholly ruine the business of letter-founding, by wch he then made shift to support a large family. Accordingly a partnership was formed between Ged, Fenner, and Thomas James. The design, it was alleged, "had at that time all imaginable appearance of Success"; Thomas James, being unable to get any help from his father ("a Clergyman then living upwds of 85 years of age, who had, upon a small Endowmt in Hampshire, brought up a numerous family"), applied to his brother John, an architect at Greenwich, for financial assistance. John James came into the partnership, paying an entrance fee of £100, and, as the invention of stereotype plates was likely to be used with most advantage for the printing of bibles and prayer-books, undertook to apply for a licence to the University of Cambridge—"the only one at that time unemploied." This application was successful and the lease was granted to Fenner on 23 April, 1731; Fenner's name was used as that of the only member of the partnership who was a stationer, and John James gave a bond for £100. The plates were at first made in London, at a house in Bartholomew Close, but in the summer of But the business did not prosper. Ged quarrelled with Fenner and "left the whole business at a stand, Secreting or taking with him several Tools and other things to which he had no Right" His widow, Mary Fenner, carried on such business as was left and a bitter controversy, recalling the days of Thomas Buck, arose between her and her deceased husband's partners. The brothers James declared that they were £1000 out of pocket and had received not a penny in return; that Fenner had taken a grossly unfair advantage of the lease being in his name. Mrs Fenner, in reply, maintained that her husband had borne the brunt of many business difficulties alone and that his appeals to his partners for help and co-operation had been neglected. In their complaints to the Vice-Chancellor Thomas and John James did not mince their words: I humbly request (writes Thomas) that my Brother and I may be heard; that so the Scene of Iniquity carried on by Mr Fenner and now prosecuted by his Widow may be laid open ... for I do not find the change of Mrs Fenner's Religion has made any alteration in her morals. As to what Fenner's wife (writes John) (who I fear is of as bad a principle as he was) may alledge, I can only say, she has no other cause of complaint, than that I refused to throw away all I had in ye world, for the Knave her husband to make Ducks and Drakes with. TITLE-PAGE OF BENTLEY'S BOYLE LECTURES, 1735 The details of the controversy need not be examined here London 19 Jun. 1735 Honrd Sr these wates on you to beg the favour you will be so good as to stay three weeaks & then will wate on you, in that time will Do my indaver to See Mr James & if it is possable to bringe him to Some agreament I Rely upon your Goodness till that time & then Shall have an oppertuneyty to inform your worship of my case & will do wat is in my power to make you eassey as to the Deate is oing to the university I am Sr your Dutyful Sarvant Mary Fenner Only one book bearing the imprint of Mary Fenner (the sixth edition of Bentley's Boyle Lectures, 1735) has been preserved and her association with the university came to an end in 1738. In that year she relinquished her lease and John James agreed to pay £150 in settlement of the university's claim upon the ill-fated partnership. The chief cause of the failure of the Press to fulfil the high hopes of 1696 appears, in Monk's words, to have been the want of a permanent committee of management, a measure which, however obvious, was not adopted till many years afterwards. In the meantime, the receipt and disbursement of large sums of money, as well as the necessary negotiations with persons of business, were entrusted to the individuals holding the annual office of Vice-Chancellor, who in many cases possessed no previous acquaintance with the concern; This state of affairs is reflected in the preamble of the grace of 1737: Cum prelum typographicum in usum et commoditatem Academicam olim destinatum per quadraginta retro annos ita negligenter fuerit administratum, ut Academiam oneraverit sumptu ultra bis mille et trecentas libras.... A Syndicate was accordingly appointed with plenary powers over the Press for three years. This Syndicate "took the State of the Press into Consideration" purchasing new types, presses and other materials; and "that they might be able to retain good Hands there, by securing them constant Employment, began to print an Impression of the Bible in 12mo." The further measures taken for the development of the bible trade will be recorded in the next chapter. Here it may be noted that one important modification of the Copyright Act, which had been finally passed in 1710, was made in 1739; in that year a new act repealed the clause which empowered the Vice-Chancellors of the two universities to set and reform the prices of books. In 1712, 1735, and subsequent years clauses were also included in the acts imposing duties on paper by which, "for the Encouragement of Learning" the University Presses were allowed a "drawback" on paper used "in the printing any Bookes in the Latin Greek Orientall or Northern Languages." |
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