The Golden Compasses

The History of the House of Plantin-Moretus

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Chapter 17
Computations and Payments

In the trade today booksellers are allowed a reduction on the nominal price of a book which enables them to sell to their customers and make a profit without exceeding the recommended retail price. This principle obtained in Plantin's time but its application seems to have been far from standardized. Plantin often referred in his letters to the ‘juste prix’ of books intended for the retail shops. Consequently, besides this price, whether ‘juste’ or not, there must have been another - that charged to private customers. In fact it is clear that these were often charged more, the difference being proportionate to the price of the book: a few stuivers or even a fraction of a stuiver for the cheaper editions,^1. up to 10 fl. for something monumental like the Polyglot Bible.^2. But it could equally happen that the private customer who came to the Plantinian shop or had a book sent to him had no more to pay than the bookseller. The records give the impression that a newly issued book cost the private customer a little extra but that

1. According to Rooses, ‘Eene bladzijde uit de geschiedenis van den boekhandel over driehonderd jaar’, Bulletijn van de Maatschappij der Antwerpsche Bibliophilen, 1, 1882, p. 78, the 8^o Virgil was sold to the booksellers for 6 st. and to private individuals for 7½ st.; the Horace in calf leather to the booksellers for 4 st. and to private individuals for 5½ st. But it will be seen that in reality the differences between the prices for the booksellers and those for private individuals fluctuated more widely: cf. p. 441, note 1.

2. Rooses, Musée, p. 169. Other examples given there: Topiarius (1 fl. 4 st. for the booksellers; 1 fl. 10 st. for private customers); Flemish Bible of 1566 (1 fl. 6 st. as against 1 fl. 15 st.); Missale in folio (4 fl. as against 4½ fl.); Antiphonarium (15 fl. as against 17 fl.). Cf., however, the following note.

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after a time, when the large initial demand had died down, the price dropped to the ‘juste’ one asked of the booksellers. There is every indication that the whole matter was decided rather arbitrarily.^1.

Private customers or institutions of some importance may today enjoy some measure of price reduction. Something of the sort was quite common in the time of Plantin and the Moretuses. Sometimes the price the private customer actually paid was lower than that originally quoted. This would have been an accommodation on the part of the masters of the Golden Compasses.

Besides the ‘juste prix’ for the bookseller and the small reductions for certain private customers there was another possibility, indicated in the accounts as the rabat (discount). Most booksellers who did regular business with the Officina Plantiniana bought on credit, and the masters of the Golden Compasses similarly asked for terms when

1. It is difficult to compare the relative prices asked of booksellers and private customers as the fact that the books were ‘en blancq’ (unbound) was not always stated, and sometimes purchases were totalled without the individual prices being given. It has, however, been possible to compare some prices of works for which the sales are detailed in Appendix 7. These are explicitly stated or can be taken to have been sold unbound as in the following cases. - (1) Vesalius-Valverda, Vivae imagines partium corporis humani, selling price to booksellers: an invariable 2 fl. 10 st.; but in four instances where the books were sent to a particular customer, the latter had to pay 3 fl. (27th March 1566, Hadrianus Junius), 3 fl. (29th March 1566, Maximus Aqualinus), 2 fl. 15 st. (12th June 1566, Count Egmont), 2 fl. 10 st. (20th February 1568, J. Mofflin, chaplain to Philip II, staying in Spain); in eight instances the book was sold in the shop at the following prices: 2 fl. 15 st. (8th April 1566), 2 fl. 14 st. (1st May 1566), 2 fl. 15 st. (12th May 1566), 2 fl. 15 st. (24th May 1566), 2 fl. 10 st. (9th June 1566), 2 fl. 10 st. (8th September 1566), 2 fl. 10 st. (21st May 1568), 2 fl. 10 st. (7th November 1568). On 24th February 1568 a parchment-bound copy was sold in the shop for 2 fl. 10 st. - (2) Valerius Flaccus, in 16^o: selling price to booksellers amounted almost uniformly to 1½ st.; but it was sold in the shop to private individuals for 1¾ st. (11th February 1567) and 2 st. (3rd May 1567). - (3) Reynaert de Vos: selling price to booksellers always 1½ st.; also the schoolmasters P. Heyns at Antwerp and G. Duvivier at Cologne paid 1½ st., and in the shop the work was also sold mostly at 1½ st. (29th June, 20th July, 2nd August, 26th August 1566; on 22nd September 1566 a copy was sold for 1¾ st., but possibly it was a somewhat more sumptuous one [on blue paper]; in 1567 six copies were sold on 29th December at 1½ st. each, and two others, on 3rd May 1567, at 2 st.; in 1568 the price remained 1½ st.; on 22nd February one copy and on 8th March two copies were sold for that sum; sale in the shop of 25 copies at one time on 14th February of that year was recorded at 1 fl. 16 st., where the selling price - at 1½ st. per copy - must have amounted to 1 fl. 17½ st.; thus a rebate of 1½ st. was granted here).

