Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers
Encyclopedia
The Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers (better known as the Stationers' Company) is one of the Livery Companies
of the City of London
. The Stationers' Company was founded in 1403; it received a Royal Charter
in 1557. It held a monopoly over the publishing industry and was officially responsible for setting and enforcing copyright
regulations until the passage of the Statute of Anne
in 1709.
Its members are all involved with the modern visual and graphic communications industries that have evolved from the original trades of the Company. These include printing, papermaking, packaging, office products, engineering, advertising, design, photography, film and video production, publishing of books, newspapers and periodicals and digital media. Its principal modern purpose is to provide an independent forum in which its members can advance the interests (strategic, educational, training and charitable) of the industries served by the Company.
(illuminators), bookbinders
or booksellers who worked at fixed positions (stationarius) round the walls of St Paul's Cathedral. Booksellers sold manuscript books that they or their employees had copied. They also sold the writing materials that they used. Illuminators illustrated and decorated manuscripts.
Printing gradually displaced manuscript production and, by the time that the Guild received a royal charter of incorporation on May 4, 1557, it was in effect a Printers' Guild. In 1559, it became the 47th livery company. It was based in Peter College, which it bought from St Paul's Cathedral
. During the Tudor
and Stuart
periods, the Stationers were legally empowered to seize "offending books" that violated the standards of content set by the Church and State; its officers could bring "offenders" before ecclesiastical authorities, including the Bishop of London and Archbishop of Canterbury. Thus the Stationers played an important role in the culture of England as it evolved through the intensely turbulent decades of the Protestant Reformation
and toward the English Civil War
.
The Stationers' charter, establishing a monopoly
on book production, ensured that once a member had asserted ownership of a text (or "copy") no other member would publish it. This is the origin of the term "copyright
". Members asserted such ownership by entering it in the "entry book of copies" or the Stationers' Company Register
. The Register of the Stationers' Company became one of the most essential documentary records in the later study of English Renaissance theatre
. (In 1606 the Master of the Revels
, who was responsible for licensing the performance of plays rather than their publication, acquired some overlapping authority over publication as well; but the Stationers Register remained a crucial source of information after that date too.) To be sure, enforcement of the rules was always a challenge, in this area as in other aspects of the Tudor/Stuart regime; and plays and other works were sometimes printed surreptitiously and illegally.
In 1603, the Stationers formed the English stock, a joint stock publishing company funded by shares held by members of the Company. This profitable business gained many patents of which the richest was for almanacks including Old Moore's Almanack
. The business employed out-of-work printers and disbursed some of the profit to the poor.
In 1606, the Company bought Abergavenny House in Ave Maria Lane
and moved out of Peters College. The new hall burnt down in the Great Fire
of 1666 along with books to the value of about £40,000. It was rebuilt. Its present interior is much as it was when it reopened in 1673. The Court Room was added in 1748 and in 1800 the external façade was remodelled to its present form.
In 1695, the monopoly power of the Stationers' Company was diminished, and in 1710 Parliament
passed the Copyright Act 1709, the first copyright act.
The Company established a school in Bolt Court, Fleet Street
in 1861 for the education of sons of members of the Company. In 1894, the school moved to Hornsey
in north London. It closed in 1983.
Registration under the Copyright Act 1911
ended in December 1923; the Company then established a voluntary register in which copyrights could be recorded to provide printed proof of ownership in case of disputes.
In 1937, a Royal Charter amalgamated the Stationers' Company and the Newspaper Makers Company, which had been founded six years earlier, into the Company of the present name.
near Ludgate Hill
. The building and hall date from circa 1670. The hall was remodelled in 1800 by the architect Robert Mylne
. It was designated a Grade I listed building on 4 January 1950.
Livery Company
The Livery Companies are 108 trade associations in the City of London, almost all of which are known as the "Worshipful Company of" the relevant trade, craft or profession. The medieval Companies originally developed as guilds and were responsible for the regulation of their trades, controlling,...
of the City of London
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
. The Stationers' Company was founded in 1403; it received a Royal Charter
Royal Charter
A royal charter is a formal document issued by a monarch as letters patent, granting a right or power to an individual or a body corporate. They were, and are still, used to establish significant organizations such as cities or universities. Charters should be distinguished from warrants and...
in 1557. It held a monopoly over the publishing industry and was officially responsible for setting and enforcing copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
regulations until the passage of the Statute of Anne
Statute of Anne
The Statute of Anne was the first copyright law in the Kingdom of Great Britain , enacted in 1709 and entering into force on 10 April 1710...
in 1709.
Its members are all involved with the modern visual and graphic communications industries that have evolved from the original trades of the Company. These include printing, papermaking, packaging, office products, engineering, advertising, design, photography, film and video production, publishing of books, newspapers and periodicals and digital media. Its principal modern purpose is to provide an independent forum in which its members can advance the interests (strategic, educational, training and charitable) of the industries served by the Company.
