The Unit Charge
The nature of Strahan's standard scale of prices can be determined
from examination of entries from Ledger A, made during Strahan's early
years in business when he recorded more information than was really
necessary for bookkeeping and thereby left vital evidence for the
reconstruction of his scale of prices to the customer. In the reconstructed
scale which follows, the abbreviation "L.P." has been used for Long Primer
type face.
There are several gaps and some anomalies in this scale of prices, for
Strahan, of course, did not realize that his scale would some day be
reconstructed from the ledgers; he undoubtedly had it available for daily use
in written or printed form. However, it is apparent from the reconstruction
above that a regular scale was the standard method of fixing the unit charge
for any job. We see that the unit charge was a certain price for each sheet.
The price for this unit was determined by (1) the size of the sheet, (2) the
size of the type, and (3) the press run of copies.
The Size of the Sheet
The scale shows that octavo was the usual sheet size for English, Pica
and Small Pica type, but large octavo was also popular. Duodecimo was the
usual size for smaller type, especially Long Primer. The price did not
necessarily vary simply with the size of the sheet, but with the relationship
between the sheet and the type used.
The Size of the Type
On the one hand, if a small type were used for a large sheet, the
price was higher for any run of copies than if a large type were used: more
typesetting was involved in using small type. On the other hand, even if a
small type were used, the charge would depend on the exact relationship
between the type size and the sheet. For example, if a job were set in Small
Pica and run as octavo, it would involve less type-setting than if it were set
in Small Pica and run as a large octavo, because the line measure of large
octavo is longer than regular octavo if the margin of white space around the
type is not changed. This same Small Pica, if run in duodecimo, would
have less work than octavo sheets in some respects: the line measure would
be shorter and there would be fewer lines to the page; but, in other
respects, more furniture and spacing would have to be handled because
there would be eight more pages to set to complete the sheet than in octavo
even if the line measure were
shorter. Thence the price for a duodecimo in Small Pica could easily be
more than for a large octavo on one occasion and less on another occasion,
according to the Master Printer's opinion of the difficulty and quantity of
the typesetting, which would include his figuring ahead of time the line
measure and the number of lines per page — in other words, the unit
price would always depend on the results of "casting off copy" before the
job was begun. This practice resulted in Strahan's fixing more than one
price for a unit charge. For example, 1000 copies of Small Pica duodecimo
could cost as little as
£1.4.0 per sheet, or as much as £1.12.0, depending on the results
of the casting-off process.
Strahan's casting-off must have been standardized to conform to his
scale of prices with little deviation of line measure or margin, for the
anomalies in the scale above are few, once the relationship between the
kind of work, the type face, and the sheet size has been accepted as causing
slight fluctuations for any given run.
The Press Run of Copies
The information from the scale above, supplemented by other
information from later periods in Strahan's career, shows that from 1738
to 1785 the most frequently ordered press run was 500 copies, and that a
run of 1000 was second in frequency. Runs of 500 or 1000 copies account
for more than half of the press runs which I tabulated as typical of entries
in Ledgers A, B, D and F.
|
Copies
|
Instances
|
| 500 |
175 |
| 1000 |
139 |
| 750 |
77 |
| 1500 |
43 |
| 250 |
37 |
| 2000 |
28 |
| 3000 |
15 |
All of these most frequently requested runs were multiples of a "token"
(250 copies) rather than "bastard" runs of less than an even token, such as
400 or 800. It is notable that longer runs of 2000 and 3000 are much more
frequent than has generally been supposed true in eighteenth-century
printing.
It can be proved that the unit price for work increased in direct
proportion to the increase in the press run, by using the scale of unit prices
above and information from later periods in Strahan's career to reconstruct
a scale of unit prices charged for each of the seven most frequently used
press runs. These prices fall naturally into three ranges for each run; in the
scale below I have attributed these three price ranges to the use of specific
type faces and sheet sizes, but it should be remembered that my attribution
is hypothetical, since the exact relationship between the press run and the
type and sheet cannot be known with absolute certainty. The scale was
constructed from 406 instances of unit charges for press runs between 1738
and 1785 ("No.") and indicates the possibility of a higher top price in the
price ranges marked "+."
The scale shows that Strahan's customers where charged a unit price
in an ascending scale according to the press runs they ordered, as well as
according to the type face and sheet size. If the exact relationship of these
factors in the unit price were known, we could reconstruct the pressmen's
wage scale; but even with the simple scale above it is possible to infer,
from the regular patterns of increase, that the pressmen did have a regular
scale of wages throughout Strahan's career.
The longer runs cost proportionately much more than the shorter
runs, because type in the eighteenth century did not last as long as type
does today; consequently, a long run in Strahan's business could easily
mean that he would have to restock on the particular face because of wear.
Further, each additional token resulted in more pressmen's wages, more ink
and other material, more washing of the form (especially if the job ran to
a second day), and, of course, less flexibility for press scheduling of small
or "rush" jobs when one or more presses were occupied with long runs.
Today, long runs cost proportionately less than shorter runs, because of the
high speed of continuously operating electrical presses printing solidly cast
linotype or plates. Even today it is true, however, that hand-set type is
charged at a premium if it is ordered for a long run rather than being
plated; many shops refuse to use certain hand-set type for anything but
"reproduction proof."
