ELLIOT STOCK'S RECENT PUBLICATIONS REGINALD SCOT'S DISCOVERY OF WITCHCRAFT. Being a Reprint of the First Edition, published in 1584, with Introduction, Explanatory Notes, Glossary, and Index. By Dr. BRINSLEY NICHOLSON. 250 Copies only have been printed, of which 200 Copies are bound in vellum, price £2 net, and 50 Copies only are bound in Roxburgh each numbered, price £2 12s. 6d. net. The Subscription List is nearly full. "The lover of old English literature and the student of psychology are under a deep debt of gratitude to Dr. Brinsley Nicholson for his admirably edited reprint."-Standard. In cloth, price 75. 6d.'; on hand-made paper, Roxburgh, 10s. 6d. ; large paper, 215., each volume. Chief Contents of the Gentleman's Magazine from 1731 to 1868. 1. Manners and Customs. 2. Dialect, Proverbs, and Word Lore. 3. Popular Superstitions. Being a Classified Collection of the Edited by G. LAURENCE GOMME, F.S.A. 4. Popular Legends and Traditions. 5. Archæology. Roman and Saxon. 6. 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T is the generally received opinion that before the introduction of movable type by Füst, publishing was hampered with almost insuperable difficulties. This is true so far as the Middle Ages were concerned, because during that benighted era very few people knew one letter from another. Learning in those days was almost entirely in the hands of the monks, and what few books were produced issued in all cases from some one or other of the numerous monasteries scattered throughout Europe. Books were rare because readers were few; had there been a greater demand, we doubt not but that the supply would have kept pace with it. It is quite a mistake, however, to compare for any purpose the state of learning as it existed in Europe during the Middle Ages with the widespread knowledge which prevailed in ancient times, more especially in the palmy days of Rome, and any similarity that may appear between the two, takes its origin from an imperfect acquaintance with the habits and customs of the Roman people. There were, in truth, publishing houses in the time of Augustus, which may almost be said to have rivalled the great firms of our own day; and not only was this the case in point of enterprise, but even of cheapness as well. We cannot, of course, venture to place copying on a level with printing, for the great advantage of the latter process is, that once clear the "proof" of mistakes, and no error can well occur, no matter how many copies may be struck off from the type. With mere copying it is different; any one of the transcribers may make a mistake at any moment, and in the aggregate these may amount to a considerable number, and be, moreover, exceedingly difficult to detect. The defectiveness of ancient texts has given constant employment and cause of quarrel to modern commentators; hence the great disadvantage of manuscript lies in the fact that the text is just as likely as not to be corrupt. Apart from this, however, and putting the question of legibility on one side, copying has many advantages in its favour. In the first place, it is quicker, for no compositor can possibly keep pace with a transcriber; and secondly, it is, under certain conditions, much cheaper. OCTOBER, 1886. 16 Labour is in these days a somewhat expensive commodity; but in Rome, where the existence of slavery was expressly recognised as an integral portion of the Jus Gentium, the case was widely different. Although slavery under the various modifications of that law was quite a different institution from that, for example, which existed in the United States before the war of 1863, still its existence enabled a person possessed of means to accomplish any particular work he had on hand very much more quickly and cheaply than he could possibly hope to do at the present day. Suppose, for instance, a London publisher were asked how soon he would undertake to turn out a thousand copies of the second book of Martial's Epigrams, consisting of 540 lines of verse, he would reply that, assuming he stopped the work of his establishment to do it, and also assuming that he could induce his printers to put on every available compositor in their service, he might get the matter completed in six hours. We much doubt whether the work could be finished in a much shorter time than this; but, to be on the safe side, we will say that he replies, that by the expenditure of money in profusion, it could be done at a pinch in three hours. We can imagine what a hurrying here and there, what a rush of extra compositors, machine hands, and other workmen there would be; what a number of binders ready to receive the printed sheets directly they came from the press; what a waste of money, what turmoil and confusion! And when at last the printed book made its appearance, full of mistakes in all probability, and doubtless blurred and smeared with the undried ink, the modern Lucullus, who had ordered this feat to be accomplished, would doubtless exclaim: "Wonderful, most wonderful! even in this age of perfecting machines and printers' devils." Let us now turn to Rome, and step into the warehouse of Atticus, or the Sosii, the great publishers of the Augustan era, and ask either of them a similar question. They, too, would have to put aside all other work; but assuming they agreed to do this, the thousand copies of the second book of the Epigrams, with its 540 lines of verse, would be in the customer's hands bound and endorsed in an hour, and at very little extra cost. We cannot doubt this, for we have the authority of Martial himself. His words are explicit, and intended to be