Download or read book The Provincial Book Trade in Eighteenth-Century England written by John Feather and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2008-02-11 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It was not until the eighteenth century that books became widely available throughout the whole of England. Publishing remained largely London-based, but the provincial market grew steadily in importance. In this study, drawing on a wide range of primary sources, John Feather traces the economic, social and cultural forces which made possible this fundamental change, and assesses the impact of the metropolitan printed word on provincial society. He discusses the important issues of copyright and piracy; the various financial arrangements between booksellers and publishers; and above all the elaborate distribution and agency systems that enabled London publishers to retain their effective stranglehold by penetrating the provincial market at every level.