Distribution

The multiplication of copies required for the new business to find a market for its new products, beyond the place of production: the issue of distribution became crucial. The distribution network adopted by the early printers in Italy was the same as before, via local bookshops and individual patronage. This resulted in failure to sell many of the produced copies. It was in Venice, where printing was introduced in 1469, that national and international trade in books was developed, to cater not for the few, but for large segments of European society: Venetian books reached every part of Europe. Once books get printed in hundreds of copies, it is essential to be able to sell them beyond the place of production. Venice quickly became the leading place not only of production, but also of distribution, with exports all over Europe.

We have very few documentary sources of this new booktrade, but half a million of the books which were traded still survive today: they are our historical sources. Now we have found a way to capture the evidence of this 15th-century booktrade, by tracking their movement. The evidence is in the books themselves, but needs to be ‘decoded’ and translated into spatial and chronological coordinates. For example: printed books were generally finished off with hand-decoration, this was done in the place where the book was sold, it is therefore evidence of its export. The ERC-funded 15cBOOKTRADE Project was set up to capture these valuable data and transform them in historical evidence.

Credits: Cristina Dondi - Printing R-Evolution Exhibition; Sebastiano Girardi Studio, Venice
https://www.printingrevolution.eu/virtual-exhibition-printing-revolution/
Further Bibliography: http://15cbooktrade.ox.ac.uk/