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making large purchases of books and paper. These terms could be on the basis of six months, one year, or even longer.^1. At Frankfurt accounts were settled - if not paid in cash - at the following fair. In practice, except at Frankfurt, the terms of deferred payments were not always rigidly adhered to: the arrival of a bookseller in Antwerp, the fortuitous meeting of Plantin or Jan Moretus with a business associate at Cologne, Paris, or elsewhere was often the occasion for the settling of accounts that might have run for years. In such instances there is hardly ever any mention in the account-books of discount: this type of reduction was only made when the dealers paid cash on delivery. For small orders paid in cash Plantin allowed a discount of 5 to 10 %.^2. For more important transactions it might be much greater.^3. In the seventeenth century a fairly uniform rate was arrived at: 20 % for the ‘black-and-red’ service books, 25 % for ordinary editions.^4.

Foreign merchants sometimes tried to get a discount for orders not paid for in cash, but Plantin declined such requests as far as he could.^5.

1. For deliveries of paper: cf. p. 44.

2. Cf. for 1566 and with reference to traders in the Netherlands: Arch. 40, f^o 11 (S. Pauwelsen: ‘payé comptant 24 fl. 10 st. et 2 fl. 16½ st. qu'il rabat’); f^o 12 (S. Pauwelsen: payment of 52 fl. 13½ st. ‘tant que en rabatant pour chascun florin 2 st. luy viendroyent bon 5 fl. 4 st.’); f^o 14 (G. Salenson: payment of 12 fl. 10 st. ‘pour rabat de la somme et pour solder ceste partie 7¼ st.’); f^o 16 (G. Salenson: to balance of an old account of 7 fl. and a new account of 21 fl. 5¼ st. ‘par accord avec le maistre rabat 1 fl. 17¾ st.’).

3. Cf. Corr., I, no. 34 (Plantin to J. de Molina, Lisbon, 7th June 1567: ‘Quant au rabat, je n'en sçaurois rien abattre, s'il me convenoit attendre un an le paiement, a cause des relieures qu'il fauldroit avancer. Mais si vous voulés avoir des livres en blanc et les paier contant je vous rabatray de six ung, c'est a dire que de 120 fl. n'en payerés que cent à l'argent comptant, et à terme d'un an je vous rabbateray 10 pour cent’). P. Landry of Lyons seems to have obtained a rebate of 40 %; at any rate as far as can be made out from the letter from his nephew A. Duport, established at Medina del Campo, to J. Moretus, November 1587 (cited by C. Clair, Christopher Plantin, p. 212); but he may have obtained this favour for a special reason: see p. 443, note 3.

4. At least for consignments abroad: cf. inter alia Arch. 226 (Journal 1619), f^o 178^ro (consignment for Lisbon). For deliveries inland the rebate may well have been somewhat lower and it amounted, for example, in 1634, for purchases by a Liège bookseller, to 15 % for liturgical works and 25 % for ‘livres noirs’ (ordinary editions) (Arch. 242, f^o 19).

5. Corr., IV, no. 496 (Plantin to Blas de Robles, Madrid, November 1573: Plantin cannot allow a year's credit to the Spanish dealer, but is prepared to give him a rebate of 10 to 12 % for cash payment but only for the non-liturgical publications and in so far as these did not include any copperplate illustrations). But Plantin had been willing, in June 1567, to grant the Lisbon bookseller de Molina a ‘rabat’ of 10 % for orders paid after one year (cf. note 3).

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He was not able to refuse in all circumstances: foreign dealers might merit this favour because they controlled a certain sector or could stimulate sales there;^1. could exert pressure;^2. conducted an important barter trade with the Plantin House (it was reciprocal in these cases, as Plantin received a discount on his purchases in turn);^3. or had eased money transactions at some time.^4. Usually this meant a lot of bargaining and letter-writing and sometimes the signing of a contract. Favoured customers of this kind were, for example, the Frenchmen J. Dupuis of Lyons,^5. J. Desserans,^6. and Ascanius de Renialme^7. who operated in London; also A. Birckman of Cologne^8. and Michel

1. As was the case with B. Dupuis, J. Desserans, and Ascanius de Renialme for the English market, and with de Molina for the Portuguese market.

2. As was the case with M. Sonnius, who, after buying Plantin's Paris branch in 1577, more or less monopolized the firm's trade with the French capital.

3. As with Birckman, M. Sonnius, and J. Dupuis. In these instances of mutual barter the rebate may have been considerably increased: possibly as high as 25 to 40 %. This was probably also why Landry of Lyons had obtained a rebate of 40 % (cf. p. 442, note 3; the letters from his nephew A. Duport also rather suggest this).

