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[p. 459]

Chapter 19
Difficulties of the Business

Plantin and the Moretuses allowed quite high profit margins when computing the selling prices of their books, yet there was a whole series of costs that they did not include in their calculations. These reduced the profit margin considerably and may be estimated as equivalent to 20 to 25 % of the factors that were taken into account. The risks in publishing in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were many and great. Only seldom was an impression sold out and there were quite a few instances of no more than a few copies being disposed of.1. In two out of the three cases investigated by the author, costs had not been covered by sales after three years, and in the third

[p. 460]

instance only a small profit had been made.1. Stocks of books depreciated in value with the passing of time.2. Transport entailed high costs and often heavy losses which could not always be passed on to the customers. Rates at which currency had to be exchanged often brought unpleasant surprises. Discounts and reductions to booksellers and private customers also lowered profit margins. Many customers failed to pay their bills. The running costs of the press and slow sales demanded a goodly supply of capital, which had to be borrowed at heavy interest rates.

Building the Officina Plantiniana up into a great capitalist enterprise cannot have been an unalloyed pleasure and it impaired Plantin's health prematurely. But all things considered, he did not do so badly. Once a poor journeyman bookbinder, at his death he was able to bequeath his family what for the time was a large fortune: 136,000 fl.3. In spite of subsequent divisions of the estate, his successors did equally well and increased the family fortune still further.4. Despite all the difficulties and risks inherent in the book trade, the Officina Plantiniana remained through the centuries a very profitable business.

It seems fitting to close this final chapter of the present volume with the observations of Balthasar ii Moretus who, with a superabundance of facts and figures, gave an illuminating survey of the profit made by the house in the years 1642 to 1651.5.

[p. 461]

Statement of current assets

1642 (30th June) 1651 (31st December)
Service books in stock 14,851 fl. 5 st. 42,834 fl. 4 st.
Ordinary editions 74,961 fl. 2 st. 105,249 fl. 6 st.
Printed sheets at press 29,314'fl.1.   24,918 fl. 19 st.2.
Defects 990 fl.   -
Stands for books 1,000 fl.   -
Other publishers' books 12,527 fl. 10 st. 12,155 fl.  
  _____
Sub-total 133,643 fl. 17 st. 185,157 fl. 9 st.
         
Stock of paper 8,996 fl.   26,546 fl. 15 st.
Outstanding debtors:        
- Spain 49,251 fl. 15 st. 59,174 fl. 16 st.
- Antwerp booksellers 3,285 fl.   6,900 fl.  
- Booksellers elsewhere 21,962 fl.   17,244 fl.  
- Frankfurt 5,567 fl.   4,930 fl.  
- Merchants-dealers 7,080 fl. 10 st. 6,949 fl.  
Press with material and equipment 24,000 fl,   24,000 fl.  
Parchment (for friskets etc.) 2,250 fl.   2,625 fl.  
Cash in hand 1,182 fl.   8,086 fl.  
  _____
Total assets 257,218 fl. 2 st. 341,613 fl.  
Total creditors 98,060 fl. 2 st. 81,665 fl. 10 st.
  _____
Remains 159,158 fl.   259,947 fl. 10 st.

Calculation of profit 1st july 1642-31st december 1651 (9½ years)

Current assets, 31st December 1651 259,947 fl. 10 st.
Drawings by widow of Jan ii Moretus (1642-51) 41,865 fl.  
Drawings by Balthasar ii Moretus (1642-51) 65,347 fl.  
  _____
Total 367,159 fl. 10 st.
Less: capital invested at 30th June 1642 159,158 fl.  
  _____
Profit, 30th June 1642 - 31st December 1651 208,001 fl. 10 st.
i.e., an average profit in 9½ years, per year 21,894 fl. 1½ st.

[p. 462]

Further observations on profit made

1. Stock of books, 1642   133,643 fl. 17 st.
  1651 inventory shows books in stock printed before 30th June 1642 as follows:  
  - service books 1,250 fl.  
  - ordinary editions 70,941 fl. 5 st.  
  - other publishers' 8,000 fl.  
    _____  
  Total   80,191 fl. 5 st.
      _____
Consequently, pre-1642 books sold in period 1642-51 53,452 fl. 12 st.
       
Of this sum the profit (at a liberal estimate of two-thirds of capital) was 35,635 fl. 2 st.  
Total profit 1642-51   208,001 fl. 10 st.
Profit on pre-1642 books (estimated) 35,635 fl. 2 st.
      _____
Remaining profit   172,366 fl. 8 st.

This profit must have come from books printed during the 9½ years.

2. Service books  
  - In stock, 1642 14,851 fl. 5 st.
  - At press, 1642 8,940 fl.
    _____
  Total 1642 23,791 fl. 5 st.
     
  - In stock 1651 42,834 fl. 4 st.
  - At press 1651 18,757 fl. 19 st.
    _____
  Total 1651 61,592 fl. 3 st.

Therefore the stocks of service books, the most profitable sort, was increased during the 9½ years by 37,800 fl. 18 st.

3. Outstanding loans    
  - at 30th June 1642   68,335 fl. 3 st.
  - at 31st Dec. 1651 38,595 fl. 15 st.  
  since repaid 3,600 fl.  
    _____  
      34,995 fl. 15 st.
      _____
  Hence borrowed money repaid in the period 33,339 fl. 8 st.

This released the firm of an estimated 1,667 fl. interest per year.

