Provincial Bookselling in
Eighteenth-Century England: The Case of John Clay Reconsidered
by
Jan Fergus and Ruth
Portner
In a recent article, "John Clay of Daventry: the business of an
eighteenth-century stationer" (Studies in Bibliography 37
[1984]:
198-209), John Feather analyzed some of the voluminous business records
of John Clay and his sons, booksellers in Daventry, Rugby, Lutterworth,
and Warwick at various times between the 1740's and the 1780's. One of
Feather's major conclusions is that the business of a provincial bookseller
like Clay depended on sales of stationery far more than on sales of books
and other printed matter. A related conclusion is that, "apart from
schoolbooks . . . and part books and magazines, his book trade was chiefly
in chapbooks and ballads" (p. 205). If correct, these conclusions would
have serious implications for the study of the provincial book trade and of
provincial readership as well. If sales of stationery were of much greater
importance in volume and profit than sales of books, then provincial
stationers would have had little incentive to develop the
bookselling portion of their trade. If provincial readers could be generally
satisfied with schoolbooks, part books, and magazines printed in London,
along with chapbooks and ballads from "local sources" (p. 205), then they
were largely cut off from the cultural life represented by the hundreds of
books published every year in London.[1] The London book trade,
consequently,
would have had little reason to consider provincial readers in calculating
what to publish, how many copies to print, and where to distribute them,
and provincial booksellers would have had correspondingly little inclination
to arrange for frequent orders and deliveries of books from London. In
other words, the division between "town" and "country" in
eighteenth-century England would be quite as severe culturally as it often
was politically and socially, if Feather is right in attributing so small a
volume and proportion of book sales to a bookseller whose main shop, in
Daventry, was
located only seventy-two miles from London by contemporary roads.
Feather's conclusions are mistaken, however. The mistakes arise
primarily from his misreading of the records, especially of one day book
analyzed in his study, and secondarily from his methodology. A more
accurate investigation of the Clay business records reveals that, if the Clay
records are at all
representative, then the provincial book trade and provincial culture were
in a very lively and flourishing state between 1746 and 1780.
[2]
In his article, Feather tabulated the business transactions recorded in
day books by John Clay in October, 1768 (Northamptonshire Record Office
[hereafter NRO] D2925) and by his son Thomas in October, 1778 (NRO
D2926). He has, however, misidentified the first of these day books.
Eighteenth-century shopkeepers like the Clays used day books to record
every day's credit transactions, as well as orders for items not in stock. The
Clays kept both ledger accounts and day books. Once a month or so, all
credit purchases listed in the day book but not yet paid were posted to each
individual customer's account in a ledger. Day books were thus organized
by date, ledgers by customers' names. Feather takes day book D2925 to be
a record of transactions at the Clays' main shop in Daventry. But it does
not record Daventry transactions; it is a record of purchases made at their
small market shop in Rugby.
The evidence for considering D2925 a Rugby day book is so
overwhelming that we can include only the most telling arguments here.
First, evidence external to the day book indicates its use in Rugby. The
customers and the transactions entered in D2925 correspond almost
perfectly with those recorded in John Clay's ledger for Rugby, NRO
ML691 (1764-74). The latter is one of a continuous series of four ledgers
which list the credit purchases of individual boys and masters at Rugby
School between 1744-88 (see Table 1).[3] In fact, these four ledgers
represent the
only surviving bookselling ledgers in all the Clay records. Two of them are
clearly labelled Rugby records: D3412 has "Rugby July 1744" on the front
cover; D2932 likewise has "Rugby" on the cover and also "Rugby Ledger"
in faded letters on the spine. Even without such labels, however, the
ledgers' application to customers at Rugby school would be evident. The
boys' and masters' names in NRO ML691,
for example, together with the dates of their purchases, correspond to the
names and dates of entrance recorded in The Rugby School
Register for this period.[4]
Thus, John Clay noted in day book D2925 that "Mr. Watts at ye School"
bought the two-shilling "Compleat Lr. Writer" on credit on October 15,
1768, and later posted this transaction to the Watts account in ledger
ML691, p. 76, as "1 Complete Letter Writer" bought for two shillings on
October 15, 1768. Moreover, the Rugby School Register
indicates that a Thomas Watts entered Rugby in 1768. Most of the
transactions in D2925 found their way to ML691 in this fashion, and most
of the customers can be identified by reference to the Rugby School
Register. The remaining entries in D2925 generally consist of credit
transactions made by other residents of Rugby and its surrounding parishes.
These residents can be identified in Warwickshire parish records and in
other documents as
well.
The second argument depends upon internal evidence. Transactions
are generally entered in D2925 only at weekly intervals: several orders on
October 1, 1768, several on October 8, on October 15, and so forth. These
dates fell on successive Saturdays in 1768, and Rugby held its market day
on Saturday.[5] The Rugby shop, in
fact, like the Lutterworth shop, was peripheral to the main shop in
Daventry. Although some evidence exists that assistants may have kept the
Rugby and Lutterworth shops open for cash sales during the week,
generally John Clay visited these shops to take orders once or twice a week,
on the market day and sometimes another day as well. In addition, Clay
kept a horse to ride the eleven miles from Daventry to Rugby or the
seventeen miles from Daventry to Lutterworth, and these long rides made
a small, portable day book very desirable.[6] Both D2925 and D2926 are quite
small.
