=The Estiennes.=--The history of the production of books during the first century after the invention of printing is, of necessity, in the main a record of the lives and of the work of certain typical printer-publishers upon whom fell the responsibility of initiating and of shaping the literary undertakings of their time. The business carried on by these early publishers differed very materially from that of their successors. All the machinery of book-making had to be originated or created, while it was necessary also to establish channels of distribution, and through these to discover and to educate a reading public which should absorb the productions of the new presses. The task of selecting the works which were best adapted for the requirements of the first buyers of printed books, of securing trustworthy texts of these works, of editing these texts, and of supervising their type-setting, called for a large measure of literary judgment and scholarly knowledge, combined with a capacity for organising and directing an editorial staff. There was also necessity for the gift of imagination, through which could be pictured literary conditions and creations for which there were as yet no precedents. And finally, steps had to be taken for securing a legal status for the new class of property that was being brought into existence, in order that some portion at least of the rights and advantages assured by the State to owners of other classes of property might be enjoyed by the producers of literature. In the absence of any accepted principles or precedents, it became necessary to convince princes, ministers, councils, and parliaments that it was for the interests of the community to encourage the production of literature, and that this could be done only by establishing and defending property rights for the producers. At this stage in the history of book-production, the “producers,” the men who brought into existence the current literature of the time, and who, having planned and initiated the undertakings, taken the risks, met the outlay, and provided the labour (in many cases with their own heads and hands), claimed the ownership of the works produced, were the publishers. The literature with which the publishing of printed books was entered upon was comprised, with a few rare exceptions, of editions of old-time classics, prepared to meet the requirements of the scholars of the day. It was for this class of publications that were secured the first “protections” and “privileges,” and the labour of extracting such privileges from the rulers first of one State and then of another, until a sufficient territory to provide a market for the work had, at least in form, been protected, fell of course upon the publishers.