ABSTRACT
Iron machinery and steam power were the main elements in the development of the factory system. In printing, however, they played a very minor part. The work of the hand compositor remained unchanged. The evidence relating to masters’ associations in the letterpress printing industry is scanty and ambiguous. The great strategic difference between masters and men, in the nineteenth century was that the men’s organization had to be formal, and enduring, if resources were to be built up. The master bookbinders, however, seem to have had a more formal and enduring organization. Probably its main function was to formulate and enforce the elaborate price-lists which governed the trade about this time. The first trade societies of papermakers probably developed from the informal benefit clubs based on each mill. The development of a trade society is shown most clearly by the history of the London bookbinders, for many of their earliest records have been preserved.
