Page:A history of booksellers, the old and the new.djvu/30

20 underwent these liabilities. As a reply they were severely reprimanded for daring to question the queen's prerogative, upon which they petitioned again, but more humbly, that they might at least be placed on an equal footing with the interlopers, and be permitted to print something or other. Her Majesty was shortly pleased to sanction an arrangement by which they were to possess the exclusive right of printing and selling psalters, primers, almanacs, and books tending to the same purpose the A B C's, the Little Catechism, Nowell's English and Latin Catechisms, &c.

Ward, and Wolf a fishmonger, however, disputed the power of the Company, declaring it to be lawful, according to the written law of the land, for any printer to print all books; and when the Master and Wardens of the Company went to search Ward's house, preparatory to seizing, burning, or conveying away his books, they were ignominiously defeated by his wife. The Lord Treasurer likewise sent commissioners thither, "but they, too, could bring him to nothing."

Learning from this how useless the tremendous powers conferred upon them by their charter really were, the Stationers' Company took a wiser course and subscribed £15,000 to print the books in which they had the exclusive property.

The "entry" of copies at Stationers' Hall was commenced in 1558, but without the delivery of any books, and these entries seem originally to have been intended by the booksellers of the Company to make known to each other their respective copyrights, and to act as advertisements of the works thus entered. Half a century later, Sir Thomas Bodley was appointed