The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (1907–21).
Volume XI. The Period of the French Revolution.
§ 24. “The Trade” in London
The revival of literature and consequent expansion of the book trade which followed upon the return of the monarchy were accompanied by drawbacks, of which the establishment of the censorship under l’Estrange, in 1663, was only one. Two years later, business in London was almost paralysed by the effects of the visitation of the plague: a check nearly equalled the following year in the havoc which the great fire made among the stock of books, by which fresh disaster many of those stationers who had survived the plague now found themselves ruined.