4. As, for example, A. Birckman in 1567-68 (cf. note 8 on this page).

5. Corr., I, no. 73 (Plantin to P. Dupuis, 2nd August 1567: P. Dupuis, who operated in London, had asked for the same favour as was accorded to his uncle, J. Dupuis, of Lyons. Plantin answered: ‘Et pour responce à icelles, sachés que jamais je n'ay voulu faire accord avec vostredit oncle, en faceon quelquonques, sinon pour la pareille, c'est à scavoir que s'il vouloit avoir de mes livres, à quatre lb. la rame, que je voullois qu'il me baillast aussi les semblables sortes de formats et lettres des livres de Paris au mesme prix. Et que s'il vouloit avoir de mesmes livres à 25 ou à 30 pour cent, qu'il s'obligeast aussi de me faire prendre par qui bon me sembleroit ainsy...’).

6. Corr., I, nos. 77, 78, 79 (August 1567). Project of a contract in no. 78: J. Desserans obtained a rebate of a penny on every sixpence on the Plantinian editions (i.e., a rebate of 16⅔%), Plantin was at the same time to supply him with works from other publishers, in which transactions the profits were to be shared equally.

7. A. de Renialme received a rebate of 20 % in October 1578 (Arch. 19, f^o 114). Cf. C. Clair, ‘Christopher Plantin's Trade-Connections with England and Scotland,’ The Library, Fifth Series, 1959, p. 41.

8. Corr., I, no. 104 (Plantin to A. Birckman, 13th February 1568: ‘Et depuis encores, estant à Francfort, à la mesme foire, je vous demanderay encores la mesme chose laquelle aussi vous m'accordastes [viz., that he should buy books at Frankfurt on Birckman's account]. Suivant lesquels propos et accord, je prins aussi les livres dont, à la fin de la foire, nous accordasmes ensemble, et, après la conclusion de nosdicts comptes, j'escrivis dedans mon livre de ladicte foire nostre conclusion, adjouxtant que je vous devois bailer en paiement tels livres de mon impression qu'il vous plairoit prendre ou faire prendre, en vous rabattant vingt pour cent’).

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Sonnius of Paris,^1. and of course Philip ii when operating as a part-time bookseller.^2. Merchants who occasionally exported books abroad were also able to obtain a discount.^3. There is only one explicit reference in the correspondence to discount allowed on credit purchases to Netherlands dealers; it concerns an Antwerp bookseller.^4. But this was probably not an exceptional case: the principal Antwerp and Netherlands booksellers with whom Plantin did regular business would certainly have been able to obtain a discount on credit accounts, at least in special circumstances.^5.

1. Corr., V, no. 774 (contract between Plantin and Sonnius, 22nd August 1577: ‘Et au bout de l'an promettons de compter par ensemble de tout l'envoy que aurons faict l'un à l'aultre, et celluy qui restera debiteur payera la somme qu'il debvra de reste a son compagnon dedans ung mois après ledict compte faict et conclu, en rabattant vingt et cinq pour cent’); Corr., VI, no. 803 (Making up a contract with Sonnius, 30th July 1578: for purchase of books in folio to a total of 50 copies, and of books in other formats to a total of 100 copies, the rebate was raised to 40 %).

2. The discount granted to Philip II is not explicitly stated in Plantin's accounts, but, for example, the king was charged 4 fl. 10 st. for copies on ‘papier commun’ of the 1573 folio breviary, and 5 fl. 10 st. for copies on ‘grand papier’ (Arch. 22). Normally these books sold at 6 fl. 10 st. and 8 fl., respectively (Arch. 296, f^o 2).

3. Thus on 9th June 1578 it was agreed as between Plantin and Louis Perez that the Spanish merchant was to get 40 % rebate on Plantin publications and 20 % on publications delivered by Plantin but other than his own, which Perez sent to Spain (Rooses, Musée, p. 172).

4. P. Bellerus. However, he must have asked for more than was originally agreed, to Plantin's annoyance: cf. Corr., VI, no. 934 (June 1581). This text is a note intended for Plantin: ‘Je viens de compter avec le sire P. Bellere de la partie des livres qu'il debvoit payer contanti montoit 317 fl. 1 st. desquels rabatant (qu'il dist luy venir a cause que luy avez accordé 15 pour 8 mois), restent 253 fl. 13 st. qui font 42 lb. 5s. 6d. de gros. Il m'a payé 40 lb. et 9s. de gros, pour tout a condition toutesfois que vous soyez content.’ This is probably to be interpreted as follows: Bellerus had received a rebate of 15 % for payment within eight months from Plantin, either for this transaction or as a general rule (the first hypothesis seems the more likely); considering that he paid cash he claimed a rebate of 20 %, as well as another smaller rebate (a payment of 40 pond 9 schellingen instead of 42 pond 5 schellingen 6 penningen). Plantin wrote in the margin: ‘Je ne me puis assés esmerveiller de tant de ruses a faire comptes et a dire et demander choses impertinentes contre les pourparlers et accords. Si est-ce que je ne veux plus disputer du passé: mais bien Dieu aidant me garder pour l'advenir.’

