The Bowyer Ledgers: The Printing Accounts of William Bowyer Father and Son Reproducedon Microfiche with a Checklist of Bowyer Printing, 1699-1777, a Commentary, Indexes, andAppendices by Keith Maslen; John LancasterReview by: Joel SilverThe Library Quarterly, Vol. 63, No. 2 (Apr., 1993), pp. 216-217Published by: The University of Chicago PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4308812 .

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216 THE LIBRARY QUARTERLY

Raven treats: "Literary characterizations extended and perpetuated the myth of rampant entryism" (p. 261). In other words, these cultural practices, hatched in the hothouse of commercialism and distilled into the simplistic formulas that the mass market required, took on a life of their own, one that continued to influence social perceptions into the next two centuries. Raven argues that these antibusiness characterizations, in works that usually accepted "the worth of trade," deflected criticism away from the capitalist system and toward the indi- vidual who misused his wealth (p. 262) and, in so doing, advanced economic development much more than retarded it. In short, he turns the argument of conservative critics, alluded to above, on its head.

Raven's book, however, stands for more than a corrective to a long-cherished and highly politicized falsehood. It is a tour de force of the new cultural history (of the material sort) and a model for historians trying to understand the rela- tionships between publishing, culture, and society.

Ronald J. Zboray, Department of History, Georgia State University

The Bowyer Ledgers: The Printing Accounts of William Bowyer Father and Son Repro- duced on Microfiche with a Checklist of Bowyer Printing, 1699-1777, a Commentary, Indexes, and Appendices. Edited by KEITH MASLEN and JOHN LANCASTER. Pp. lxxv+616, 70 microfiche. $190.00 (cloth and microform). ISBN 0-914930-13-3 (cloth); 0-914930-13-3 (microform).

This long-awaited publication of the Bowyer ledgers will be welcomed by anyone with an interest in printing or publishing history and will be mined for years to come by scholars and students. The London printing house operated by the two William Bowyers, father (1663-1737) and son (1699-1777), produced more than five thousand works between 1710 and 1777, the period generally covered by the ledgers. As one of the largest groups of extant records related to the operation of a printing house during the handpress period, these ledgers are a treasure trove of material concerning specifically the Bowyer printing house but inferentially the operation and trade practices of other printers in London and beyond during the period. In the areas of bibliographical study and publish- ing history, where so much has been written about the activities of printers with so little documentary evidence on which to base conclusions, the Bowyer ledgers, substantial and detailed, offer new evidence of the complexity of operation of a large eighteenth-century shop.

The ledgers themselves are four in number, including two ledgers containing information on customer accounts for the period 1710-81, one on wages (cov- ering 1730-39), and another on paper stock (1716-76). The paper stock ledger is held by the Bodleian Library, while the other ledgers are in the library of the Grolier Club. The four ledgers, together with some inserted loose slips, are photographically reproduced here on seventy large-scale high-quality micro- fiche. The key to these reproductions is found in the accompanying volume, edited by Keith Maslen and John Lancaster. Keith Maslen, of the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand, began his study of the Bowyer paper stock ledger while a student at Oxford in the early 1950s. His contemplated publica- tion on the ledger changed dramatically in 1963, when the three other Bowyer ledgers were "discovered" in the Grolier Club collections, where they had been since their purchase at auction in 1929. Although the decision was made by the Bibliographical Society (London) in 1967 eventually to publish an edition of all

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REVIEWS 217

four ledgers, the high cost of such a publication led to a rethinking of the project. In an innovative arrangement, the Bibliographical Society of America agreed to cooperate in a joint publication of the ledgers, and John Lancaster, of Amherst College, took on the duties of publisher's editor. Lancaster's role grew in the course of the exacting work of cross-checking entries against the Eighteenth Century Short Title Catalogue and in preparing the manuscript for com- puter typesetting, and he is recognized by Maslen as "the full and equal collabo- rator every bibliographer would wish to have" (p. x).

Maslen's work over nearly forty years, and Lancaster's more recent contribu- tions, have resulted in an extremely useful and intelligently prepared volume that is a pleasure to use. The introductory commentary is quite well thought-out, offering a historical view of the Bowyer and other ledgers, the Bowyer firm, and the physical details and provenance of the ledgers themselves. The descrip- tion of the editorial apparatus is never overwhelming in its approach but is always sufficient in detail to instruct the reader.

The heart of the volume is the "Checklist of Bowyer Printing, 1710-1777." Much more than a mere checklist, it occupies over four hundred pages with some five thousand entries. Organized as closely to chronological order as possi- ble, the entries provide a brief title page transcription, format, collation, location of copies, and, most important for this project, references to ledger entries. The numerous ledger entries related to job printing, the wide variety of material produced by the shop, the large body of evidence concerning shared printing, and the number of listed pieces that have apparently not survived, are just a few of the issues raised in these ledgers that will engage the attention of scholars.

Of particular note are the indexes. The index of names and titles lists authors and titles of all known works printed by the Bowyers between 1710 and 1777. It also contains entries for other persons noted in the ledgers, including custom- ers for whom work was undertaken, those to whom printed copies were deliv- ered, and others connected with the ordering of paper or otherwise with the working of the printing house. The editors have also provided a topical index containing references to printing equipment, materials, and processes. Here the bibliographer will find entries for canceled leaves, a variety of formats, proofs, fine and large paper, reimpression, and printing in foreign or exotic languages. Here also one will find collected the names in the ledgers of bookbinders, com- positors, engravers, pressmen, other printers, and stationers.

The publication of The Bouyer Ledgers is a major step forward in bibliography and publishing history. Its users will come from many disciplines, and all will have reason to be grateful for the efforts of Keith Maslen and John Lancaster, as well as the commitment of the Bibliographical Society (London) and the Bibliographical Society of America.

Joel Silver, Lilly Library, Indiana University

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