It would have been enlightening if our lawmakers had told us what was in their opinion a reasonable price for a book, but they are silent on this point.
We have unfortunately no information as to the price for which Caxton sold his various books, but he bequeathed fifteen copies of his “Golden Legend” to the churchwardens of St. Margaret, Westminster, who succeeded in selling twelve of them between the years 1496 and 1500. For the first three copies they obtained six shillings and eightpence each, but then they had to reduce the price to five shillings and eightpence, at which price they sold the next seven copies. The last two copies only brought five shillings and sixpence and five shillings respectively, so that evidently there was a falling market.
Mr. Blades makes the following remarks on this point—
“The commercial results of Caxton’s trade as a printer are unknown; but as the fees paid at his burial were far above the average, and as he evidently held a respectable position in his parish, we must conclude that his business was profitable. The preservation of the Cost Book of the Ripoli Press has already been noticed, and some extracts of interest translated therefrom. We may presume that Caxton also kept exact accounts of his trade receipts and expenditure, and if such were extant, the many doubts which now surround the operations of his printing-office would be definitely solved. We should then know the price at which he sold his books—how many pence he asked for his small quarto ‘quayers’ of poetry, or his pocket editions of the ‘Horæ’ and ‘Psalter’—how many shillings were required to purchase the thick folio volumes, such as ‘Canterbury Tales,’ ‘King Arthur,’ &c. That the price was not much dearer than that paid for good editions now we may infer from the rate at which fifteen copies of the ‘Golden Legend’ sold between 1496 and 1500. These realised an average price of 6s. 8d. each, or about £2, 13s. 4d. of modern money, a sum by no means too great for a large