5. Especially firms with whom an exchange of publications was arranged; for example, Birckman's ‘Poule Grasse’ (cf. Arch. 17, f^o 331: closing of the account in May 1571; on both sides for deliveries of livres estrangers [not published by either house] a discount of 10 % and for deliveries of their own publications a discount of 20 % was allowed). This explains why Plantin went on to sell at cost price books which he had had from the firm of Birckman - including Mercator's Chronologia (L. Voet, ‘Les relations commerciales entre Gérard Mercator et la Maison Plantinienne à Anvers’, Duisburger Forschungen, 1962, pp. 219-220); Plantin's profit was contained in the 20 % rebate which was later deducted.

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The profit made from all these transactions had to be expressed in money terms. In the sixteenth century in the Netherlands the unit mostly used for reckoning sums of money was the Flemish pound. It appears as a money of account in the Plantinian ledgers, but consistently only in the years 1563-67, at the special request of Cornelis van Bomberghen who supervised the book-keeping. After that it was only very occasionally used.^1. Besides the Flemish pound the Brabant pound was in use in the Duchy of Brabant, but there is no certain instance of its use in the firm's accounts. As far as Plantin was concerned, the unit of monnoye de Brabant was equal to the (Carolus) guilder (florin) of 20 stuivers (or patars).^2. Plantin used it throughout the whole of his printing career, and his successors remained faithful to it.

The neighbouring countries also had their own monies of account which occasionally appeared in the journals, ledgers, and accounts of the firm in connexion with deliveries to or from dealers resident there. Notable were the German guilder (in which all Frankfurt transactions were reckoned and recorded in the carnets de Francfort)^3. and the French livre tournois.^4.

Reckoning with these monies of account was simple enough. Difficulties arose when it came to actual payments. The monies of account had originally been actual coins in circulation (just as the

1. More, particularly, in accounts with paper merchants.

2. The ratio was 1 Flemish pound = £ 1 10 s. Brabant; 1 Brabant pound = 4 Carolus guilders. So 1 Flemish pound equalled 6 Carolus guilders. The Flemish and Brabant pounds were divided into twenty shillings (schellingen), and each shilling into twelve pennies (penningen) or denarii (d). The Carolus guilder was divided into twenty stuivers or patars.

3. The rate in Plantin's day was: 26 st. [1 fl. 6] Carolus guilder = 20 st. [1 fl.] German guilder.

4. In 1577 the rate was (Corr., V, no. 774: contract between Plantin and Sonnius): 20 st. [1 fl.] Carolus guilder = 24 sols or sous (1 Ib. 4 sous) livre tournois.

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British guinea once was) which for one reason or another had been adopted in their new role. The Carolus guilder, which Plantin regarded as pre-eminently the Brabant coin, e.g. was introduced into the Netherlands by Charles v as a gold piece in 1517 and as a silver coin in 1543. After a time they generally disappeared as an actual coin,^1. and even when further issues were struck, they were just one of many types of coin then in circulation. The problem was to fix the correct rate of exchange of all these coins in relation to money of account. In September 1566 Jan Moretus brought back from Frankfurt a sum of money recorded as 395 fl. 19 st. It consisted of 93½ Philippes dalders (163 fl. 12½ st.), 19 escus soleil (39 fl. 18 st.), 9 pistolets (18 fl.), 3 crusats de Portugal (6 fl. 9 st.), 1 gold florin (1 fl. 13 st.), 73½ silver thalers (106 fl. 11½ st.), 3 silver Frankfurt florins (3 fl. 18 st.), [?] pièce de 3 basses et 2 des 2½ basses (23 fl. 8 st.), and various pièces données de Gymnicus (32 fl. 9 st.),^2. In 1589 when his father-in-law died Jan Moretus closed the cash register and noted 600 Felipes dallers (1,500 fl.), 225¼ ten-patar pieces (450 fl. 10 st.), 315 realles and five-patar pieces (315 fl.), 45 three-florin pieces (135 fl.), 4 demi realles dor (10 fl.), ‘various small coins’ (36 fl. 16 st.), making a total of 2,477 fl. 6 st.^3. These were by no means exceptional cases.^4. Even unminted precious metal was once mentioned.^5. This vast number of denominations in

1. The Flemish pound and the Brabant pound no longer represented an actual coin in Plantin's day; the Carolus guilder was replaced in 1559 by the ‘Philip's taler’ or Philippusdaalder of Philip II.

