Page:The Cambridge History of American Literature, v4.djvu/125

The Spread of Publishing 537 other colonies had been making a beginning. One of the most influential of these, Virginia, had possibly seen an issue from her press as early as 1682, but at any rate it is fully authenti- cated that from 1730 to 1737 William Parks was under contract by the governments of Virginia and Maryland to maintain printing presses at Annapolis and at Williamsburg. The dates for the establishment of presses in other colonies and states most noteworthy in the annals of our early publishing are, according to the best authorities, Connecticut, 1709; Rhode Island, 1727; South Carolina, 1732; Kentucky, 1787'; and Ohio, 1793. Under modern conditions these dates would mean little or nothing, save perhaps that some venturesome printer saw an opening for a newspaper and job printing. But in the eighteenth century specialization and concentration in pub- lication had not yet taken place, nor is it fully visible until the beginning of the second quarter cf the next; for even as late as 1837 the Harpers did printing for any one who would bring it in to them, and James and Thomas Swords were pro- nounced as being in about 18 15 the first New York bookmakers who were distinctively publishers. So in these early days, when a press was set up usually a few books were soon issued. It was a period of cheap apprentice labour, of widespread relig- ious activity, of the formulating of new laws, and of purveying to a scattered population elementary books of an educational character. Communication was difficult, and the pubhsher of a book was not likely to fail to sell it because some highly organized firm at a distance might supply his limited territory. Moreover, quite frequently in a costly undertaking the publisher's risks were minimized by the fact that the work was not put to press until he thought such a number of subscribers had been ob- tained as would insure him against financial loss. After the middle of the century one marked phenomenon, interrupted only during the Revolution, was the increasingly large output of classic reprints from American presses. Therefore there sprang up towards the end of the eigh- teenth and at the beginning of the nineteenth century a large number of publishing centres that until the period of cen- traHzation began had fairly noteworthy careers. Reading, 'Thomas says 1786.