{"id":2754,"date":"2020-06-11T15:42:01","date_gmt":"2020-06-11T13:42:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/conservatives-paris.org\/blog\/?page_id=2754"},"modified":"2020-06-11T15:42:01","modified_gmt":"2020-06-11T13:42:01","slug":"the-stationers-company-more-on-the-role-of-tradition-and-ceremony-plus-the-wicked-bible-and-copyright","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/conservatives-paris.org\/blog\/?page_id=2754","title":{"rendered":"The Stationers\u2019 Company \u2013 more on the role of tradition and ceremony, plus the \u2018wicked bible\u2019 and copyright."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Cakes and Ale ceremony is an annual event, a luncheon\nthat takes place at the Stationers\u2019 Hall preceded by a Bidding Prayer and\nSermon at St Pauls Cathedral every Shrove Tuesday following the bequest made in\n1612 of John Norton, Alderman of London, Master of the Stationers\u2019\nCompany.  Stationers file out of the Hall\nafter coffee at 10.45, the Master, Clerk and  the Court Assistants first, followed by the\nLiverymen then the Freemen, for the short walk along Ave Maria Lane, across\nPaternoster Square under the watchful eye  of  a modern\n(Elizabeth Frink, 1975) bronze statue with the same title of Paternoster, but\nalso known as shepherd with a flock of sheep, and down the steps to the crypt of\nthe Cathedral, past the tombs of the Duke of Wellington and Admiral Lord \u2018Horatio\u2019\nNelson, into the Chapel of St Faith-under St Paul\u2019s. Organ music by William\nByrd 1543-1623 welcomes the arriving congregation to commemorate John Norton commencing\nat 11.15, the Bidding this year given by the Dean of St Paul\u2019s and the Sermon\nby the Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields. At 12.15 the procession emerges from\nthe crypt led by the Court dressed in their livery attracting a crowd of on-lookers\nand on their return this pious assembly with guests enjoy a buffet lunch with\npancakes and cakes for dessert (more wine than ale), preceded as always by  a witty version of grace by the Company\u2019s\nClerk, William Alden. The Clerk, rather like a CEO, is responsible for the day\nto day running of Stationers\u2019 that includes the organising of fundraising\nincluding charities, participating in and organising the many committees and renting\nout the Hall for drinks parties, events, lunches and dinners. Aloft as a\ncentral feature of the ceiling is a spread eagle and horn in gold and blue,\nsymbols of St John the Evangelist looking down on the Cakes and Ale party, this\nsymbol often appearing of the Saint as it was the bird which could fly highest\ntherefore closest to heaven. At the southern end of the hall, carved in white\nand gold on the dark oak of the minstrels gallery, are open tomes of the King\nJames\u2019 Bible, reminding us that it was at Stationers Hall that this sacred work\nwas translated by William Tyndale from Latin and edited and read out loud here\nby the Translating Committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1608 the Master of Stationers, Robert Barker who was also\nthe King\u2019s printer and therefore tasked with printing the King James Bible,\nleft out \u2018not\u2019 from the seventh commandment, \u201cthou shalt not commit adultery\u201d,\nwas fined \u00a32000 and never recovered his health nor fortune, dying in the\ndebtors prison. Copies of the \u2018wicked bible \u2018 were seized and burned in the\nHall\u2019s courtyard also the former churchyard \nof St Martin-within-Ludgate, on the site of which now stands a 200 year\nold plain tree, renowned for its resilience to London pollution of which there\nwas plenty with the burning of coal fires. It not only survived the decades of\nsmoke from coal burning but also the fire and shrapnel of the Blitz, as did\nWren\u2019s St Martin\u2019s church and the Hall. It is said that eleven copies of the\nwicked bible survived and that the Hoho (Chinese Fenghuang) bird carved out on\nthe fireplace provented the destruction of the Hall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was on account of the development of printing to\npublishing that it was considered necessary to protect society against abuses\nof the press, and this was enforced by ordinances and Acts of Parliament  that also protected authors and publishers\nagainst infringement of their rights. The Licensing Act of 1662 was the\nsuccessor to the Star Chamber decree of 1637 that forbade the publication of\nbooks without a licence and these protectionist clauses suited the trade and\nthe Company with a requirement of a copy of every book to be deposited at\nStationers\u2019 Hall. The first law relating to copyright was the Copyright Act of\nQueen Anne of 1710, where infringements could be brought only for titles which\nhad been entered in the Register of the Stationers Company, hence the term \u2018entered\nat Stationers\u2019 Hall\u2019 is synonymous with copyright. It followed that penalties could\nbe incurred by the printer on those books that were deposited, however canny\nprinters only paid to register when they sought copyright protection, so little\nrevenue for the Stationers. One loophole was only to register the first volume\nof say a series of 12, whilst learned works from universities were not entered because\nof the procedure and cost. Best sellers were protected and paid for since they\nwould be more likely to attract piratical publication and contributed\nconsiderably to the fortunes of the English Stock, a company set up under James\n1 that gave the Company a monopoly over certain types of publications in\naddition to the powerful printing privileges it had acquired through the 1557\nCharter granted by Queen Mary. Shakespeare, Marlowe and others appear in the\nrecords.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Order and clarity came in 1836 and in 1838 with the\ninternational Copyright Act that gave protection to foreign works and British\nauthors published in foreign countries, provided that their works were\nregistered at Stationers\u2019 Hall and one copy sent to the British Museum. The\nmain use of the registry was a means of transferring copyright from author to\npublisher or publisher to publisher through a simple form of assignment at\nnegligible cost. The proceedings improved after a Commission and the\nappointment of the Greenhills, London booksellers with a tradition of being\nStationers, father George succeeded by son Joseph, a dynasty that lasted from\n1797 to 1883. Joseph Greenhill also looked after the purchasing of the wine with\nan informal team of juniors for \u2018blind tastings\u2019 and only he knew which wines\nwere kept and from whom.  His stock last\nrecorded in dozens was, 410 of port, 32 of Madeira, 11 of claret, 15 of Moselle,\n110 of sherry and two of champagne. On his demise he was succeeded by a Wine\nCommittee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In our next edition we shall read about the British tradition for almanacs and astrological predictions that produced annual revenue for the Stationers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rafael Pittman<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Cakes and Ale ceremony is an annual event, a luncheon that takes place at the Stationers\u2019 Hall preceded by a Bidding Prayer and Sermon at St Pauls Cathedral every Shrove Tuesday following the bequest made in 1612 of John Norton, Alderman of London, Master of the Stationers\u2019 Company.  Stationers file out of the Hall […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":2710,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2754","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/conservatives-paris.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/conservatives-paris.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/conservatives-paris.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conservatives-paris.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conservatives-paris.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2754"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/conservatives-paris.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2754\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2763,"href":"https:\/\/conservatives-paris.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2754\/revisions\/2763"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conservatives-paris.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/conservatives-paris.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}