Matt Ryan (Newcastle University)
It has long been recognised that the 16th-century book trade in England was underpinned by a network of interconnected actors. As early as 1913, R.B McKerrow observed that there “was a good deal more overlapping” between booksellers, printers and publishers than had been previously understood, arguing that attempts to “isolate the work of the various people engaged in the printing and selling of books” overlooked the importance of interconnections between print agents (McKerrow, 1913). While there have been several attempts to develop a model which accounts for these overlapping communities (Darnton, 1982; Adams and Barker, 1993; Halasz, 1997; Johns, 1998; Smith, 2013), they tend to view relationships between print agents as motivated primarily by profit. As such, the full implications of McKerrow’s observation remain underexamined.
This paper looks to reengage with McKerrow, arguing that the socio-economic uncertainties of a career in the book trade encouraged its participants to develop innovative ways to support one another. Focusing on the output, working practices and social networks of John Wolfe’s printing house and The Black Bear bookshop, I contend that the late-Tudor book trade relied on an ecosystem of print communities bound by trust, friendship, and support.