Setting up a workshop for printing books was an expensive undertaking because of the tools and machinery required. The early printers were their own publishers, but by the 16th century, more and more printers were funded by other individuals, who assumed most of the costs as well as the financial risks. Many of the title pages of Renaissance books state at the bottom that the work was “printed by xxx for xxx.” The name after the for is the publisher or bookseller of the book, who sometimes was responsible for paying for part of the equipment and supplies in the print shop and who often shared income from the print run with the printer. Local bankers were among the earliest investors in publishing ventures, from the 1480s. In Geneva, merchant bankers such as the Fuggers funded the publishing of Calvinist works. Many books were published under the auspices of an important patron, such as the pope, a monarch, or a wealthy cardinal. Aldus, for example, issued several titles with papal support.
Most publishing projects were meant to make a profit, but not necessarily immediately. Print runs were surprisingly large, suggesting that most publishers must have been fairly confident of their market. Whereas items printed for special occasions, such as memorial pamphlets, might have only 50 to 100 copies, an ordinary print run usually had between 1,000 and 1,250. Bibles and devotional tracts often had much larger printings, between 3,000 and 4,000. The first edition of the Bible translated into German by Martin Luther (1483-1546) was printed in 4,000 copies. Between jobs for printing books, the specialized workers in print shops were never idle during the workday. They produced numerous single-sheet (broadside) works, such as prayers and devotional woodcuts, as well as little ABC books for children and short collections of popular verse.
World History