The Rugby book, D2925, is about
six inches wide and eight inches high. The Lutterworth book, D2926, is
even smaller: less than five inches wide and seven and a quarter inches
high. Both day books were equipped with a flap and strings so that they
could be sealed against the weather. They were thus quite convenient for
travelling. By contrast, the Daventry day books have no flaps or strings and
are about twice as large: they all measure approximately six by sixteen
inches.
Such combinations of internal and external evidence have made it
possible to identify the surviving records listed in Table 1 with some
confidence.[7] Feather's error in
assigning day book D2925 to Daventry probably stems from the entry in
John Clay's handwriting on the endleaf: "John Clay Bookseller | at
Daventry—Northamptonshire." It is, however, much more likely that
such clear identification would be made in a book destined to travel to a
shop in another town and county rather than in one confined to the main
shop. In fact, the surviving Daventry day books lack any identification at
all.
Feather's misidentification of D2925, coupled with his decision to
tabulate the transactions of only two months, means that he has drawn
conclusions from skewed data. First, the misidentification causes him to
omit all Daventry records from his analysis. John Clay and later his son
Thomas Clay lived in Daventry and kept the shop open six days a week,
not one or two as in Rugby or Lutterworth. Daventry was also a
considerably larger town than the others: it had a population of 2,582 in the
1801 census, compared to 1,487
in Rugby and 1,652 in Lutterworth.
[8]
As a consequence of such differences, the records of any month's business
in Daventry include far more transactions from a wider variety of customers
than do the records of a comparable month in either the Rugby or
Lutterworth shops. Indeed, as Table 2.1 shows, the Daventry day books
record sales of £51.13.8 for October, 1747, and a very comparable
figure for October, 1779, over thirty years later: £57.7.8½. Each
of these figures amounts to more than double the sales tabulated by Feather:
£18.19.7 for October, 1768, in Rugby, and £16.19.10½ for
October, 1778, in Lutterworth (reproduced in Tables 3.1 and 3.2). His
figures, however, include charges for stamp duty on both "skins"
(parchment for legal documents) and paper. Since such charges tend to be
quite large and to vary a good deal in quantity from month to month, they
are likely to distort the monthly figures. We have therefore excluded them
from our own totals although we have indicated them separately.
Accordingly, Table 2.1 shows that stamp duty adds another £21.8.3 to
the October 1747 figures and £20.4.0 to those for October 1779. In our
own calculations, at least £8.19.6 of the sales recorded in October 1768
(Rugby) and £7.8.0 of those in October 1778 (Lutterworth) represent
the cost of the stamps themselves. By excluding such costs, we have arrived
at total sales of £11.6.10 in Rugby and £11.11.6 in Lutterworth for
the months investigated by Feather—each about one-fifth the sales in
Daventry for October 1747 and 1779 (see Tables 3.1 and 3.2).
[9] All these figures confirm the
centrality of
the Daventry shop to the Clays' business and document a far healthier
income for the Clays than Feather indicates.
Table 2 also suggests the major problem in Feather's methodology:
to draw conclusions from isolated months is likely to produce misleading
results. Feather's major errors—the conclusions that Clay was
primarily
a stationer and that his book trade was principally in schoolbooks, part
books, chapbooks, and ballads—arise in part from his willingness to
consider the two months he chose to investigate as representative. In fact,
as Table 2.1 indicates, no "typical" month can be identified. In December
of both 1747 and 1779, for example, sales were poor compared to the
October figures: in 1747, sales in December amounted to little more than
half those for October, and in 1779, December sales came to about 65% of
October's. By contrast, December
was the busiest month in the last quarter of 1746, with sales of
£47.10.7 compared to £24.18.12 in October of that year. The stamp
duties collected in 1746 reflect this discrepancy: £10.17.0 was collected
in December, compared to only 4s6d in October. The large sales figure for
December 1746, however, is itself somewhat skewed: one customer, a Mr.
Brice of Leicester, was responsible for ordering £17.5.6 worth of
stationery during that month. These large orders are at once quite common
and quite unpredictable. In short, it is not possible to arrive at a "'normal'
month's sales" by ignoring large orders, as Feather does (p. 202). It is
equally impossible to analyze "two typical months," as Feather claims to
have done, simply because a normal or typical month cannot be reliably
established without extensive computer-based analysis of the voluminous
records.
In the absence of such analysis, we have compiled information in
Table 2.1 about sales in Daventry from October through December of the
first two years available in the records—1746 and 1747, with John
Clay
as proprietor—and for the same three-month period in 1779, the last
such
period recorded in Daventry, when the shop was operated by Thomas Clay.
With liberal doses of caution, some interesting preliminary conclusions can
be drawn from the information compiled in this table. Generally, these
conclusions contradict those of Feather.
