=The Manuscript Trade in France.=--While, in Italy, the more important part of the trade in manuscripts was carried on outside of the university circles, in France the university retained in the hands of its own authorities the control and supervision of the work of the manuscript-dealers; and the book-trade of the country, not only during the manuscript period, but for many years after the introduction of printing, was very directly associated with the university organisation. The record of the production and of the trade in books carried on by the _stationarii_, _librarii_, and the printer-publishers of the university is presented in the chapter on the Making of Books in the Universities. During its earlier years, the trade in manuscripts was limited practically to the city of Paris. The work of the official university scribes in Paris was very similar to that which has already been referred to for Bologna. It appears, however, that, in accordance with the Parisian methods, there was less insistence upon the practice of hiring manuscripts, either complete or in divisions, and there was an earlier development of the practice of making an absolute sale of the texts required. Kirchhoff traces the beginning of the manuscript-trade back to the second half of the eleventh century. He says that it is not clear whether the earlier dealers were able to devote themselves exclusively to the business of selling books, or whether, as he thinks it more probable, they associated this business with some other occupation. Jean de Garland, who compiled a kind of technological directory or list of industries carried on in Paris in 1060, says: _Paravisus est locus ubi libri scholarium vendentur_.[357] He is apparently referring to the Place near the Cathedral Church, which later became the centre of the Parisian book-trade. Peter of Blois, writing, in the middle of the twelfth century, to an instructor in jurisprudence in Paris, makes a more definite reference to the Parisian manuscript-dealers. He speaks of the great collections of valuable books which the Parisian dealers have for sale, and laments the narrowness of his purse which prevents him from purchasing many things which have tempted him.[358] Bulæus, in his _History of the University of Paris_, published in 1665, maintains that as early as 1174, the manuscript-dealers of Paris formed a part of the organisation of the university, and that their work had been brought fully under the regulation of the university authorities. The university statistics, before the thirteenth century, do not, however, appear fully to bear out this contention. The first statutes which give detailed regulations concerning the book-trade bear date as late as 1275. These statutes specify what texts and what number of copies of each text the licensed booksellers should keep in stock, and give a schedule, as was done in Bologna and Padua, of the prices at which the loans and sales should be made.