2. Arch. 36, p. 110.

3. Arch. 30, f^o 1.

4. E.g., Arch. 50, f^o 1^ro (1st January 1572; received from Alexander Alard, bookseller at Saint-Omer: 4 ‘daalders’ at 30 st. [6 fl.], 9½ ‘daalders’ at 31 st. [14 fl. 14½ st.], 1 ‘daalder’ at 17½ st., 3 ‘daalders’ at 32 st. [4 fl. 16 st.]; total: 26 fl. 8 st.); Arch. 52, f^o 140^ro (13th September 1574, received by order of Dr. Navarrus: 21 ‘escus’ at 46 st. [48 fl. 6 st.], 8 ‘doubles pistolets’ at 4 fl. 10 st. [36 fl.], 8 ‘demy reaux d'or’ at 37 st. [7 fl. 4 st.], 3 Portuguese ducats at 48 st. [7 fl. 4 st.], 3 ‘pistolets’ at 45 st. [6 fl. 15 st.], 2 ‘carolus d'or’ at 24 st. [2 fl. 8 st.], 64 ‘Philippes d'argent’ at 36 st. [115 fl. 4 st.]; total: 231 fl.). Other typical examples in Arch. 49, f^os 21^ro, 46^ro, 157^vo (1571); Arch. 51, f^os 81^ro, 108^ro, 174^ro, 198^vo (1573); Arch. 53, f^os 82^vo, 130^ro, 224^vo (1575). See also p. 447, note 4.

5. Corr., VIII-IX, no. 1170 (J. Mofflin to Plantin, 4th November 1586; the nature of the metal was not specified; it was presumably silver).

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circulation not only made calculation complicated^1. but also gave rise to many errors - deliberate or otherwise.^2.

The coins had an intrinsic value through the weight of silver or gold they contained or were supposed to contain. Complaints and disputes about coins ‘devaluated’ by too little weight frequently occur in the correspondence^3. and the accounts.^4. Counterfeit money was also mentioned occasionally.^5.

The political troubles and the inflationary trends that characterized the sixteenth century brought great fluctuation in the comparative values of the coins in circulation and between these and the monies of account, the variations being observable both in time and space.

1. Corr., 1, no. 79 (Plantin to J. Desserans, c. 1567; in connexion with the settling of accounts): ‘Quand au florin d'Allemagne, je vous en ay rescrit ce qui en est à la vérité, et adverti que la coustume a tousjours esté de la compter à 30 sols de France; mais il ne se trouve monnaye aulcune en laquelle je le peusse payer à 31½. Car l'escu de 52 sols p[arisis] en France ne s'expose aulcun a plus de 24 basses, qui sont audit compte 48 sols p[arisis]; le pistolet a 23 sols qui font 46 sols et il vault 53 sols de France, et ainsi de toutes aultres espèces, à quoy se peust voir qu'il n'est pas possible de revenir au compte.’

2. Arch. 51, f^o 123^ro (19th August 1573: the account to be settled [from Spain] amounted to 5,314 fl. 13 st.; Plantin, however, only received 850 Flemish pounds [5,100 fl.]; the difference of 214 fl. 13 st. was attributable to the fact that the exchange of escus into pounds had been miscalculated).

3. Corr., I, no. 219 (E. Beys to Plantin, 28th February 1570: ‘Je n'ay sceu mettre la portugaloise à plus hault que 27 lb. tournois, pour ce qu'elle estoit trop légière’). Corr., IV, no. 547 (J. Maes to Plantin, 12th August 1574: the Louvain printer complains that of the gold pieces received from Plantin, the 4 penningen of 25 st. were much too light and that also the three French écus did not have full weight. As it was difficult to obtain money in those bad times he was not going to send the pieces back, but he asked Plantin in future not to send any more money that was too light.)

4. Arch. 53, f^o 77^ro (16th April 1575: received ‘la somme de 50 reales à 3½ st. en espèce de 4 pistolets trop légers: 8 fl. 15 st.’). Arch. 216, f^o 148 (7th September 1609: received from J. Valentin, bookseller at Namur, a sum of 30 fl. 5½ st. represented by 1 ‘double ducat’ [7 fl. 18 st.], 1 ‘demi-ducat’ [3 fl. 19 st.], 2 ‘noble Henricus’ [15 fl. 16 st.], 1 ‘demialbertus’ [2 fl. 12½ st.]: ‘Nota que le demi ducat estoit léger de 5 aes et que le demi Albertus estoit léger de 2 aes et puis qu'il envoyoit les nobles Henricus à tel prix que les doubles ducats 7 fl. 18 st. ne vallants que 7 fl. 10 st.’).

5. Corr., VII, no. 997 (P. Porret to J. Moretus, 23rd March 1583: ‘Car notés il court tant de faulce monnoye en France que je ne scauroys recepvoir cent escus que je n'aye tousjours pour un escu de pieces faulces’). Cf. also Corr., VII, no. 987 (P. Porret to J. Moretus, 12th June 1582). Arch. 242, f^o 12 (21st January 1634: ‘renvoyé [to Anna Hovius, bookseller at Liège] dix fl. lesquels sont mauvais pattars’).