First of all, bookselling—including sales of all printed
matter—was clearly extremely important throughout the period
covered
by the Clay records, particularly in Daventry. The Daventry day books do
not support Feather's conclusion that "primarily, Clay was a stationer,
dealing in paper and printed forms" (p. 202) or that bookselling "in these
small market towns, was economically of far less importance" than sales of
stationery goods (p. 204). John Clay was a bookseller who sold stationery,
not the reverse; so was his son Thomas, although sales of stamps and
stationery may have been somewhat more central to his business than to
John's. In any case, both seem to have sent weekly book orders to London
to various dealers, and apparently had little trouble in obtaining most books
that their customers wanted. Partly as a result of their efficient
arrangements to obtain deliveries from London, sales of books and other
printed matter in Daventry came to nearly £48 in the last
three months of 1746, nearly £84 for the comparable period in 1747,
and just over £90 for that in 1779; these figures represent about 50%,
70%, and 58% respectively of total sales—excluding charges for
stamp
duty—for the threemonth periods (Table 2.1). If stamp duty is
included,
then sales of print come to 42%, 56%, and 40% of total sales in Daventry
during the same period, by far the largest proportion of the sales. Thus, a
fairly high demand for printed matter seems to have persisted in Daventry.
Selling books and other publications clearly remained the most substantial
and important part of the credit portion of the business while the Clays
were operating.
Admittedly, sales of printed matter in Lutterworth and Rugby were
smaller in both volume and proportion, but not as much so as Feather
suggests. His figures assign about one-third of the sales in Rugby and
Lutterworth to bookselling. Our own sampling suggests that the monthly
totals for
the peripheral shops varied, with sales of books and other printed matter
accounting for one-third to one-half of each month's credit receipts,
excluding stamp duty (see Table 3.1 and 3.2). Furthermore, a number of
customers at both Rugby and Lutterworth were very eager to buy books and
pamphlets, not merely part books, schoolbooks and chapbooks; Mr.
Grundy, for example, a dissenting minister at Lutterworth, bought more
than fifty publications between July 1776 and February 1781.
An important qualification to these figures must be noted here. The
day books do not tell the whole story of the Clays' trade in their shops.
They omit nearly all cash transactions. Day books recorded and dated all
credit purchases and included, in a "Bespoke" section, those
orders that the Clays could not immediately fill or deliver. Small
transactions—purchases of a sheet or two of paper, for
example—were
probably paid for in cash as a rule. This is especially true of chapbook
purchases, which rarely appear in the records, except among the Rugby
schoolboys (who usually bought on credit).[10] Thus, the Clay day books cannot
indicate
the nature of cash purchases by provincial customers, particularly by those
customers unwilling or unable to establish credit. Such cash purchases are
generally unrecoverable. Although one of Thomas Clay's cash books
survives (in two parts, NRO X7555 and NRO D6133), and although it
records each week's receipts
and expenses, it does not clearly indicate which of these receipts came from
cash sales in the shop and which came from customers paying their
accumulated bills. In the day books of William Huntley's business in
colonial Williamsburg, recently analyzed by Cynthia Z. and Gregory
Stiverson, totals of cash sales are recorded and amount to "26.8 percent of
the nonbook sales and 31.4 percent of the book sales" between October
1750 and June 1752.[11] That is,
proportionally more printed matter was sold for cash than were other items
and services (paper, stationery, binding, printing, advertisements in the
Virginia Gazette, etc.). If the Clays' cash sales were at all
comparable, then total sales of books and other printed matter would
comprise an even larger proportion of the business than the credit sales
indicate.
Table 2 offers no hint of the kinds of books sold by the Clays over
the five decades that the records cover, but these varied enormously.
Obviously, Feather's misidentification of the Rugby day book invalidates
his conclusion that "books sold at Daventry were mainly schoolbooks in use
at the Academy" (p. 202). These schoolbooks were bought by boys and
masters at Rugby School, not the Daventry Dissenting Academy. Indeed,
the purchases of boys at these two institutions are quite different, and
deserve study by historians of eighteenth-century education.
More important, however, the books sold at Daventry were extremely
diverse, and testify to the ease with which the Clays were able to obtain
publications from London for their customers. Not surprisingly, Bibles,
books of common prayer, sermons, and devotional books were especially
popular throughout the period, as were reference books, histories,
schoolbooks, belles lettres, and so forth.
[12] Although Feather believes that
Clay
"never really had a stock of books at all, except for chapbooks . . . ballads
. . . and school textbooks" (p. 208), in fact the Clays stocked various
works. Samuel Clay obtained a number of books from his father when he
opened his Warwick shop. Day book D2930 shows that on August 21, for
example, John sent Samuel the following books, among others:
- Patrick . . . Lowth 4 Vol. new 2.18.0
- Doddridge Expositor 6 V: D° 2.9.0
- Abernethys Ser. 2 V: 4.4
- Drelincourt on Death 3.4
- Ansons Voyage 2.4
- Hist. Mildmay or Magdalen 2 V.
2.—
- Peerage of Engld 6 V.
13.—
- Hawkins Works 3 Vol.
3.—
- Eachards Ecclesiat: Hist. 2 V:
2.—
Samuel Clay's Warwick day book (NRO D2929) indicates that he sold none
of these books on credit between August 1770 and March 1772, although
he made 8d by circulating Hugh Kelly's
Memoirs of a Magdalen, or
the history of Louisa Mildmay and Anson's
Voyages
to
three customers.
