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The archives of the Stationers' Company provide our richest source of biographical material for members of the London book trades. The eighteenth century and the first decades of the nineteenth saw a growth in the membership of the Company, an improvement in the record keeping and a wider range of information being recorded. Moreover, during this period the Company remained predominantly tied to the members of the book trade when other City companies were relaxing their guild connections. The English Stock was a joint trading company operated from within the Stationers' Company itself. There is a large area of the records where the information will lead to a fuller understanding of the sociology of the Company and the London trade. These relate to the paying of pensions and giving of charity to the less financially successful members of the Company.
By the 1650s, the Stationers' Company was attempting to stem the tide of piracy by buying counterfeit almanacks, and taking legal action against offending printers. Transgressors who belonged to the Company, many of whom printed for the English Stock, were summoned to appear before the Court. The Company continued to pounce on the sellers of unstamped almanacks, but, even by 1750, several formidable individuals had begun to infringe upon and challenge the principle of perpetual copyright. In 1834, when the Stationers pressed for a further increase in stamp duty, Parliament 'decided that the privilege was outmoded and had been ill-requited and abolished the tax altogether'. At the same time the Company was attacked for failing in its moral duty by pandering to the superstitious and sensation-loving lower orders rather than publishing educational and improving works.
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