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A shrewd dealer, Plantin always tried to obtain the most favourable rates of exchange, although sometimes without success. In 1574 he sent gold Philippe thalers to Louvain in the belief that they would fetch a higher price there than in Antwerp, but his correspondent had to disappoint him.^1. Often he had to take substantial losses on this account.^2. Fluctuations in value were sometimes provided for in contracts concluded with others in the book trade. In an agreement with Desserans in London it was stipulated that both parties must be ready to accept any losses or gains that arose out of subsequent changes in the rates of exchange.^3.

Payment naturally implied the transference of cash. This was simple enough in the bookshop and there were no special difficulties for transactions within Antwerp itself. Problems only arose when long distances separated the parties concerned or, as at Frankfurt, money changed hands far from home. Payment then was a matter of transporting the money. This could be done in all the ways used for the transport of goods: by post^4. and messenger, by carrier, by inland waterway or by sea. Money could be sent separately^5. or with other freight.^6. The money could be given to agents or employees of the receiving party,^7. entrusted to reliable travellers,^8. or the persons involved could convey it themselves.^9.

1. Corr., IV, no. 527 (J. Maes to Plantin, 2nd May 1574).

2. Corr., VIII-IX, no. 1164 (Plantin to Th. de Foli, 24th October 1586): of a payment of 200 fl. Plantin received only 172 fl. ‘tanta est differentia inter valorem monetarum’.

3. Corr., I, no. 78, p. 170 (August 1567).

4. Corr., IV, no. 547 (J. Maes to Plantin, 12th August 1574: have received letter with money).

5. For example the barrels with bullion sent by J. Mofflin in 1586 (Corr., VIII-IX, no. 1170).

6. Such as was the case with the 10 fl. of bad coins (patars) sent back to Anna Hovius at Liège in 1634 (Arch. 242, f^o 12). The balance from Frankfurt was probably brought to Antwerp packed in the barrels containing the books purchased at the fair: cf. p. 506, note 3. The 100 philippesdalders Plantin sent to Pierre Porret on 25th February 1570 were also stowed away in a barrel filled with books (Arch. 36, p. 140). The 313 fl. 10 st. in different monies sent some days earlier, on 31st January 1570, to his ‘brother’ in Paris were hidden in a ‘pacquet de lingerie’ (Arch. 36, p. 139).

7. As, for example, to Louis de Dieu, who from 1558 to 1572 was the intermediary between Mercator and Plantin (cf. L. Voet, ‘Relations commerciales...’).

8. As, for example, the 8 fl. 15 st. paid by Gregorio Perez to Plantin was delivered by a Spanish soldier (Arch. 53, f^o 77^ro; 16th April 1575).

9. Jan Moretus brought with him the money which in 1566, on his return from Paris, he collected at Louvain from customers in arrears (cf. p. 398). In 1568 Plantin, returning from Frankfurt, made a detour in order to settle personally debts with Mercator at Duisburg (cf. p. 398).

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Carrying money always entailed great risks. To avoid these, to get round any obstacles that the authorities might have placed in the way of the export of currency, and to facilitate financial dealings in general, merchants in the sixteenth and following centuries made use of that most handy device, the bill of exchange. In the Plantinian records it is usually referred to as a lettre de change, sometimes as a lettre de crédit.^1. A payer holding credit or money at a particular place would give instructions for the required amount to be placed at the disposal of the payee. The payee might choose to take not the cash but the authorizing note and use the amount that this represented in his own transactions. In the sixteenth century the bill of exchange became a much used means of transferring large sums of money, or rather credit, over long distances with relative ease. The repeated references to bills of exchange in the correspondence and the accounts show that Plantin and his successors made grateful use of it.^2. Sometimes ious or bonds (obligations or cedulles in Plantinian sources) served as bills of exchange, being disposed of to, or paid by, third parties.^3.

1. On the bill of exchange in the Netherlands: L. Mertens, Les changes et fonds publics à Anvers depuis le 16e siècle à 1792, 1894; W. Brulez, De firma della Faille en de internationale handel van Vlaamse firma's in de 16e eeuw, 1959, pp. 394 sqq.; E. Coornaert, Les Français et le commerce international à Anvers, fin du XV^e-XVI^e siècle, II, pp. 166 sqq. A notable general study is: R. de Roover, L'évolution de la lettre de change (XIV^me-XVIII^me siècle), 1953.

2. Cf. e.g., Corr., II, nos. 179 and 182 (cf. p. 450, note 1); VI, no. 828 (Ch. Pesnot to Plantin, 28th May 1579); VII, no. 987 (P. Porret to J. Moretus, 18th September 1582); VII, no. 992 (idem, 31st Oct. 1582); VII, no. 997 (idem, 23rd March 1583); VIII-IX, no. 1142 (cf. p. 450, note 2); VIII-IX, no. 1251 (J. Poelman to J. Moretus, 3rd May 1587).

