1) "Special Entries" for Paper
The first category of twenty-seven entries consists of ten credit entries
and seventeen debit entries of a "special" nature: they show
the method Strahan used on those occasions when he was asked to keep a
detailed record of large amounts of paper. All of the entries occur between
1753 and 1767 and are long and detailed.
In the ten credit entries, Strahan listed paper spoiled or not used for
large contracts or for large partnerships involving several joint customers.
For example, Strahan "abated" Andrew Millar's account on five occasions
by crediting the well-known bookseller with amounts of paper spoiled or
left over from large jobs. One of these credit listings reads:
| [Mr. Andrew Millar] Contra Cr. [Credit to the Account] |
| Oct 1762 |
R |
Qr |
[Reams and Quires] |
£ s d |
| by Robertson Paper 8vo
|
1: |
19: |
at 14s |
1. 7.6 |
| Hume 4to
|
1: |
17½ |
at 13s |
1. 4.6 |
| Hume's Casars [sic] spoilt |
|
15 |
|
0. 9.9 |
| Fielding's Royal |
1: |
|
|
1. 4.0 |
| Chambaud's Paper |
|
15 |
|
0.10.6 |
|
|
|
|
[Ledger A 12or] |
The five works in this example were printed
before the entry
date of October, 1762; but in no other place, either in the standard debit
entries for the printing of the works or in the entries for extra charges, had
the paper been mentioned before Strahan credited it to Millar's account. It
is therefore plain that Millar provided the paper and asked that Strahan
credit the remainder to his account after a series of large jobs.
Similar to the credit entries, in that they are rare, long, and detailed,
are the seventeen debit entries which list paper used, spoiled or not used for
large contracts (thirteen are for works published in partnerships). The
entries show contracts in which the customer specified a certain paper
dealer (in eleven instances) and asked for a record of his shipment. Strahan
simply listed the paper received; the cost to the customer was obviously a
matter between the customer and his paper supplier.[3] For example, in 1754 Strahan
printed part
of
Benjamin Martin's
Lingua Britannica Reformata; or a new English
Dictionary. The entry reads, in part,
|
Partners in Martin's Dictionary |
| 1754 |
|
£ s d |
| March |
Printing 34 ½ Sheets of Do. No. 4000 &c.mmat;4.9.0 p.
Sheet |
153.10.6 |
|
....................... |
|
34 ½ Sheets takes up 276 Reams had at different times of Mr.
Stiles |
[no charge] |
|
|
[Ledger B 7r] |
The debit and credit entries in this category indicate contracts in
which the customer supplied the paper. Taken alone, they do not prove that
this was standard practice, but there are three other kinds of entries for
paper to add to this evidence.
