Page:Plomer Dictionary of the Booksellers and Printers 1907.djvu/26

xx extremely virulent to rouse the anger of the Government. One noticeable feature of the time was the great reduction that took place in the number of news-sheets. Many, of course, died of inanition, but there is no doubt that the clause of the Act of 1649, which compelled all news-sheets to be licensed by the Clerk of the Parliament, had a salutary effect. The Intelligencer and the Newes became the two official papers and were the forerunners of the Oxford and London Gazettes.

With the Restoration the book-trade found itself once more under the heel of the oppressor. Monk's victory was marked by the publication of books and pamphlets, attacking the monarchy in the most violent manner. The old animosities were once more raked up, and the Government determined, if possible, to put a stop to this, and were ably seconded by the Company of Stationers for purely personal reasons. Early in 1660 the Company had passed the following resolution: "The table remarking the great want of a law to restrain the exorbitances of printing and to secure property in copies; and being informed that the Parliament before their adjournment had appointed a committee for that purpose, of which, Mr. Prynne is chairman, and a bill having been presented to him, but nothing therein done, Mr. Warden Crooke is earnestly desired to solicit the business with Mr. Prynne or otherwise as occasion may offer."

Meanwhile, certain of the printers, amongst whom were Roycroft, Hodgkinson, and other important men, were advocating severance from the Company, and the formation of a distinct Company of Printers. The reasons they put forward were that the old Company had become mainly a Company of Booksellers, and was grown so large that none could be Master or Warden until he was well advanced in life, and therefore unable to keep a vigilant eye on the trade.

The Government adopted two methods of dealing with the book-trade. They appointed an Official Surveyor of the Press, and they passed an Act for preventing the frequent abuses in printing, etc., known as 14 Charles II, cap. 33. The person chosen as Surveyor of the Press was Sir Roger