[p. 463]

4. Calculation to show that Balthasar II Moretus's mother earned more by keeping her money in the firm than by investing outside at 5 %
  - her capital in 1642 83,338 fl. 7 st.1.
  - interest 1642-51 (9½ years; 5 % yield = 4,167 fl. per annum) 39,586 fl. 10 st.
    _____
  Capital with interest 1651 122,924 fl. 17 st.
  Drawings by mother, 1642-51 44,644 fl. 3½ st.2.
    _____
  Capital in 1651 could thus only have been 78,280 fl. 13½ st.

However, the lady did not invest outside, but remained in partnership with her son.

- As such she possessed in 1651 (excluding drawings 1642-51) 140,127 fl. 12¼ st.3.
- From this the theoretical capital must be deducted 78,280 fl. 13½ st.
  _____
- Hence additional earnings through keeping the money in the firm 61,846 fl. 18¾ st.

1.On the question of unsold copies which sometimes lay for decades in the attic storerooms, there is interesting information and examples drawn from the firm's musical publications in J.A. Stellfeld, Bibliographie des éditions musicales plantiniennes, 1949. In October 1586 Plantin wrote to N. Oudartius that he still had numerous copies remaining of the Statutes of the synode of Malines from years before (Corr., VIII-IX, no. 1165: ‘Nunc autem tibi mitto tria exemplaria Synodi Machliniensis magna forma [in 4o, 1570] ex quo nobis adhuc restant 70. Mitto totidem in 8o [which also appeared in 1570] e quibus nobis restant 200. Addidi totidem Antverpiensia [probably the Antwerp synode statutes of 1576] e quibus nobis restant 300...’). In the inventory of the stock for 1642 (Arch. 801) the following Plantin impressions are named (in the sequence and with bibliographical description as given in the inventory): Alani Copi Dialogi, 1573 (30 copies); Brechtani Syntaxi, 1568 (500); Chansons de Cornet, 1581 (26); Chroniques de Flandres d'Oudegherst, 1571 (23); Despauterii ars versificatoria, 1568 (287); Dialogues Francois Flamends, 1567 (81); Fulvii Ursini notae in Ciceronem, 1581 (100); Goropii Becani opera, 1580 (11); Hesychius de Vitis et Philosophorum, 1572 (50); Homilien van Macarii, 1580 (194); Joliffi Responsio ad Hopperum, 1564 (38); Justiniani Institutiones Triboniani, 1575 (15); Manuel de Ludolph, 1588 (129); Nomina Hebraica Explicata, 16o, 1565 (238); Nomina Hebraica, 8o, 1565 (82); Novum Testamentum Syrraicum, 16o, 1575 (176); Novum Testamentum Syrracum, 8o, 1575 (85); OEuvres de Jessée, 1584 (58); Polybius de legationibus, 1582 (407); Porta Magia Naturalis, 1585 (100); Sermones Leinartij sive Ambrosii homilia, 1575 (140); Stobei ecloga, 1575 (188); Veldii in Cassionem, 1570 (118); Veldii quadragesimale, 1570 (93); Virgilio libro quarto Aeneidi, 1568 (58); Vredehandel van Ceulen, 1580(303).
1.Cf. Appendix 7.
2.When Balthasar II Moretus bought out his fellow-heirs in 1655, on the death of his mother, Maria de Sweert, he noted a stock of service books to the value of 77,012 fl. 16 st.: ‘In regard to the danger of their perishing from rats, mice, decay, moisture, and of imperfect books’ the figure was rounded off downwards to 70,000 fl. Balthasar II emphasizes in this that no arbitrary procedure was involved here but one which had been applied in earlier distributions of estates (Arch. 107, fo 93).
3.Cf. Vol. I, pp. 162 sqq.
4.Cf. Vol. I, pp. 203-204, 222 sqq., 241-242.
5.Arch. 354. The commentary accompanying the data is a summary or a reproduction of Balthasar II's text.

1.Of which 8,940 fl. service books.
2.Of which 18,757 fl. 19 st. service books.

1.In 1642 the firm's capital amounted to 159,158 fl. At the time of drawing up his balance Balthasar had had more from the common account than his mother, the difference being 7,518 fl. 14 st. So there remained 151,639 fl. 6 st., to be shared equally between the partners, Balthasar II and his mother, each of them being entitled to 75,819 fl. 13 st. But the sum of 7,518 fl. 14 st. Balthasar had had more than his mother had to be added to her share which hence amounted to 83,338 fl. 7 st.
2.The difference between the amounts given as drawn by his mother in the ‘Calculation of profit’ (41,865 fl.) and here (44,644 fl. 3½ st.) is probably the result of an error made by Balthasar. In Arch. 354, p. 59 he specifies the amounts drawn by his mother between 1st July 1641 and 31st December 1651 by half-yearly instalments, to a total of 49,004 fl. The amount of 44,644 fl. 3½ st. is arrived at through subtracting the sums Balthasar's mother drew between 1st July 1641 and 1st July 1642 (the date on which he started his calculation), totalling 4,359 fl. 16½ st., leaving indeed 44,644 fl. 3½ st. But in his ‘Calculation of profit’ Balthasar also subtracted (probably by mistake) the sum of 2,799 fl. 11½ st. drawn by his mother in the second half of 1642. With an approximation of 8 st. the difference between the two statements is so explained.
3.In 1651 the total capital of the firm amounted to 259,947 fl. 10 st. As in 1642 Balthasar once more had drawn more than his mother, the difference being 20,307 fl. 14½ st. The remainder, 239,639 fl. 15½ st., equally shared between the partners, works out at 119,819 fl. 17¾ st. for each. Added to this must be Balthasar's drawing of 20,307 fl. 14½ st., thus making for a total capital owned by Balthasar's mother of 140,127 fl. 12¼ st.
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