Litchfield enquirer., 1859-10-13

| ""'H uiu Hot hOu IL SOOQ 10 keep DOOk
dear for the advancement of letters The.
anxiously desired to make them cheap, and
they produced, therefore, not large folios only,
MS their predecessors had done, but neat and
tcomlactly printed octavos and duodccimos, for
the general market. The instant they did
this, the foundations of literature were widen
cd and deelened. 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 Iabors 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 u pope or car.
| dinal before they begun 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 us the
best spiritual guide and teacher, aud the peo-
pie would have Bibles. The first English
Bible was bought up and burnt those who
bought the Bibles contributed capital for MAX
ing new Bibles, aud those who burned the BIZ
bles 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 q sale. In 1910, 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 record Of three
hundred and twenty editions of the Eng
lish Bible, or parts Of the Bible, printed be-
tween 1926 and 1000.
The early English printers did not attempt
what the continental ones were doing for the
ancient classics Down to 1910, no Greek
book had appeared from the English press
Oxford had r,i ted only part of Cicero's
Epistles; aud Cambridge, no ancient writer
whatever only three or four old Roman wri-
tiers had been reprinted at that period through
out Europe. But great deal was done for
public instruction by the course which our ear
" printers took for as one of them says
Divers famous clerks and learned men trans
lated aud made many noble works into our
English tongue, whereby there was q much
greater 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 encour-
ayers Of our press they required translations
aud abridgments of the classics, versions OF
French aud Italian romanccs, old chronicles,
aud helps to dcvout exercises. Caxton and
his successors abundantly supplied these wants
aud the impulse to most of their cxcrtions was
given Ivy the growing demand for literary
a'nuseme at Oh the part Of the great Caxton,
speaking Of his BIKE Of Encydos, says. "This
present boh1 n, nos 4es rude, u,,lunJish man
to labor therein, nor read it," But a great
change was working in Europe the rude
urla,,dish man," if he gave promise, was sent
to school, The priests strove with the laity
for the education Of the people and not only
in Protestant, but in Catholic countries were
schools and universities founded. Here, again,
was new source Of employment for the press
A-B-Cs, or abseys, primers, catcchisms, gram
mars, and dictionaries were multiplied in every
direction. Books became also, during this
period, the tools Of professional men. There
We're Lot many works Of medicine, but great
many of law ind even the people required in
struction in the ordinances they were called
upon to obey, which they received i'll the form
OF proclamations.
The course Of the early printers was based
upon the principle that they could produce
hooks cheaper by the press than by the scribe
This point once established, the next fact W, d
be also clear-that the more impressions they
printed, the cheaper the book could he afford
ed. Beyond this great fact there was diff
cu.ty. 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 contro-
versies 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
commercial one, and it is perfectly independ-
cit of any schemes Of public or private gene
rosity for the enlightenment Of the people it
is: giren, the subject Of book, its mode OF
treatment, the celebrity or otherwise of the au-
tor, its amonnt Of matter-What is the natu-
Ial limit OF its first sale, and the necessary ra-
ito Of its published price? II the probable de-
mand BE- moderated, there will lie IA high price,
which will curtail the natural profit This is
scarcely question for enthusiasts for cheap
ness to decide, upon the broad assertion that
a large saIe of low-priced books will lie more
profit .ble than small sale Of high-prced
books.
In one of his lectures, Ralph Waldo E:ner-
son tells II story to exemplify the stability Of
things in England He says that William of
Wyckllam, about the year 1850, endowed
house in the neighborhood CT Winchester, to
provide measure Of beer and suf6cicncy of
bread to every ono who asked it, forever and
when Mr.. Emerson was in England he was
curious to test this good mars credit, and he
knocked on the door, preferred his request,
and lie received his measure Of beer and
quantum Of bread. Though its donor had
dead 100 years .ssss
RuNNINa FOR THE fREslDENcY.--Wmlet the
Hon. s. A. Douglas was speaking from the
platform Of the cars, at Lawrencsburg, Ky.,
the other day, tue cars suddenly started and
carried him off, speech ano ALL ..-