The authors of that time were still too weak to go alone. In
the absence of a demand for books it was essential to gain the favour of
a great man who might open a way to fame and would at least provide a
pension. We have all smiled at the adulations of an ancient preface and
the arrogance which too often baulked the poor writer's hopes. D'Israeli
reminds us that one of the Popes repaid the translation of a Greek
treatise with a few pence that might just have paid for the binding, and
of Cardinal Este receiving Ariosto's work with the question--'Where on
earth all that rubbish had been collected?' This was but a temporary
phase, and literature became free from the burden as soon as the public
had learned to read. The Houses of Plantin and the Elzevirs required no
help in selling out their cheap editions. A good dedication was still a
feather in the patron's cap. Queen Christina considered that she was
justly entitled to the patronage of her subjects' works: and Marshal
Rantzau, when writers were scarce in Denmark, brought out an anonymous
work for the purpose of introducing a preface in which his fame as a
book-collector was glorified. But the patron's function was gradually
restricted; and at last it was nearly confined to cases where a
dedication repaid assistance given in producing an unsaleable book.
The later renown of Grolier must rest on the fact that he invented a new
taste. It would have been nothing to buy a few thousand Aldine books,
even if the collection included all the first editions, the papers of all
sizes, the copies with uncut edges, and specimens of the true misprints.
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