[13] Clearly, however,
he considered that he ought to stock such works, especially at such
discounted prices; equally clearly, his father had them in stock. In fact,
various references in the day books reveal that John Clay had a catalog of
his stock to distribute to customers; for example, on July 7, 1759, he noted
that he "lent [Mr. Earnsby of Hillmorton] my Catalogue" (NRO D2931).
Other provincial booksellers also circulated catalogs: on March 1, 1759,
John Clay received from "Mr. Calcott at Banbury" some books that Clay
had ordered "out of his Catalogue"; Clay was charged £1.13.0 for the
books and 3s6d for carriage (NRO D2931). Frequent notes made in the
"Bespoke"
sections of the day books to reorder various titles also indicate that all the
Clays stocked popular works such as (to cite D2929) Leybourne's "Trader's
Guide," "Hervey
s Meditations,"
Goody Two
Shoes,
Pilgrim's Progress, and "New Week
s
Preparation to the
Altar" (a devotional work), as well as the "ballads" and "histories" or
chapbooks that Feather emphasizes. In sum, his assertion that such ballads
and chapbooks constituted the chief part of the Clays' trade, apart from
schoolbooks, part books, and magazines, is simply untenable upon closer
examination of the records.
Although the main business of the Daventry shop was to satisfy
customers' demands for printed matter, then, the nature of those demands
changed markedly over the four decades recorded, as Table 2.2 illustrates.
Interestingly, whereas in all but one of the months examined, well over half
the Daventry sales came from printed matter in general,[14] the shop experienced a decline in
demand
for printed books. During the last three months of 1747, sales of books
alone (as opposed to other printed matter) came to £64.10.3½, or
over half the total sales of £119.17.10¼ (excluding stamp duty). By
contrast, during the comparable period in 1779, book sales came to
£47.18.3, less than one-third of the total sales of £154.14.0. In
1747, sales of other printed matter accounted for a further £19.7.5 of
sales between October and December, about one-sixth of the total (and
including 3s3d for reading books from the circulating library). Overall,
sales of print came to £83.17.8½, or about 70% of total sales for
the last three months of 1747. In 1779, other printed matter absorbed a
higher proportion of sales than it did in 1747: £42.5.½ or about
27%. Sales of printed matter altogether fell, however, to about 58% of the
total sales over the three-month period. Feather's analysis of the Rugby and
Lutterworth day books led him to conclude that provincial customers may
have bought more books in the later decades of the Clays'
operations than earlier (p. 207); in fact, they bought fewer. They turned
their attention to various cheaper or more ephemeral productions.
As Table 2.2 shows, declining sales of books were accompanied by
increased sales of ephemeral material. Magazines enjoyed more than a
fivefold increase, from £2.8.0 for the last three months of 1746 (or
£2.9.6 for 1747) to £13.10.6 for the comparable period in 1779.
These sales, though recorded exclusively in the Daventry day books,
actually include subscriptions from customers who patronized the Rugby
and Lutterworth shops as well.[15]
Sales of almanacks skyrocketed from totals of £2.7.3 in the last three
months of 1746 and £1.11.3 in the same period in 1747 to £22.13.0
between October and December 1779. Three wholesale customers,
however, accounted for an enormous proportion of the 1779 total sales of
almanacks (£18.10.33, or over 80%). Even if we choose to disregard
these large wholesale purchases, retail purchases still doubled. Sales of
songs and music books increased as well.
Serial publications are the only form of printed matter apart from
books
whose sales seem to decrease during this period: from £12.3.0. between
October and December 1747 to £3.16.3 in 1779. The figures for 1747
are inflated, however, by a total of £11.6.0 for successive volumes of
the
Universal History, usually charged at five shillings each.
Possibly these purchases should be considered books rather than serials. If
we examine the figures of the previous year, we find £3.6.6 spent on
serials during the last quarter. In any case, the relatively slight demand for
serial publications among the Clays' customers over these decades is
striking in the light of R. M. Wiles' documentation of the enormous range
and availability of books published serially.
[16] Between 1746 and 1779, as Table
2.2
shows, magazines became far more attractive than serial publications to the
Clays' customers, although both appealed to a variety of
readers—from
the rare servant or even laborer to the gentry. At Daventry, the largest
proportion of the Clays' customers for these and other publications,
however, were drawn from families whose breadwinner belonged to the
professions. Clergymen were particularly good customers throughout the
four decades, but some evidence indicates that from about 1770, magazines
and serials became increasingly popular among farmers and
tradesmen.
[17] Feather's contention that
most customers "were either the gentry of the locality or Clay's fellow
tradesmen" (p. 208) is inaccurate with regard to Rugby and Lutterworth as
well as Daventry, unless he is using the term "gentry" loosely, to refer to
the professional classes as well.
Changes over time in the demand for stationery are almost as
revealing as the changed demand for books and other publications. Sales of
blank books —primarily day books, ledgers, and other account
books—tripled between 1747 and 1779, and sales of copybooks used
in
schools almost quadrupled. These figures suggest an increasingly
prosperous economic life in the areas served by the Clays, as well as
increased numbers of children who were given instruction in writing. Sales
of paper alone show less dramatic gains: from £16.6.9½ for the last
three months of 1747 to £19.19.6 for the same period in 1779. These
figures do include a £6.0.0 wholesale order for paper by Mr. Brice; if
it is disregarded, then retail sales of paper appear to double over the period.
