One of the few good printers of this early period was Thomas Berthelet or Bartlett. Berthelet was a Welshman and was an excellent bookbinder as well as a good printer. He was the first man in England to use gold tooling on his binding. Berthelet enjoyed the position of royal printer. Richard Grafton and Edward Whitchurch were the first printers of English Bibles, which began to appear about the middle of the sixteenth century. CHAPTER II THE REGULATION OF THE INDUSTRY AND THE COMPANY OF STATIONERS The middle of the sixteenth century marks a distinct change in English printing. Up to this time the industry in England had been neither organized, regulated, nor censored. It had been conducted under conditions of freedom almost identical with those which exist to-day, a state of things entirely anomalous in that period. The quality of English printing in this period was generally very poor. In spite, however, of the poor workmanship, there lingers something of the old craftsman spirit. Although the books show glaring imperfections, they also show a certain dignity and harmony which is reminiscent of the spirit of the old craftsmen. In detail, however, the work was poor both in composition and presswork. It showed an almost entire lack of originality. Types, wood-cuts, initials, ornaments, and even the printer’s devices were not only bought from the continent of Europe but bought second-hand and used long after signs of wear had become painfully evident. Wood-cuts especially were not only over-used but misused. They were not infrequently inserted with absolute disregard of the text. The printers not only stuck in pictures which had no bearing whatever upon the subject matter, but they used the same picture more than once in the same book. The reason for this is to be found in the fact that the proprietors of the large shops were intent on profit and the proprietors of the small shops had no capital. The experience of Wynkyn de Worde had shown that the way to make money was by printing popular books which could be sold cheap, and his successors learned the lesson only too rapidly. There was no effective demand for good printing. The smaller printers had to buy such materials as they could afford and compete as best they could.