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The history of the book trade sometimes has broader implications that is realised; it is for example, one of the service industries whose neglect has been regretted by historians.[1] The provision of paper and writing materials is a fundamental economic service; business and commerce, and much else, cannot function without these essential supplies. In outline, at least, the pattern of supply in England is clear enough. Until the middle of the eighteenth century, England was a net importer of paper.[2] Despite an abortive attempt to establish a papermaking industry in the late fifteenth century, it was not until 1588 that John Spilman opened the first successful English paper mill.[3] Even then, growth was slow, and it was not until the 1770s that James Whatman began to produce writing paper of a sufficiently high quality to displace all the imports of Dutch paper.[4] By the 1730s, however, low grade papers were produced in quantity by English mills, and were adequate for all normal purposes.
Despite the superficial difficulties in supply, paper was widely available throughout England by the early seventeenth century at the latest. This was true not only of the major centers where it was to be expected,[5] but also in much smaller communities such as Ormskirk in Lancashire (where there was a stationer in 1613), or Charlbury in Oxfordshire (1632).[6] Our concern here is with the business of a single stationer, John Clay, of Daventry in Northamptonshire, over a period of nearly 50 years from the early 1740s to the late 1770s, a history which exemplifies the trade, and from which we can study both sources of supply and the demand for paper in a small country town.[7]
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