3. Cf. Arch. 16, f^o 116 (sum of 225 fl. paid to Paulus Manutius in Rome ‘par lettres de change du Sr. Jaspar van Surich adressées à Rome au Sr. Georg[es] Peeters marchant de Flandres à payer à lettre veue et sans aultres frais ou dommage’, 18th Feb. 1570); Arch. 36, p. 139 (2nd Jan. 1570), p. 165 (28th March 1572), p. 168 (13th March and 28th April 1573); Arch. 51, f^o 123^ro (1571); Arch. 224, f^o 114^vo (1617); Arch. 225, f^o 30 (1618); Arch. 226, f^os 78^vo and 98^vo (1619). A very special case is the one mentioned in Jan Moretus's letter to J. Mofflin, November 1576 (Corr., V, no. 746): Jan Moretus sent to the abbot, who was staying at the Spanish royal court, the bond of a certain Juan Osorio for the sum of 100 escus, which had fallen due in October, requesting him to have this sum disbursed immediately either to de Çayas or to Mofflin himself and to have it sent on directly to Paris or Antwerp in view of the critical condition of the business. This was perhaps an acknowledgement of debt in the name of Philip II, signed by a royal official.

[p. 450]

The system presupposed a large measure of mutual trust - and good will and solvency on the part of the intermediaries. Sometimes these attributes were lacking. In 1569 Plantin was obliged to take one such agent, acting for G. de Portinariis, a bookseller in Lyons and Salamanca, to court because of his failure to pay amounts due.^1. In 1586 the printer was greatly angered because B. Dupuis of London had refused to accept his bill of exchange, thus casting doubt on his credit-worthiness.^2. Generally, however, there is little evidence of incidents of this kind.^3.

The intensive use which the masters of the Golden Compasses made of this efficient device meant a good deal of effort on their part to calculate the most favourable rates of exchange and to have their money in the right place. But far more trouble was caused the firm through the years by customers who did not pay their bills. This

1. Corr., II, nos. 179 (G. de Portinariis to Plantin, 17th July 1569) and 182 (Plantin to G. de Portinariis, 7th September 1569). The account was finally settled but with a substantial delay on the terms agreed upon (Arch. 17, f^o 53).

2. Corr., VIII-IX, no. 1142 (Plantin to H. François, bookseller in London, 26th September 1586): ‘Seigneur François, ce peu de mots est pour vous advertir que le 24 du present j'ay fort bien senti l'aspre soufflet et deshonneur en la diminution de nostre credit que le Signeur Baptiste du Puis [bookseller in London and a partner of H. François] a faicte que m'ayés donné par le refus qu'avés trop incivilement faict de nostre lectre de change... Puis en cas que ladicte lectre de change retourne comme desja le proteste m'en a esté monstré, auquel j'ay promis de satisfaire comme de raison aux despends dudict Sr. du Puis par l'ordonnance et commandement duquel ledict argent a esté prins et ladicte lectre de change baillee...’

3. Inter alia in 1650 when Gerrit Verduyn, an Amsterdam merchant, was in default (Arch. 258, f^o 118^vo; 18th November 1650): ‘Gerrit Verduyn... debet... pour aultant qu'il n'a pas satisfaict mes lettres de change tirées sur luy le 1 septembre à payer... à Gisberto, Emberto et Jan Tholincx; lesquelles lettres Henry Barentsens a satisfaict par honneur de lettre...’ Cf. also Corr., V, no. 770 (letter from a certain Ch. Martens from Ghent to Plantin, 9th July 1577): Martens was worried because Thomas Guerin, a Basle printer, had not repaid to him the sum of 100 escus loaned to him. Seeing that it was Plantin who had been paying the interest of 8 escus per year for Guerin, Martens then asked the printer for further information about Guerin.

[p. 451]

was particularly prevalent among the smaller booksellers, but private customers too were often neglectful.^1.

The masters of the Plantin House had a fairly effective method of limiting their losses on this account: normally they only made a new delivery when the previous one had been paid for, at least in part.^2. But if customers did not wish to place further orders then it might be a long time before outstanding accounts were settled, if at all. When a new ledger was started the unpaid accounts from the previous one were carried over and summarized on the first pages. A debtor was rapporté débiteur until he either settled his account or was finally written off as a bad debt.^3.

Naturally the masters of the firm tried to keep these bad debts to a minimum. On their many journeys through Western Europe, Plantin and his representative, Jan Moretus, regularly called on tardy settlers.^4. At the beginning of the seventeenth century Jan Moretus

1. A typical case: on 12th December 1571 Plantin, on receipt of a catalogue with titles marked by the Bishop of Cuença, despatched the works requested to the value of 48 fl. 13½ st. Five years later, on 16th September 1576, he received the works back. They had been returned on the pretext that they had not been ordered by the Bishop. It ought to be said that shortly after the order had been placed, the Bishop of Cuença in question had moved to Cordoba - which perhaps explains the return of the books by his successor (Cf. Corr., II, no. 295; Arch. 49, f^o 163^vo and 17, f^o 40).