But it is misleading to disregard such orders. The totals for the last quarter
of 1746 are similarly inflated by two wholesale orders totalling
£19.13.5 altogether; the retail sales for 1746 actually come to
£13.4.10½. Such "inflation" seems to be common in the
1740's.
More impressive than the small growth in retail sales of paper is the
rise in demand for "skins," the parchment and vellum used by lawyers:
from about £2.0.0 in the last three months of 1746 and 1747 to
£10.12.5 in 1779. This more than fivefold increase bears witness to the
rising numbers and prosperity of provincial members of the legal
professions. The rise in duty paid for stamps over the same period, from
£12.9.0 in 1746 (or £29.1.3 in 1747) to
£70.19.6 in 1779 partially reflects this increase in lawyers' activities,
though at least half arises from increases in the stamp duty. By the end of
the 1770's, a great proportion of Thomas Clay's revenue came from sales
of legal stationery. A bill made out to one of his legal customers, Charles
Simon Oakden of Daventry, survives for the year 1778: it comes to
£118.3.5 for stamp duty, stationery (including "skins"), and writing
implements (NRO D6786). This enormous sum almost exactly equals the
amount spent by
all Thomas Clay's customers at Daventry
(including Oakden) on the same goods between October and December
1779 (£118.0.8½; see Table 2.1). Interestingly, however, these
huge sales of legal stationery seem to be a development of the late 1760's
and the 1770's. Earlier, lawyers absorbed a much smaller proportion of
John Clay's sales of stationery. Feather exaggerates, then, when he asserts
that John Clay was "typical of country stationers" in building his
business "around the supply of law stationery" (p. 208). Before the 1770's,
the receipts of the Daventry shop depended very little on sales of legal
stationery, although a number of lawyers were customers.
[18]
The Clay business records, then, provide firm evidence that
bookselling could be a thriving trade in the provinces in the second half of
the eighteenth century. Although the demand for various kinds of
publications underwent some important changes, it remained high during the
period covered by the records. The profitability of the Clays' shops in
Daventry, Rugby, and Lutterworth is clear; John Clay was able to raise,
educate, and provide for a family of nine children (four others died in
infancy). Throughout his career, his day books show that he was able to
make loans to various customers and friends. In 1770, he was even able to
lend his brother-in-law Charles Watkins, a prosperous draper in Daventry,
the sum of £353.[19] Similarly,
although Samuel Clay abandoned his shop in Warwick in June 1772 when
his brother William died, and took over William's Rugby-based grocery and
ironmongery business, he resumed bookselling in Rugby on the death of his
brother Thomas in 1781. The Daventry business was sold on Thomas's
death to William Culling-worth, a surveyor, but Samuel Clay operated the
Rugby shop until at least
1789,
[20] and probably until 1794. By
then he had become a banker as well. Samuel Clay's willingness to remain
a bookseller in Rugby despite his other lucrative ventures testifies to the
profitability of the Rugby shop. Admittedly, Rugby offered a particularly
attractive market during this period. Thomas James, the headmaster of
Rugby School from 1778, apparently increased the number of boys at the
school from fifty-two in 1778 to two hundred forty-five by 1794.
[21] Finally, perhaps the most
interesting
evidence of the profitability of selling books to provincial customers comes
from a deposition taken from Benjamin Kite at Peterborough in 1794. He
had "travelled the Country & maintained himself by selling second
hand
Books & c." (NRO PSJ 225/12).
[22]
Kite was literate and had been a Clay customer, in fact: he paid 1s3d cash
on April 12, 1770 (D2930), for unnamed items that he had received
earlier—perhaps old books, which Clay sometimes bought and sold
by
the pound, or possibly almanacks for resale. That Kite could support
himself, however minimally, in this way within the Clays' area offers
further testimony to the healthy demand for reading matter among these
provincial customers.
The profitability of commercial bookselling in the midlands arose,
then, from the hearty provincial appetite for books. A history of this
demand offers important insight into the social history of reading. The
substantial and increased sales of ephemera like almanacks and magazines
in the 1770's may seem to suggest that by then a "reading revolution" was
taking place, of the sort postulated by Rolf Engelsing and others. But at the
same time, there was a substantial trade in "classics," or reprints of all
kinds, from devotional works to children's books. These were bought by
new generations of those groups which had traditionally been
readers—the gentry and the professional classes—as well as
by new
readers from the "middling classes": farmers, yeomen, tradesmen,
apprentices, servants and the like. Here we have evidence that "intensive
reading"—or the rereading of a small group of
"classics"—was not
necessarily abandoned as "extensive" reading increased. They coexisted and
still do.[23] The relatively slight
interest of customers in obtaining books from the Clays' circulating library
also suggests, in fact, that the notion of extensive reading—a quick
perusal for pleasure—was not very attractive among these provincial
customers. More attractive was the notion of sharing books. Book clubs,
which allowed members both to share and to own books,
were very popular among the Clays' customers; at least nine existed
between 1746-81, a few of them for decades. Similarly, a number of
customers shared magazine subscriptions; they also ordered and delivered
books for one another.
Generally, then, the Clay records bear witness to a flourishing
provincial reading community, some of whose members kept in close touch
with publishing activity in London largely through advertisements in
newspapers. Many of those customers who took the Monthly
Review and the Critical Review, for example, did not
wait to receive their reviews before ordering books and pamphlets
advertised in the Northampton Mercury and elsewhere.
