Social Status and the Politics of Printers in Eighteenth-Century Bordeaux

Abstract

This article examines the social position of printers in Bordeaux in the second half of the eighteenth century. Printers' wealth, property and family connections are studied. The argument is that commercial, administrative and demographic expansion, coupled with the reduction in the number of printing licenses, were ail behind an improvement in the economic and social position of printers. This permitted printers' children and relatives to enter the elite in Bordeaux. The relatively high social status and local connections provided Bordeaux printers with a considerable degree of immunity from Crown censorship.