Wizel, could scarcely find a publisher, except at their own expense; and the Leipzig publishers
complained that their books were unsalable.
The strongest impulse was given to the book trade by Luther’s German New Testament.
Of the first edition, Sept. 22, 1522, five thousand copies were printed and sold before December
of the same year, at the high price of one guilder and a half per copy (about twenty-five marks of
the present value). Hans Luft printed a hundred thousand copies on his press in Wittenberg. Adam
Petri in Basel published seven editions between 1522 and 1525; Thomas Wolf of the same city,
five editions between 1523 and 1525. Duke George commanded that all copies should be delivered
up at cost, but few were returned. The precious little volume, which contains the wisdom of the
whole world, made its way with lightning speed into the palaces of princes, the castles of knights,
the convents of monks, the studies of priests, the houses of citizens, the huts of peasants. Mechanics,
peasants, and women carried the New Testament in their pockets, and dared to dispute with priests
and doctors of theology about the gospel.^741
As there was no copyright at that time, the works of the Reformers were multiplied by
reprints in Nürnberg, Augsburg, Strassburg, Basel. Republication was considered a legitimate and
honorable business. Luther complained, not of the business itself, but of the reckless and scandalous
character of many reprints of his books, which were so full of blunders that he could hardly recognize
them.^742 Sometimes the printers stole his manuscript, and published it elsewhere. He was not
hindered by any censorship, except that he received occasionally a gentle warning from the Elector
when he did not spare the princes. He took no honorarium for his books, and was satisfied with a
number of free copies for friends. Authors were usually supported by a professorship, and considered
it beneath their dignity, or as ungentlemanlike, to receive a royalty, but were indirectly rewarded
by free copies or other presents of the publishers or rich patrons, in return for dedications, which
were originally, as they are now, nothing more than public testimonies of regard or gratitude, though
often used, especially during the seventeenth century, for selfish purposes.^743 Cash payments to
authors were, down to the eighteenth century, rare and very low. Few could make a decent living
from writing books; and, we may add, few publishers acquired wealth from their trade, which is
very uncertain, and subject to great losses. "Habent sua fata libelli."
But, while the progressive Reformation gave wings to the printing-press, the conservative
re-action matured gradually a system of restriction, which, under the name of censorship and under
the direction of book-censors, assumed the control of the publishing business with authority to
prevent or suppress the publication and sale of books, pamphlets, and newspapers hostile to the
prevailing religious, moral, or political sentiments.^744 The Peasants’ War, which was kindled by
inflammatory books, and threatened a general overthrow of social order, strengthened the reactionary
tendencies of Protestant, as well as Roman Catholic, governments.
The burning of obnoxious books by public authority of church or state is indeed as old as
the book-trade. A work of Protagoras, in which he doubted the existence of the Greek gods, was
(^741) This was the complaint of Cochlaeus, see p. 350. Luther called him Kochlöffel and Rotzlöffel (cochlear = spoon).
(^742) He called such printers thieves and highway robbers, and their work Bubenstück, den gemeinen Mann zu betrügen"(September,
1525).
(^743) Kapp (I. 318) mentions that the electors of Saxony from 1571-1670 received no less than a hundred and ninety-two "most humble"
(alleruntherthänigste) dedications from various authors, and that the magistrate of Zürich received thirty-eight from 1670-1685.
(^744) On the history of the book censorship (Büchercensur) and press persecutions, compare the ninth and tenth chapters of Kapp, I. 522
sqq.