Indeed,
our preliminary survey suggests that less than half of the books bought by
subscribers to the reviews in 1758-59 and 1764-66 were actually reviewed
at all during the twelve months before they were purchased. Such
subscribers may have used their reviews primarily to keep in touch with
informed opinion in London, rather than to guide their purchases of books.
In a similar manner, many of the Clays' medical
customers—physicians,
apothecaries, surgeons, and so forth—obtained medical books almost
immediately upon publication in
London.[24] What the Clay records
show, then, is a provincial community whose links with the London book
trade were firm and lively. At a distance of seventy-two miles, the division
between town and country was not too great to be crossed. Certainly, the
provincial reading public, and the Clay booksellers, behaved as if that
distance were negligible.
TABLE: 1: CLAY BUSINESS RECORDS DEPOSITED IN
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE RECORD OFFICE
I. DAY BOOKS: Bookselling
PROPRIETOR
|
DAVENTRY
|
RUGBY
|
LUTTERWORTH
|
WARWICK
|
John Clay
|
D64 30 Sep 46-25 Mar 48 |
bur. 18 Nov 75 |
D2931 1 July 58-28 Sep 59 |
|
ML692 5 Dec 64-22 Mar 66 |
|
D2930 26 Jan 70-21 Mar 71 |
D2925 9 Apr 68-11 Aug 70 |
|
D2929 8 Aug 70-7 Mar 72 |
|
D7719 28 July 71-5 Feb 72** |
|
|
(Proprietor, Samuel Clay) |
|
ML699 11 Mar 73-5 Jan 74 |
|
ML89 4 Jan 74-16 Feb 75 |
Thomas Clay
|
ML88 29 Jan 77-18 Dec 77 |
D4843 1 Mar 77-20 Mar 77 |
ML694 11 Jul 76-7 Aug 77 |
bur. 26 Jul 81 |
ML10 31 Mar 79-12 Sep 80 |
D7938 7 Aug 79-5 Aug 80 |
D2926 27 Aug 77-25 Feb 79 |
|
|
D3400 12 Aug 80-Aug 81 |
D2928 ?5 Mar 79-22 Feb 81 |
Samuel Clay
|
|
D3400 Aug 81-29 Oct 81 |
d. 6 Mar 1800 |
|
ML478 29 Oct 81-12 Jun 84 |
II. LEDGERS: Bookselling; Rugby only
- John Clay D3412 1744-64
- John Clay ML691 1764-74
- John and Thomas Clay D2932 1774-81
- Samuel Clay D10297 1781-88[**]
III. OTHERS
- A. Bookselling:
- John and Thomas Clay: D2927, "Country Chapmen," 1742-76;
ML689, London Suppliers, 1742-81
- John and Samuel Clay: D2820, Bookbinding, 1763-65
- Thomas Clay: X7555, Cash Book, 1775-80; D6133, Cash
Book, 1780-81
- B. Rugby Grocery, Ironmongery:
- William Clay: D3411, Day Book, 1771-72; D5226, Day
Book, 1772; ML1247, Ledger, Jan. 71-June 72
- Samuel Clay: ML484, Day Book, 1774-75; ML482, Day
Book, 1780-81; D10114, Day Book, 1781-83; D7481, Day Book,
1783-85
- C: Rugby Bank:
- Samuel Clay: D2820, Cash Book, 1788-92
TABLE 2.1: DAVENTRY SALES, TOTALS
|
OCTOBER |
NOVEMBER |
DECEMBER |
THREE-MONTH TOTALS |
GOODS SOLD |
£ S D |
£ S D |
£ S D |
£ S D |
I. D64: 1746
|
Printed Matter |
13.12. 6 |
13.12. 7 |
20.12. 1½ |
47.17. 2½ |
Stationery |
5.18.11½ |
8.12. 1 |
22.17. 8[(a)]
|
37. 8. 8½[(a)]
|
Writing Implements |
10.11 |
2. 7 |
7.10 |
1. 1. 4 |
Binding |
10. 5 |
10. 6 |
14. 3½ |
1.15. 2½ |
Medicine |
1. 3 |
|
1. 3 |
