2) Entries Mentioning Size or Quality of
Paper
The second category consists of forty-five entries in which Strahan
designated the size or quality of paper used in a job, but did not list any
charge for the paper in his billing. Again, it seems obvious that the
customer supplied the paper and that Strahan had some special reason for
going to the trouble of listing the kind of paper used. Eighteen of the
entries show one of the special reasons: a split run
of paper. The customer split his run between a majority of books on
ordinary paper, usually common Demy, and a small number of books on
large paper, usually common Royal, to be given to subscribers or influential
people. Though common Royal would cost the customer more than Demy
because of its
size, it had the advantage of giving the
impression
of
quality by allowing a large margin, and it did not cost as
much as a finer quality of larger paper would have cost him.
[4] A typical entry reads
|
Guthrie's Grammar 4to
|
| 1779 |
| Novr. |
Printing Do. 101 Sheets, No. 750 Demy & 250 Royal &c.mmat;
£1:6:0 per Sheet |
[£]131.6.0 |
|
|
[Ledger F 25r] |
The first two categories, then, are composed of seventy-two entries
in which the customer supplied paper for the job. The third and fourth
categories which follow offer a different kind of evidence, for their 559
entries indicate contracts in which Strahan provided the paper.