so, and are not merely used as a figure of speech. "Hæc una peragit librarius hora" (Epig. ii. 1). The great firm of the Sosii had over 2,000 slaves trained as transcribers, under their immediate control, and doubtless a large number of binders and readers as well. Immediately on this order being given, the latter would read through various portions of the text, and the edition would easily be copied and stitched in an hour. Thus it would have been possible to beat the London publisher by two hours out of three; or, to make everything absolutely certain, give the Roman two hours, and he would beat him by one. We venture to say also that the mistakes would be about equal in both cases, while the difference in cost would be very greatly in favour of the older method. Again, let us go to the London publisher and ask him at how much per copy he could supply and leisurely turn out an edition of the thirteenth book of Martial's Epigrams, assuming there were a brisk demand for the work. Suppose he said 2,000 copies at sixpence each, would that be considered an excessive price? We think not; but for all that the Sosii would not ask so much; for again, on the authority of Martial, we learn that a copy of his thirteenth book of Epigrams might be bought from the booksellers, who were a distinct class from the publishers as they now are, for the equivalent of a little over fivepence. This excessive promptness and cheapness shows conclusively that there must have been a very large demand for books in the time of the Romans, and when we come to look into the authorities we find that such was actually the case. Roman authors addressed an immense audience, not only in the capital itself, but in the distant provinces. Ovid, for example, when vegetating under a sentence of banishment on the shores of the Euxine, exclaims: "Although I am living removed, amid the Scythian regions, and although the constellations that avoid contact with the waves are close to my eyes, yet my commendations will travel through nations innumerable and my complaints will become known as far as earth extends." And again, in the tenth elegy of the same book, line 127, he growls out : "And although I prefer many (authors) to myself, I am said not to be inferior to them. I am greatly read throughout the world." Not only Ovid, but other authors of no less repute, describe themselves as being famous in other lands beside their own; as for example Martial : "I am read by many, and fame has given me a name known through the cities of the earth, without waiting for my death." Examples might be multiplied to show that the ramification of the Roman bookselling trade stretched into every part of the civilized globe, even into our own country of Britain, where Martial and Ovid, Virgil, Cæsar, Propertius, and the rest, were as well known among a small class, as in Italy they were read and digested by the masses. "Meque sinus omnis, me manus omnis habet," says Martial again, in the third book of his Epigrams. "Everyone has me in his pocket; everyone has me in his hands." This last quotation proves that the authors of that time obtained notoriety through the sale of their books, and in order to stimulate that sale it was customary for them to recite their compositions aloud, not only in the houses of the great, but even in the gymnasia and the public baths. The Roman populace, even the plebeians of the great city, were omnivorous devourers of literature, as Horace remarks in his first satire, where he speaks his disgust at seeing his books in the hands of the vulgar. And the reason of this is not far to seek, for the Constitution of the empire was such that even the plebeian had, in reality, little or nothing to do. A Roman citizen might go to the wars-there was nothing derogatory in that he might while away an hour or two before dinner at the baths, and, if he were rich, drive about the city showing himself off to the admiring crowd; but as for work, he held it in contempt. There were, indeed, the Societates, or partnerships of one kind or another, but the head of the concern troubled himself very little about the business; that was left to some superior slave, and all the workmen under him were slaves as well. And hence it came to pass that, rendered desperate by ennui, the Roman would betake himself to the public libraries, of which there were several, or to the porticos, where he could listen to the last new poem of Horace, or satire of Juvenal, until it was time to go home; or, if he had no home, to the graineries, where he was fed at the public expense. These recitations were, indeed, at the time of which we speak, one of the few amusements of the people, and even the Emperor frequently graced the assembly with his presence: "There is a rush to the delightful voice and the strains of the welcome 'Thebais,' when Statius has gladdened the city and appointed the day for reciting." Reciting then, followed immediately-or so soon as, in the opinion of the author, his words had struck the popular ear-by publication in manuscript, was the usual method adopted by poets and others for disseminating their works throughout the world. Rich as well as poor employed the same means of obtaining notoriety, as Pliny relates in his fourth epistle, where he depictures Regulus setting painters and sculptors to work, and himself composing an oration, of which-not content with a public recitation-he orders of his publisher a thousand copies for the provinces. Books were to the Roman an absolute necessity, and, as is the case in our own day, there were bad books as well as good ones in profusion. Thus it is |