2. 6 |
Miscellaneous |
4. 4. 1½ |
3. 8. 8½ |
2.16. 5 |
10. 9. 3 |
Unidentified |
|
1. 6 |
1. 0 |
2. 6 |
TOTAL |
24.18. 2 |
26. 7.11½ |
47.10. 7[(a)]
|
98.16. 8½[(a)]
|
(Stamp duty) |
4. 6 |
7. 6 |
10.17. 0 |
12. 9. 0 |
II. D64: 1747
[(b)]
|
Printed Matter |
38.18. 1[(c)]
|
25. 8.11 |
19.10. 8½ |
83.17. 8½[(c)]
|
Stationery |
5. 4. 2 |
12. 7. 0 |
4. 9. 0½ |
22. 0. 2½ |
Writing Implements |
6.10 |
10. 3½ |
7. 7½ |
1. 4. 9 |
Binding |
2. 7. 4 |
2. 0 |
14. 9 |
3. 4.11 |
Medicine |
|
1. 3 |
|
1. 3 |
Miscellaneous |
4.17. 3 |
2. 7. 5 |
2. 4.14¼ |
9. 9.10¼ |
Unidentified |
TOTAL |
51.13. 8[(b)]
[(c)]
|
40.16.10½ |
27. 7. 3¾ |
119.17.10¼[(b)]
[(c)]
|
(Stamp duty) |
21. 8. 3 |
7.11. 6 |
1. 6 |
29. 1. 3 |
III. ML10: 1779
|
Printed Matter |
33. 5. 8½ |
35.15.11[(d)]
|
21. 1. 8 |
90. 3. 3½[(d)]
|
Stationery |
16.12. 0½ |
13.12. 5 |
12. 3. 5½ |
42. 7.11 |
Writing Implements |
1.10. 8½ |
2. 1. 5 |
1. 1. 2 |
4.13. 3½ |
Binding |
1. 2. 5 |
5. 2 |
1. 5. 6 |
2.13. 1 |
Medicine |
2. 0 |
|
1. 2 |
3. 2 |
Miscellaneous |
4.14.10 |
8. 2. 8 |
1.15. 9 |
14.13. 3 |
Unidentified |
TOTAL |
57. 7. 8½ |
59.17. 7[(d)]
|
37. 8. 8½ |
154.14. 0[(d)]
|
(Stamp Duty) |
20. 4. 0 |
11. 3. 0 |
39.12. 6 |
70.19. 6 |
TABLE 2.2: ANALYSIS PRINTED MATTER AND
STATIONERY SALES, DAVENTRY
|
OCTOBER |
NOVEMBER |
DECEMBER |
THREE-MONTH TOTALS |
GOODS SOLD |
£ S D |
£ S D |
£ S D |
£ S D |
I. D64: 1746
|
Books |
10.11. 3[(a)]
|
11.11. 7[(a)]
|
16. 0. 8½ |
38. 3. 6½[(a)]
|
Almanacks |
|
11. 8 |
1.15. 7 |
2. 7. 3 |
Magazines |
16. 0 |
16. 0 |
16. 0 |
2. 8. 0 |
Serials |
1.12. 6 |
5. 0 |
1. 9. 0 |
3. 6. 6 |
Prints, Maps |
5. 0 |
5. 0 |
|
10. 0 |
Printed Forms |
4. 6 |
3. 4 |
6.10 |
14. 8 |
Songs/Music Books |
|
|
4. 0 |
4. 0 |
Reading |
3. 3 |
|
|
3. 3 |
Printed Matter |
13.12. 6[(a)]
|
13.12. 7[(a)]
|
20.12. 1½ |
47.17. 2½[(a)]
|
Paper |
4. 4. 9½ |
7. 2. 1[(b)]
|
21.11. 5[(c)]
|
32.18. 3½[(b)]
[(c)]
|
Blank Books |
1. 1. 1 |
15. 4 |
11. 9 |
2. 8. 2 |
Copybooks |
1. 6 |
|
1. 6 |
3. 0 |
Skins |
11. 7 |
14. 8 |
13. 0 |
1.19. 3 |
Stationery |
5.18.11½ |
8.12. 1[(b)]
|
22.17. 8[(c)]
|
37. 8. 8½[(b)]
[(c)]
|
II. D64: 1747
|
Books |
30.15. 9 |
22. 3. 4 |
11.10.14½ |
64.10. 3½ |
Almanacks |
|
8. 1 |
1. 3. 2 |
1.11. 3 |
Magazines |
14. 6 |
14. 6 |
1. 0. 6 |
2. 9. 6 |
Serials |
4.10. 0 |
2. 2. 0 |
5.11. 0 |
12. 3. 0 |
Prints, Maps |
2. 4. 0 |
. 6 |
1. 6 |
2. 6. 0 |
Printed Forms |
5.10 |
. 6 |
3. 4 |
9. 8 |
Songs/Music Books |
8. 0 |
|
|
8. 0 |
Reading |
Printed Matter |
38.18. 1 |
25. 8.11 |
19.10. 8½ |
83.17. 8½ |
Paper |
4. 8. 3 |
9. 0. 9[(d)]
|
2.17. 9½ |
16. 6. 9½[(d)]
|
Blank Books |
8. 6 |
1. 0.11 |
1. 3. 6 |
2.12.11 |
Copybooks |
1. 6 |
18. 0 |
1. 0 |
1. 0. 6 |
Skins |
5.11 |
1. 7. 4 |
6. 9 |
2. 0. 0 |
Stationery |
5. 4. 2 |
12. 7. 0[(d)]
|
4. 9. 0½ |
22. 0. 2½[(d)]
|
III. ML10: 1779
|
Books |
26. 3.11 |
10. 5. 4 |
11. 9. 0 |
47.18. 3 |
Almanacks |
|
18.14. 9[(e)]