2. In the journals there are often entries on the same day of deliveries to a bookseller estant présent à Anvers, followed by payment by the same bookseller of sums of money intended as settlement of a previous delivery.

3. To facilitate supervision and control the masters of the Golden Compasses sometimes compiled registers of the defaulters. Such a register for Plantin's day is Arch. 1083 (1569-79); for the period of Jan I Moretus: Arch. 1127 (1588-1612), 190 (1602), 192 (c. 1588-c. 1612); for period of Balthasar I Moretus: Arch. 507.

4. Jan I Moretus's detour via Louvain on his return journey in 1566 from Paris may be regarded as a dunning expedition to customers who were behind with their payments (cf. p. 398). P. Laroche, ‘Discours de réception’, Mémoires de la Société d'Arras, 18, 1886, p. 42 (p. 16 of the offprint) speaks of Jan I Moretus leaving in 1579 for Arras with his accounts under his arms in order to dun defaulters there but ‘sans espoir de retirer’. Actually this scholar has misunderstood the text of Arch. 110, f^o 28: in connexion with an account of Claude Buyens, bookseller at Arras, of January 1579, Jan I Moretus remarks ‘prins sur moy avec aultres sans espoir de retirer’, which means that, upon the division of Plantin's estate in 1590, he had taken over this debt without any hope of seeing it discharged.

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sent out an agent specially for a systematic visitation of all of them in a particular area.^1. Most of those visited had a more or less valid reason for their default, or at least tried to think of one. Successors or inheritors often refused to accept their predecessors' debts. A dramatic case was that of Herman Schinkel, a Delft bookseller whose widow would not pay because he had been executed during the Duke of Alva's rule. Eventually part of this debt was paid off.^2. Other debtors obstinately asserted that they had already paid.^3.

These attempts to retrieve debts through personal contact were only partly successful and the list of those whose names ended up in the bad debt column was quite long. The amounts per person were not usually very large, but the sheer number involved made the loss considerable. Less numerous, but larger per head, were the losses incurred through bankruptcies of bigger booksellers, and especially of the merchants who occasionally dealt in books.^4. The wills and inventories^5. made by the Masters of the Plantin house clearly show

1. On 6th June 1607, the man called Jan Kingkes (who was probably a shop assistant of Moretus), made a report to his master about the difficulties he encountered at Ghent, Courtrai, and Ypres (Arch. 86, f^o 83).

2. Arch, 110, f^o 9: in January 1579 there remained a demand for payment of 44 fl. 11¾ st. outstanding. Jan Moretus noted that ‘Herman de Scinckel ayant été exécuté au temps du duc d'Alve, la vesve n'a rien voulu payer’. When Plantin called at Delft in 1582, he was able to reach a settlement with the widow (who had meantime remarried another bookseller, A. Heyndrixsen): he took back books to the value of 24 fl. 13 st. and deleted the rest from the claim for payment. Cf. C. Clair, Christopher Plantin, p. 222.

3. There is an example in P. Laroche: G. Bauduyn, a bookseller in Arras, asserted that he had not received any books; when confronted with the letters in which he had requested them to be sent, he would confirm with a false oath that he had already paid for them; but later he came to a better way of thinking. Cf. also the case of J. Poelman (see p. 403).

4. Arch. 224, f^o 114^vo (20th July 1617): agreement with M.F. Carillo [‘pour estre failli de credit’] by the Officina Plantiniana and the other creditors, that one quarter of the claim should be annulled and the remaining three quarters should be paid back by fixed instalments.

5. When Plantin's estate was divided in 1590 Jan I Moretus took over the outstanding claims for payment to the value of 16,350 fl. for a sum of 10,000 fl.; on the same occasion the stocks of books at Antwerp, Leiden, and Frankfurt were estimated at half their nominal value (cf. Vol. I, p. 167). In the 1658 inventory made up by Balthasar II Moretus, the outstanding debts in Spain and Portugal to the value of 111, 841 fl. 8 st. were recorded at 100,000 fl., and those outside the Iberian peninsula to the value of 35,615 fl. 16 st. were reckoned at 24,000 fl. For 1662 the figures were respectively for debts in Spain and Portugal: 117,420 fl. at 105,000 fl., and for debts outside the Iberian peninsula: 47,945 fl. at 32,000 fl. (Arch. 108). On the division of the estate following the death of Maria de Sweert in 1655, Balthasar II calculated the stocks of ‘libri rubro-nigro’ (i.e., service books) at 45% and 42½% of the current prices; for ‘libri nigri’ (i.e., ordinary publications) this ratio fell to 30% (Arch. 107, f^o 93).

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that they were not unmindful of the burden constituted by the fact that a fair proportion of the books they delivered were never paid for.