History
In 1403, the Corporation of London approved the formation of a Guild of stationers. At this time, stationers were either text writers, lymnersLimner
A limner is an illuminator of manuscripts, or more generally, a painter of ornamental decoration. One of the earliest mentions of a limner's work is found in the book Methods and Materials of Painting by Charles Lock Eastlake .-Scotland:...
(illuminators), bookbinders
Bookbinding
Bookbinding is the process of physically assembling a book from a number of folded or unfolded sheets of paper or other material. It usually involves attaching covers to the resulting text-block.-Origins of the book:...
or booksellers who worked at fixed positions (stationarius) round the walls of St Paul's Cathedral. Booksellers sold manuscript books that they or their employees had copied. They also sold the writing materials that they used. Illuminators illustrated and decorated manuscripts.
Printing gradually displaced manuscript production and, by the time that the Guild received a royal charter of incorporation on May 4, 1557, it was in effect a Printers' Guild. In 1559, it became the 47th livery company. It was based in Peter College, which it bought from St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral, London, is a Church of England cathedral and seat of the Bishop of London. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. St Paul's sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, and is the mother...
. During the Tudor
Tudor dynasty
The Tudor dynasty or House of Tudor was a European royal house of Welsh origin that ruled the Kingdom of England and its realms, including the Lordship of Ireland, later the Kingdom of Ireland, from 1485 until 1603. Its first monarch was Henry Tudor, a descendant through his mother of a legitimised...
and Stuart
House of Stuart
The House of Stuart is a European royal house. Founded by Robert II of Scotland, the Stewarts first became monarchs of the Kingdom of Scotland during the late 14th century, and subsequently held the position of the Kings of Great Britain and Ireland...
periods, the Stationers were legally empowered to seize "offending books" that violated the standards of content set by the Church and State; its officers could bring "offenders" before ecclesiastical authorities, including the Bishop of London and Archbishop of Canterbury. Thus the Stationers played an important role in the culture of England as it evolved through the intensely turbulent decades of the Protestant Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
and toward the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
.
The Stationers' charter, establishing a monopoly
Monopoly
A monopoly exists when a specific person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity...
on book production, ensured that once a member had asserted ownership of a text (or "copy") no other member would publish it. This is the origin of the term "copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
". Members asserted such ownership by entering it in the "entry book of copies" or the Stationers' Company Register
Stationers' Register
The Stationers' Register was a record book maintained by the Stationers' Company of London. The company is a trade guild given a royal charter in 1557 to regulate the various professions associated with the publishing industry, including printers, bookbinders, booksellers, and publishers in England...
. The Register of the Stationers' Company became one of the most essential documentary records in the later study of English Renaissance theatre
English Renaissance theatre
English Renaissance theatre, also known as early modern English theatre, refers to the theatre of England, largely based in London, which occurred between the Reformation and the closure of the theatres in 1642...
. (In 1606 the Master of the Revels
Master of the Revels
The Master of the Revels was a position within the English, and later the British, royal household heading the "Revels Office" or "Office of the Revels" that originally had responsibilities for overseeing royal festivities, known as revels, and later also became responsible for stage censorship,...
, who was responsible for licensing the performance of plays rather than their publication, acquired some overlapping authority over publication as well; but the Stationers Register remained a crucial source of information after that date too.) To be sure, enforcement of the rules was always a challenge, in this area as in other aspects of the Tudor/Stuart regime; and plays and other works were sometimes printed surreptitiously and illegally.
In 1603, the Stationers formed the English stock, a joint stock publishing company funded by shares held by members of the Company. This profitable business gained many patents of which the richest was for almanacks including Old Moore's Almanack
Old Moore's Almanack
Old Moore’s Almanack is an astrological almanac which has been published in Britain since 1697.It was written and published by Francis Moore, a self-taught physician and astrologer who served at the court of Charles II....
. The business employed out-of-work printers and disbursed some of the profit to the poor.
In 1606, the Company bought Abergavenny House in Ave Maria Lane
Ave Maria Lane
Ave Maria Lane is a street in the City of London, to the west of St Paul's Cathedral. It is the southern extension of Warwick Lane, between Amen Corner and Ludgate Hill.- History :...
and moved out of Peters College. The new hall burnt down in the Great Fire
Great Fire of London
The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of the English city of London, from Sunday, 2 September to Wednesday, 5 September 1666. The fire gutted the medieval City of London inside the old Roman City Wall...
of 1666 along with books to the value of about £40,000. It was rebuilt. Its present interior is much as it was when it reopened in 1673. The Court Room was added in 1748 and in 1800 the external façade was remodelled to its present form.
In 1695, the monopoly power of the Stationers' Company was diminished, and in 1710 Parliament
Parliament of England
The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England. In 1066, William of Normandy introduced a feudal system, by which he sought the advice of a council of tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics before making laws...
passed the Copyright Act 1709, the first copyright act.
The Company established a school in Bolt Court, Fleet Street
Fleet Street
Fleet Street is a street in central London, United Kingdom, named after the River Fleet, a stream that now flows underground. It was the home of the British press until the 1980s...
in 1861 for the education of sons of members of the Company. In 1894, the school moved to Hornsey
Hornsey
Hornsey is a district in London Borough of Haringey in north London in England. Whilst Hornsey was formerly the name of a parish and later a municipal borough of Middlesex, today, the name refers only to the London district. It is an inner-suburban area located north of Charing Cross.-Locale:The ...
in north London. It closed in 1983.
