Publishers were central to the development of the London foreign news trade. They imported material, took political and commercial risks and challenged mechanisms for controlling and directing their trade. The emergence of formalised periodical reporting, with the introduction of weekly supply arrangements, issue numbering, and collaboration between publishers and with the authorities, took place over a period of two years from the reporting of the Battle of White Mountain. Events in this period and the provenance of publications (especially in 1621) have been disputed by historians and bibliographers. Reviewing the evidence in the light of recent historiography on censorship, the role of the Stationers’ Company and James’s attitude to the press, helps us to understand the publishers’ role and to appreciate the scale of innovation and change.

The term ‘stationer’ was used throughout this period to encompass printers, publishers and booksellers. Most stationers kept shops and issued works in their own names or concentrated on selling but did not print. By 1614, journeymen complained of the ascendancy of these entrepreneurs within the trade: ‘the Stationer hath all the profit both by Printing and Bookselling’. George Wither commented ‘the Bookeseller hath not onely made the Printer, the Binder and the Claspmaker a Slave to him: but hath brought Authors, yea the whole Commonwealth … [to] labour for his profit, at his owne price’.

Successful newspaper production required the development of publishing skills ranging from international networking, to commissioning translations, handling the authorities and organising subscriptions, sales and distribution. Contemporary commentators were aware of the central role of the London news publishers and these publishers themselves first used the word: ‘publish’ meant to ‘make public’ and came to be most closely associated with the sale, distribution and dissemination of news. Publishers also had a crucial role in taking risks, initiating the domestic production of corantos and shaping their evolution into newsbooks for the English market.

One of the first challenges was handling the authorities and there are a variety of views amongst historians about both the nature and extent of government control that the publishers encountered.