National Library News June 1999 Vol. 31, no. 6

From the Exhibition Room...
The Long Road to Publishing

For at least the first 100 years of printing in Canada, the concept of the publishing business as we know it today, with paid authors, distribution outlets, and financial risks, did not exist. The early printers were mainly job printers, government printers and booksellers/importers.

Although primarily focusing on the users of print during Canada's 250 years of printing history, "Impressions", the National Library of Canada's major exhibition for 1999, does give the public numerous examples of the long road from printing to publishing.

Eighteenth-century printers operated in a similar fashion to today's quick printing shops, albeit more slowly. You gave the text and number of copies needed, and you received the finished product along with an invoice. The Halifax Customs House document, most probably printed by John Bushell in the mid-1750'ss, and the receipt printed in Quebec City for by William Brown and Thomas Gilmore in 1765 are two of the earliest examples of job printing known in Canada.

It is often written that early shops relied primarily on government contracts to survive, to printing proclamations, laws and the numerous forms associated with government administration to survive. Examples in the exhibition include Peter Russell's Proclamation printed in York [Toronto] by Watters and Simons in 1798; the Rules of the first House of Assembly of Lower Canada printed in Quebec City by John Neilson in 1793; and the Statutes of the Colony of Vancouver Island printed at the British Colonist Office in 1866. One must also remember that, very early on, merchants used local printers to produce advertisements and commercial forms of all types, such as the Prices Current printed in Halifax in 1829. The printing of most of the broadsides in this exhibition was done by job printers. Books and pamphlets as well as political speeches and even funeral letters, were also printed as long as the customer was willing to pay.

Since the population was small, it was not profitable to publish works such as bibles and dictionaries which, because of size, required a large investment of paper and time. The printers-turned-booksellers preferred to import them rather than print them, and newspapers were filled with advertisementss for books received from England and France. Some printers would add their own title page to a work printed outside the country, thus giving the impression of a local production. Although printed in Cincinnati, Amos Blanchard's Book of Martyrs, received a title page bearing the words " Kingston, U.C.: published by Blackstone, Ellis and Graves, 1835 ". The advent of stereotyping -- making a mould from the face of a type form and filling it with molten metal -- reduced the cost of printing popular works. The resulting plates, which could easily be made in multiple copies, were sent to small printers all over the U.S. and Canada, eliminating the need for type-setting and freeing their type for other work. Murray's English Reader, stereotyped in New York but printed in Toronto, is a good example of this practice.

Printers would take on the complete cost of printing only if they were assured of a large and stable market. This was the case for almanacs. Despite the very small population, and an even smaller literate population, the printer could count on selling his almanacs at with a profit, often through a series of booksellers, since they were indispensable to most households. Numerous almanacs can be seen throughout the exhibition.

Other books were also popular with printers- turned- publishers, particularly: foreign novels and religious books. The Histoire de Jean de Calais cheaply and anonymously printed in Quebec City in 1810, and religious works printed in Saint-Philippe (Quebec) by Father Pigeon are good examples. Guide books, such as the one for Niagara Falls, and directories, such as the 1876 Winnipeg Directory, containing advertisements for local businesses, gave printers an opportunity to finance their production without relying entirely on sales.

During the first half of the 19th century, the practice of publishing by subscription allowed authors to have their work published without having to face great expense. But there was a catch. The printer required a minimum number of paid-up customers before the work was printed. Adam Kidd reported gathering 1500 subscribers for his Huron Chief, published in 1830. Early newspapers and magazines relied on subscriptions to survive but few lasted for more than a few years. By 1860, most newspapers, using new and efficient forms of distribution, such as the railway, and taking advantage of a boom in commercial activity, turned to advertising rather than subscriptions to realize a profit.

With an increase in population, a more efficient and widespread system of transportation, developing commercial and industrial sectors, and a growing middle-class, it became more profitable for printers, especially those with the capital to purchase high-speed presses, to take on publishing contracts. "Impressions", the National Library of Canada's major exhibition for 1999, is certainly a tribute to the pioneer printers, booksellers, and publishers of Canada.