Chapter IX · (continued 2)
Reading edition
The commercial results of Caxton’s trade as a printer are unknown; but as the fees paid at his burial were far above the average, and as he evidently held a respectable position in his parish, we must conclude that his business was profitable. The preservation of the “Cost Book” of the Ripoli press has already been noticed, and some extracts of interest translated therefrom. We may presume that Caxton also kept exact accounts of his trade receipts and expenditure, and if such were extant the many doubts which now surround the operations of his printing-office would be definitely solved. We should then know the price at which he sold his books, how many pence he asked for his small quarto “quayers” of poetry, or his pocket editions of the “Horæ” and “Psalter,” how many shillings were required to purchase the thick folio volumes, such as “Canterbury Tales,” “King Arthur,” &c. That the price was not much dearer than that paid for good editions now, we may infer from the rate at which fifteen copies of the “Golden Legend” sold between 1496 and 1500. These realised an average price of 6s. 8d. each, or about £2 13s. 4d. of modern money, a sum by no means too great for a large illustrated work. This, however, would depend on the number of copies considered necessary for an edition, which probably varied according to the nature of the work. On a blank leaf in the 1st edition of “Dictes,” at Althorp, is written, apparently by Bagford, “N.B.—Caxton printed 44 books, 25 of which were with Dates, and 19 without.” One would imagine that so definite a statement must have had some foundation, but it appears to rest entirely on the writer’s bare assertion. Some foreign printers issued so many as 275 or 300 copies of editions of the “Classics,” but it is not probable that Caxton ventured upon so large an impression, as the demand for his publications must have been much more restricted.