|
3.18. 3 |
22.13. 0[(e)]
|
Magazines |
4. 9. 0 |
4. 9. 6 |
4.12. 0 |
13.10. 6 |
Serials |
1. 6. 3 |
1.17. 6 |
12. 6 |
3.16. 3 |
Prints, Maps |
1. 6 |
|
|
1. 6 |
Printed Forms |
7. 5 |
2. 1 |
5. 3 |
14. 9 |
Songs/Music Books |
17. 7½ |
5. 0 |
4. 8 |
1. 7. 3½ |
Reading |
|
1. 9 |
|
1. 9 |
Printed Matter |
33. 5. 8½ |
35.15.11[(e)]
|
21. 1. 8 |
90. 3. 3½[(e)]
|
Paper |
6.12.11½ |
7.18. 6½ |
5. 8. 0 |
19.19. 6 |
Blank Books |
2.11. 6 |
16. 7 |
4.12. 9 |
8. 0.10 |
Copybooks |
2. 1. 0 |
1.10. 0 |
4. 2 |
3.15. 2 |
Skins |
5. 6. 7 |
3. 7. 3½ |
1.18. 6½ |
10.12. 5 |
Stationery |
16.12. 0½ |
13.12. 5 |
12. 3. 5½ |
42. 7.11 |
TABLE 3.1: RUGBY SALES, COMPARISON OF DATA,
D2925
|
FEATHER: |
|
FERGUS AND PORTNER: |
|
OCTOBER |
1768 |
OCTOBER |
1768 |
DECEMBER |
1768 |
|
subtotal |
totals |
subtotal |
totals |
subtotal |
totals |
GOODS SOLD |
£ S D |
£ S D |
£ S D |
£ S D |
£ S D |
£ S D |
Books |
3.13. 6 |
|
4. 1. 1 |
|
18. 8 |
Almanacks |
n/a |
|
|
|
11. 7 |
Magazines |
n/a |
Serials |
n/a |
|
12. 6 |
|
9. 6 |
Prints, Maps |
4. 0 |
|
4. 0 |
Printed Forms |
1. 1. 4 |
|
1. 0 |
Songs |
n/a |
Reading |
n/a |
|
0. 3 |
Printed Matter |
|
4.18.10 |
|
4.18.10 |
|
1.19. 9 |
Paper |
11.12. 0 |
|
1.17. 2 |
|
15. 0 |
Blank Books |
1.11 |
|
1.11 |
|
17. 6 |
Copy Books |
n/a |
|
|
|
3. 0 |
Skins |
n/a |
|
2. 4. 5 |
|
1.13. 9 |
Stationery |
|
11.13.11 |
|
4. 3. 6 |
|
3. 9. 3 |
Writing Implements |
|
10. 8 |
|
15. 9 |
|
5. 1½ |
Binding |
|
12. 4 |
|
12. 4 |
Medicine |
|
3. 2 |
|
7. 0 |
|
4. 9 |
Miscellaneous |
|
13. 5 |
|
8. 2 |
|
2. 2 |
Unidentified |
|
7. 3 |
|
1. 3 |
TOTAL |
|
18.19. 7 |
|
11. 6.10 |
|
6. 1. 0½ |
Stamps |
|
n/a |
|
8.19. 6 |
|
4. 0. 0 |
GRAND TOTAL |
|
18.19. 7 |
|
20. 6. 4 |
|
10. 1. 0½ |
TABLE 3.2: LUTTERWORTH SALES, COMPARISON OF
DATA, D2926
|
FEATHER: |
|
FERGUS AND PORTNER: |
|
OCTOBER |
1778 |
OCTOBER |
1778 |
DECEMBER |
1778 |
|
subtotal |
totals |
subtotal |
totals |
subtotal |
totals |
GOODS SOLD |
£ S D |
£ S D |
£ S D |
£ S D |
£ S D |
£ S D |
Books |
5.17. 0 |
|
5. 4. 6 |
|
2.17. 7 |
Almanacks |
n/a |
|
|
|
2. 1 |
Magazines |
n/a |
Serials |
n/a |
|
12. 6 |
|
9. 6 |
Prints, Maps |
0. 7 |
|
0. 7 |
Printed Forms |
2. 4. 0 |
|
2. 0 |
|
5. 2 |
Songs |
n/a |
|
0. 1½ |
|
4. 6 |
Reading |
n/a |
|
0. 6 |
Printed Matter |
|
8. 1. 7 |
|
6. 0. 2½ |
|
3.18. 0 |
Paper |
6. 8. 2 |
|
1.18. 3 |
|
1. 3. 3 |
Blank Books |
6. 2 |
|
|
|
5. 0 |
Copy Books |
n/a |
|
6. 0 |
|
1. 5 |
Skins |
n/a |
|
1. 5. 8 |
|
1. 9. 6 |
Stationery |
|
6.14. 4 |
|
3.10. 7 |
|
2.19. 2 |
Writing Implements |
|
2. 1½ |
|
4. 7½ |
|
9. 7½ |
Binding |
|
2. 0 |
|
0. 2 |
|
6. 9 |
Medicine |
|
7. 6 |
|
|
|
1. 0 |
Miscellaneous |
|
1.10. 5 |
|
1.15.11 |
|
4. 3 |
Unidentified |
|
1.11 |
|
|
|
5. 3 |
TOTAL |
|
16.19.10½ |
|
11.11. 6 |
|
8. 4.10½ |
Stamps |
|
n/a |
|
7. 8. 0 |
|
5. 6. 6 |
GRAND TOTAL |
|
16.19.10½ |
|
18.19. 6 |
|
13.11. 4½ |
Notes