Stationers’ Company Archive

The Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers, or Stationers' Company, has existed in one form or another since the 14th century, but it was in 1403 that the Mayor and Aldermen of the City of London approved the formation of a Guild of Stationers.

Members of this Guild were text writers and illuminators of manuscript books, booksellers, bookbinders and suppliers of parchment, pens and paper. With the introduction of printing into England in 1476, printers began to join the Guild, which consequently increased in importance and received a Royal Charter of incorporation in 1557. In 1559 it was granted the right to have a livery.

The Company's historic records date from 1554 to the present day. Consulted by scholars since the mid-eighteenth century, they are a key archival source for the history of the English book trade and the development of copyright; the evolution of London livery companies and corporate London; and the social history of the city.

Collection

• Stationers' Company Registers or Entry Book of Copies 1554-1842. (Copyright records for the period 1842-1924 are deposited at the National Archives. Further information is available at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk)

• Court Books, 1602 to the present day

• Membership records, 1555 to the present day

• Legal and official records, from 1557

• Records relating to bequests, charities and pensions, 1593 to 1929

• Records relating to property owned by the Company from 1674

• English Stock records 1603-1961

• Financial records, from 1605

• A small collection of family papers belonging to former members of the Company, such as the Tottell papers (1448-1714) and the Baskett papers (1740s-1840s)

• Miscellaneous ephemera which includes invitation cards, programmes, etc