Sentence:  ... Pecuniary motives induced the first <WSD>printers</WSD> (from the large sums which were usually paid for manuscripts) to sell their works as such; so that printing was, for a period, as much the "counterfeit" as the "substitute" for writing, it being a "facsimile" of the most approved Scribes. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  The operator of a printing press, or the owner of a printing business.