Vol. 9 No. 2 (2018)
Selling & Collecting: Printed Book Sale Catalogues and Private Libraries

Prices in Robert Estienne’s booksellers’ catalogues (Paris 1541-1552): a statistical analysis

Goran Proot
University of Udine, Italy

Published 2018-05-15

Keywords

  • Book history; Economic history; Price history; Book trade; Sixteenth century; Early modern Europe

How to Cite

Proot, Goran. 2018. “Prices in Robert Estienne’s booksellers’ Catalogues (Paris 1541-1552): A Statistical Analysis”. JLIS.It 9 (2):192-221. https://doi.org/10.4403/jlis.it-12459.

Abstract

This survey focuses on prices as they were advertised by the Paris printer and bookseller Robert Estienne in nine booksellers’ catalogues published between 1541 and 1552. 1,801 entries in total were entered onto a database; it has been possible to identify 77% of these from references to them in bibliographies, catalogues or other, mainly online, tools (in particular the Universal Short Title Catalogue, USTC). After exclusion of incomplete or doubtful data, 1,087 entries were selected for statistical analysis, in order to attempt to reveal overall trends as well as some of the main factors influencing prices of ‘first-hand’ (i.e., not second-hand), unbound books. These factors include the year of publication, the ‘age’ of editions, bibliographical format and use of any specific founts, such as Hebrew and Greek. Our analysis shows that prices of the majority of the editions mentioned more than once across different catalogues remained stable. In 13% of the cases for which enough data is present, prices varied. The results of this survey help us to understand something about the general price levels of books in Paris in this period, which in turn will help us develop a deeper understanding of the book trade on a wider scale in both time and space.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

References

  1. Amert, Kay. 2012. The Scythe and the Rabbit: Simon de Colines and the culture of the book in Renaissance Paris. Edited by Robert Bringhurst. Rochester, ny: Cary Graphic Arts Press.
  2. Braudel, F.P. & F. Spooner. 1967. “Prices in Europe from 1450 to 1750”. In The Cambridge Economic History of Europe. Vol. iv. The Economy of Expanding Europe in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, ed. by E.E. Rich & C.H. Wilson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  3. Coppens, Chris. [2018], Advertising the Early Printed Book: a Census of Publishers’ and Booksellers’ Advertisements and Catalogues till 1600, [London: Bibliographical Society, in preparation].
  4. Barbier, Fréderic (ed.). 2008. Paris capitale des livres. Le monde des livres et de la presse à Paris, du Moyen Âge au xxe siècle, Paris: Presses universitaires de France.
  5. Martin, Henri-Jean, Roger Chartier (eds.) and Jean-Pierre Vivet (col.). 1982. Histoire de l’édition française. Tome i. Le livre conquérant. Du Moyen Âge au milieu du xviie siècle, (Paris:) Promodis.
  6. Proot 2016. ‘An analysis of prices established by Christopher Plantin and Jan Moretus I for their publications in the period 150–1610’. Paper delivered at the International Conference of the ERC project The Early Modern Book Trade, Università di Udine, Italy, 30 November 2016. See: http://emobooktrade.uniud.it/content/kick-conference-udine-30-november-2016-podcast-6.
  7. Proot 2017. ‘The pricing strategy for books published by Jan Moretus I (fl. 1589–1610) and his successors at the Officina Plantiniana in the first half of the 17th century’. Unpublished paper delivered at the international conference The Book in the Low Countries: New Perspectives, Hidden Collections, School of Advanced Study, University of London, 21–22 June 2017.
  8. Renouard, Ant. Aug. 1837. Annales de l’imprimerie des Estienne, ou Histoire de la famille des Estienne et de ses éditions, Paris: chez Jules Renouard, libraire, 2 vols. (The second edition was published in Paris by Jules Renouard et C.ie, libraires, in 1843).
  9. Renouard, Ph. 1894. Bibliographie des éditions de Simon de Colines 1520–1546, Paris: Ém. Paul, L. Huard et Guillemin, libraires, Paris.
  10. Schreiber, Fred. 1982. The Estiennes: an annotated catalogue of 300 highlights of their various presses. New York.
  11. STCV. Short Title Catalogus Vlaanderen [Short Title Catalogue Flanders], www.stcv.be.
  12. Van Impe, Steven, Stijn van Rossem and Goran Proot. 2005. Handleiding voor de Short Title Catalogus Vlaanderen, Antwerpen, 2nd revised ed. (Armarium: Publicaties voor erfgoedbibliotheken, 1).
  13. USTC. Universal Short Title Catalogue, www.ustc.ac.uk.