And in fact they were. The preamble of an
Act of Parliament reads as follows: "Ther be meny feyers
for the comen welle of your seid lege people as at
Salusbury, Brystowe, Oxenforth, Cambrigge, Notyugham,
Ely, Coventre, and at many other places, where lordes
spirituall and temporall, abbotes, Prioures, Knyghtes,
Squerys, Gentilmen, and your seid Comens of every Countrey,
hath their comen resorte to by and purvey many thinges
that be gode and profytable, as ornaments of holy church
chalets, bokes, vestmentes [etc.] . . . also for howsold, as
vytell for the tyme of Lent, and other Stuff, as Lynen Cloth,
wolen Cloth, brasse, pewter, beddyng, osmonde, Iren, Flax and Wax
and many other necessary thinges."[1] The chief fairs for
the sale of books were those of St. Giles at Oxford, at
Stourbridge, Cambridge, and St. Bartholomew's Fair in
London.
[1] 3 H. vii., Cap. 9, 10, Stat. of the Realm, ii. 518.
London, however, speedily asserted its right to be
regarded as England's publishing centre. The booksellers
with illuminators and other allied craftsmen established
themselves in a small colony in "Paternoster Rewe,"
and they attended St.
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