Specialist Markets in the Early Modern Book World investigates an
underexplored yet important facet of early modern book production.
Bringing together 19 detailed case studies, this volume considers and
reconstructs the characteristics of specialist book production in the
early modern period. In particular it explores the motives that led to
specialisation ranging from the desire for profit on the part of
risk-taking, entrepreneurial individuals or family firms to the more
propagandist or missionising aims of corporate groups who subsidised
production, often without regard for profit. The book also explores the
economic and personal pressures and perils that accompanied specialist
production, which was often a risk-laden enterprise that could end in
financial and social ruin.