Methods of Entry in the Ledgers
There are several kinds of entries for debit and credit in the ledgers,
but Strahan used only two kinds of standard debit entries for printing. The
first kind was used for "job work" or "jobbing," that is, for certain work
which varied in size from cards and announcements through titles and
broadsides of one page, to bills, acts, law cases, summonses, and
advertisements up to a size of approximately 2½ sheets maximum. "Job
work" of this sort is still used today — as it was in the eighteenth
century
— as a practical way to "fill unsold time" (the fallow periods
between
contracts for book work).
Although "jobbing" was generally applied to work of one page or
less, the true distinction lay in the kind of typesetting employed; if very
little setting was required, or if the job was "ganged" (one printing from
multiple typesetting to produce more than one copy from each sheet), the
work was called "jobbing." Strahan did not ordinarily print runs of fewer
than fifty copies in "job work"; his usual run was between 100 and 250
copies, and the highest run I found for "jobbing" was for 104,000 octavo
proposals for Rapin's History of England in numbers, run in
1758.[8] Generally, when the run
became very large, Strahan would change to a variant method of entry in
which he kept a record of the reams of paper used, but for most of the "job
work" he used a method of entry in which the entire "job" was the basic
unit for billing purposes. Roughly one-half of the printing entries in the
ledgers are of this sort; in addition, all of the entries for
"extra charges" also followed the format. Sometimes such pertinent
information as the run of copies or the size of sheet, the kind of paper or
occasionally the type face would be included, but Strahan did not consider
it necessary to itemize details of such simple work, nor did his customers
expect more information than the flat rate for the total job, since they had
contracted for the work on that basis.
Some customers required only "job work" (e.g., the New River
Company, the Scots Corporation, the Goldsmiths' Company, and many law
firms), but the method of entry was not restricted to such companies.
For example, below are eight "jobbing" entries chosen to show variety of
subject matter as well as the simplicity of the entry:
| 1741 |
|
|
£ |
s
|
d
|
| Decr. |
17 |
To printing 1000 Bills for Sale of Waste Paper |
0. |
6. |
0 |
| 1743 |
| Febry |
|
For printing three Reams of Prayers etc. in Welsh and
English |
1. |
10. |
0 |
| 1739 |
| Decr. |
8 |
To printing one Quire of Summons for Merchant Taylors |
0. |
4. |
0 |
| 1742 |
| Janry |
23 |
For printing the Case John Mackye Esqr. 850 copies |
4. |
4. |
0 |
| 1739 |
| March |
27 |
For printing an Elegy 100 Copies |
0. |
10. |
6 |
| 1742 |
| March |
27 |
For printing the Letter to Mr. Watts 10,000 Copies
[sic] |
4. |
0. |
0 |
| 1742 |
| July |
4 |
For 2 Jobbs for Poulter's Company |
0. |
17. |
0 |
|
|
For 2 Lists for Oxfordshire and Hampshire |
0. |
8. |
6 |
| 1747 |
| Oct. |
|
[For printing 13 Sheets of Hill's Fossils No. 700 Coarse & 50
Fine &c.mmat; 14d. pr. sh. |
9. |
2. |
0] |
|
|
For printing 1000 Quarto Proposals |
2. |
10. |
0 |
In the first seven examples above, the "jobbing" entry is used to show
an entire contract for work; in the last example, the entry is used in
connection with a larger unit of "book" work (in brackets). The "jobbing"
entry is thus used to show an entire contract in one simple entry, or it is the
format followed for "extra charges" involved in the printing of a larger
contract for "book" work.
The second method of entry for printing was used in roughly one-half
of the printing entries. This "book" entry was designed for book and
periodical printing and was much more detailed and flexible than the
"jobbing" entry. The basic pattern was the same throughout Strahan's
career. The details and ordering were as follows:
- a. "For Printing __________."
- b. "_____ vols." (frequently followed by the number of the
edition, where pertinent),
- c. "_____ sheets,"
- d. "No. _____" (number of copies in press run),
- e. "&c.mmat;£ _____ per Sheet,"
- f. The total price.
Items a and b were necessary for identification; items c through f were used
in various combinations for computation and billing. The unit price (e) and
the number of sheets (c) were the most important
items in any entry, for it was from multiplying these two that the total price
was determined.
During his first seven years in business, Strahan diligently recorded
all of the items above as well as, in many instances, the type face and sheet
size. Later, during the period from 1745 to 1749, his scale of prices for
each type face and sheet size was sufficiently well-established for him to
depend on it, and so he simply recorded the unit price (e) without the
addition of type face and sheet size. After 1749, Strahan saw a further
simplification and gradually began to follow it: since the unit price was so
well established, it was only necessary for him to record the number of
sheets and the total price in his ledger in order to compute, later, what the
unit price had been. In general, however, Strahan used a middle method,
neither extremely detailed nor extremely simplified. To illustrate, I have
randomly chosen one page of billing in order to reproduce all of the
printing entries for one page to indicate the method and the variations
Strahan used in simplifying. The
entries from Ledger A, folio 137 verso, happen to be for Andrew Millar,
but since he was Strahan's best customer, the choice does not militate
against random choice so much as it points out the fact that Millar
was Strahan's most frequent customer, until his successor
Thomas Cadell took over Millar's business.
Mr. Andrew Millar Dr. [debtor]
| 1767 |
|
£ |
s
|
d
|
| Novr. |
Adventures of Joseph Andrews, 2 vol. 20 Sheets No. 1000
&c.mmat;£ 1:7:0 |
27 |
| 1768 |
| Janry. |
Ball's Practise of Physick, 2 vol. 3d. Edit. 53 Sheets No. 750 &c.mmat;
19s |
50. |
7. |
0 |
|
Pringle's Diseases of the Army 33¼ Sheets, No. 1000,
&c.mmat;£ 1.4 |
39. |
18. |
0 |
|
Hume's Essays, 2 vol. 4 to 139½ Sheets No. 500 &c.mmat;
15s |
104. |
12. |
6 |
| 1767 |
| April |
Sir James Stuart's Principles of Political Oeconomy, yr.
half |
101. |
14. |
9 |
In this example, the basic pattern is present in four out of five of the
entries. The fifth entry is an example of the first or "jobbing" method of
entry, used to keep track of Millar's share in a partnership venture ("yr.
half") which was recorded in detail elsewhere.
It can also be seen from the examples that excess information, such
as the words "for printing," was eliminated as the years went by. The
number of volumes was included only when it seemed pertinent to Strahan;
the number of the edition or the sheet size was sometimes
entered, sometimes not. These refinements were signals for Strahan to
return to his waste book if he needed more information; in most cases we
cannot check the accuracy of the signals because the waste books and most
of the journals have disappeared. But the variations serve to accentuate the
flexibility of the "book" method of debit entry for printing rather than to
obscure the method.