Registration under the Copyright Act 1911
Copyright Act 1911
The Copyright Act 1911, also known as the Imperial Copyright Act of 1911, is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which received Royal Assent on 16 December 1911. The act established copyright law in the UK and the British Empire...
ended in December 1923; the Company then established a voluntary register in which copyrights could be recorded to provide printed proof of ownership in case of disputes.
In 1937, a Royal Charter amalgamated the Stationers' Company and the Newspaper Makers Company, which had been founded six years earlier, into the Company of the present name.
Stationer's Hall
Stationers' Hall is in Ave Maria LaneAve Maria Lane
Ave Maria Lane is a street in the City of London, to the west of St Paul's Cathedral. It is the southern extension of Warwick Lane, between Amen Corner and Ludgate Hill.- History :...
near Ludgate Hill
Ludgate Hill
Ludgate Hill is a hill in the City of London, near the old Ludgate, a gate to the City that was taken down, with its attached gaol, in 1780. Ludgate Hill is the site of St Paul's Cathedral, traditionally said to have been the site of a Roman temple of the goddess Diana. It is one of the three...
. The building and hall date from circa 1670. The hall was remodelled in 1800 by the architect Robert Mylne
Robert Mylne
Robert Mylne was a Scottish architect and civil engineer, particularly remembered for his design for Blackfriars Bridge in London. Born and raised in Edinburgh, he travelled to Europe as a young man, studying architecture in Rome under Piranesi...
. It was designated a Grade I listed building on 4 January 1950.
Members
- Augustine MatthewsAugustine MatthewsAugustine Matthews was a printer in London in the Jacobean and Caroline eras. Among a wide variety of other work, Matthews printed notable texts in English Renaissance drama....
- Edward AlldeEdward AlldeEdward Allde was an English printer in London during the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. He was responsible for a number of significant texts in English Renaissance drama, including some of the early editions of plays by William Shakespeare.-Life:Edward Allde was part of a family of professional...
- George EldGeorge EldGeorge Eld was a London printer of the Jacobean era, who produced important works of English Renaissance drama and literature, including key texts by William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Christopher Marlowe, and Thomas Middleton....
- Nicholas OkesNicholas OkesNicholas Okes was an English printer in London of the Jacobean and Caroline eras, remembered for printing works of English Renaissance drama...
- Peter ShortPeter Short (printer)Peter Short was a London printer of the later Elizabethan era. He printed several first editions and early texts of Shakespeare's works....
- Richard FieldRichard Field (printer)Richard Field was a printer and publisher in Elizabethan London, best known for his close association with the poems of William Shakespeare, with whom he grew up in Stratford-upon-Avon.-Life and career:...
- Thomas CotesThomas CotesThomas Cotes was a London printer of the Jacobean and Caroline eras, best remembered for printing the Second Folio edition of Shakespeare's plays in 1632.-Life and work:...
- William StansbyWilliam StansbyWilliam Stansby was a London printer and publisher of the Jacobean and Caroline eras, working under his own name from 1610. One of the most prolific printers of his time, Stansby is best remembered for publishing the landmark first folio collection of the works of Ben Jonson in 1616.-Life:As for...
See also
- Authorized King James Version
- Edmund EvansEdmund EvansEdmund Evans was a prominent English wood engraver and colour printer during the Victorian era. Evans specialized in full-colour printing, which became popular in the mid-19th century...
- Eyre & SpottiswoodeEyre & SpottiswoodeEyre & Spottiswoode, Ltd. was the London based printing firm that was the King's Printer, and subsequently, after April 1929, a publisher of the same name...
- George FaulknerGeorge FaulknerGeorge Faulkner was one of the most important Irish printers and booksellers. He forged a publishing relationship with Jonathan Swift and parlayed that fame into an extensive trade...
- George Mudie (Owenite)George Mudie (Owenite)George Mudie was an Owenite, cooperator and publisher.Born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1788, Mudie became a supporter of Robert Owen's cooperative principles. In 1818 he was a member of a discussion group that met in St Andrew's Chapel, Edinburgh, and he tried to persuade that group to form a...
- John CleaveJohn CleaveJohn Cleave was a British, London based Chartist leader, a printer and newspaper publisher.- Early career:Born of Irish stock, as a young boy John Cleave went to sea and is first documented for his political activities as late as 1828, in London, working to assist Henry Hetherington at the Civil &...
- Printing patentPrinting patentThe printing patent or printing privilege was a precursor of modern copyright. It was an exclusive right to print a work or a class work of works....
- Thomas Cautley NewbyThomas Cautley NewbyThomas Cautley Newby was an English publisher and printer based in London.Newby published Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë and both Anne Brontë's novels, Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. He also published Anthony Trollope's first novel, The Macdermots of Ballycloran .-External links:...