University of Virginia Library

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.