The English hook trade was finally released from the earlier restrictions in 1733, and began to develop rapidly. A number of Eighteenth Cen tury booksellers have left behind them a repu tation for literary as well as business ability. Michael Johnson (1656-1731), father of the great lexicographer, used to travel from town to town with a stock of books which he sold at auction. Andrew Millar (1707-68) was the publisher of Thomson and Fielding. and had a large share in Johnson's Dictionary. Dibdin calls Thomas Osborne (IL 173S-67) "the most celebrated book seller of his day." Some idea of the profits of the business in this period may be gained from the statement which in his old age he used to make with pride, that he had been in business more than forty years and was worth more than £40,000. That these profits were not always easily made, is recalled by the story of Osborne's being knocked down by Dr. Johnson with a folio Biblia Gricea Septuaginta (Frankfort, 1594). His name appears on a number of title-pages as a shareholder with several other publishers, according to the sociable custom of those days, which gradually died out as the spirit of com petition gained ground. A late analogy to this method may be found in the history of the `Friends of Literature,' an association of book sellers which existed from 1305 to ISIE and during that time published a number of large editions, which were for the most part divided among the members, though sometimes other booksellers were allowed to hold shares in these undertakings. Bernard Lintot (1674-1735), the publisher of Pope's Homer, and Robert Dodsley (q.v., 1703-64), with his brother James (1724 97), are also conspicuous figures in this era. The novelist Richardson (q.v.), as a printer, and in 1754 master of the Stationers' Company. has a place here. Charles Rivington (1633-1742) founded the house to which he left his name. and gave it the somewhat theological elmracter which it long retained. (See also Rivixwrox, JAMES. :111(1 consult Rivington, The Publishing /louse of flirington, London, 1894.) Thomas Longman (see LONGM A NS ) founded an other business. which, like that of the Elzcvirs and Stephani, was continued from generation to generation; and a third dynasty was begun by John Murray (q.v., 1773-1843). The great uni versity presses, the Clarembm (q.v.) at Oxford, and the Pitt at Cambridge. have published a vast number of books, largely classical texts, in a uniformly scholarly manner.
There is some controversy as to the placing of the honor of producing the first book pub lished on the American Continent. It is asserted that a printer subsidized by Mendoza printed the ,Spiritual Ladder of Saint John Climacus in Alex ieo, in 1532: but a counterclaim is put in for another Mexican publication of seven years later, a Compendium of Christian Doctrine in Spanish. A hundred years after the publication of this latter work, we come to the beginning of print ing in the English colonies in America. In 16:39 Stephen Daye printed the Freeman's Oath and an Abmthaek at Cambridge, Alass.; and in the fol lowing year appeared the famous Bay Psalm-Itook (q.v.). which is now worth more than its weight in gold. This Cambridge Press turned out one book a year for the next twenty-one years. Apart from these origins, the history of publishing and bookselling in America may be divided into four periods: (a) the Colonial period; (b) from the Revolution to 1320; (e) from 1320 to 1360; (d) from 1860 to the present time. The selling of
books, mostly imported, was usually combined with that of other wares; thus Benedict Arnold sold books and drugs. The early publishers were all primarily printers, and book-publishing was merely an incident in their business. Most of them published newspapers; a thorough account of their work is given in North, History and Present Condition of the Yetespaper and Periodi cal Press of the United States, a part of the re port of the Tenth Census (Washington. 1884). The second period was the real beginning of the American publishing business in any modern sense. The first book-trade organization was ef fected through the efforts of Mathew Carey. The principal object was to introduce annual gatherings similar to the Leipzig book-fairs. Several such meetings were held, the last one in Elizabethport, N. J., this place being selected for the meeting on account of its eeutral position in the inadequate traveling facilities of the time. These book-fairs were succeeded by the 'trade sale,' held twice a year, first in Philadelphia and later in New York; the heads of pub lishing houses themselves stood on the plat form and sold their books only to members of the trade. The system decayed when peo ple who were not legitimate booksellers gained admission, and indulged in reckless underselling and speculation. A final attempt to go back to the 'book-fair' arrangement was made in 1877, but it was too late, and the system quietly died out in the eighties. Throughout the second peri od, whose production Sydney Smith characterized in his famous question, "Who reads an Ameri can book?" the greater part of the business done in the States consisted in the importation of English books: and in the third, probably more than half the titles comprised in the Ameri can catalogues were the works of English au thors, reprinted usually (in spite of honorable exceptions) without compensation. This period, however. was really the golden age of American publishing. and witnessed the foundation of a number of the famous houses. The following dates may be given for the foundation of some of the more famous: Methodist Book Cone(' r11. 1 7S ; Ha pe 1* & Brothers. 1817: 1). Appleton & 1825; J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1S:35; G. P. Put nam's Sons, 1836; Little, Brown & Co., 1837; Dodd, Mead & Co., 1839; Charles Scrilmer's Sons, 1346. Stereotyping was introduced into the Unit ed States in 1813. and lithography in 1819. These mechanieal improvements, together with the gradual development of transportation facili ties, gave a great impetus to the American hook trade, which, since ISGO, has reached enormous proportions. Editions running to several hun dred thousand are familiar phenomena of the present day, and may be accounted for not only by the immense increase in the numbers of the reading public, but also by the improvements in advertising methods. See ADVERTISING.
Among the later developments the most nota ble is the formation, in 1901, of the American Publishers' Association and the American Book sellers' Association, two organizations that co operate in maintaining the advertised retail price of copyright books, which are now put out at a price about 20 per cent. less than before the formation of these societies.