In 1445, a stationer and
a lymner in his employ had a dispute, and as the two arbiters
to whom the matter was referred failed to reach a settlement
in due time, the Chancellor of the University stepped
in and determined the quarrel. The judgment was as
follows: the lymner, or illuminator, was to serve the
stationer, in liminando bene et fideliter libros suos, for one
year, and meantime was to work for nobody else. His
wage was to be four marks ten shillings of good English
money. The lymner in person was to fetch the materials
from his master's house, and to bring back the work when
finished. He was to take care not to use the colours
wastefully. The work was to be done well and faithfully,
without fraud or deception. For the purpose of superintending
the work the stationer could visit the place
where the lymner wrought, at any convenient time.[1]
The yearly wage for this lymner was nearly fifty pounds
of our money.
[1] Mun. Acad., 550.
An inscription in one codex tells us it was pawned
to a bookseller in 1480 for thirty-eight shillings. Pawnbroking
was an important part of a bookseller's business.
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