ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at how the technological changes in printing that occurred between the 1860s and 1890s not only dramatically changed the look, the price and the availability of books and periodicals but also changed the way they were written and the way they were read. In terms of book rights, there were a number of firms in Europe that would buy rights to publish the English text for European readers. If the novel were very successful there would also be translation rights for a number of European languages. The chapter also looks at how Alexander Pollock Watt handled Armorel of Lyonesse, a novel by the then popular novelist and historian Walter Besant. Watt's archives are full of telegrams from the USA, Canada, India and Australia, confirming dates of publication. The literary agent Watt tended to concentrate on authors who were famous or who had already begun to establish themselves.
