Several general observations regarding books distribution and trade in Prague prior to the battle of Bílá Hora
Abstract
Since the end of the 16th century, due to a rather rapid printing technique development, books did not belong anymore among expensive, rare or hard to get items. According to statistics, production of the Prague printers covered 93 percent of titles published in Bohemia in these times.
Apart from a rather significant competition among the Prague printers themselves they also had to get over the substantial competition of foreign publishers whose products were imported in Bohemia. One of the most common book sale methods was the direct sale of production of a particular printer in his own printing house.
Another possibility represented house-to-house sale focusing mainly on less expensive titles. Last but not least, the printers also used to trade their production directly on markets – local as well as annual markets.
Only a few printers attended systematically some foreign book fair trades held in Frankfurt am Main or Leipzig (for example Michal Peterle or Jiří Nigrin). Another book distribution possibility that cannot be omitted represents the sale via bookbinders, agents, bibliopols, buchführers and also several bookshops.
An important part of the book production was also distributed due to intermediary activities of several secular as well as religious high representatives who had bought a number of book copies that subsequently spread farther at no cost. However, these cases did not cover the entire production of a specific centre or a printer but they concentrated on selected titles.
Similar system was also applied on purchasing of books by various institutions (mainly local authorities and schools) for their own equipment. The institutions also functioned as intermediaries and bought books from printers on a large scale and then they distributed them to terminal parties without financial benefits but in accordance with their cultural policy.