PAPER. 593 



quantity. In 1488 a ream is bought at 3^. yd. in Oxford ; and 

 five quires, taking twenty quires to the ream, at 4^. zd. the ream. 

 In 1498 a ream is bought at 4.$-., half a ream at 3.$-. In 1503 

 half a ream costs is. 8d. } a whole ream 4,$-. ^d. In 1504 a ream 

 and a quire are bought in Oxford at the same rate. In 1507 

 two reams are bought at 2,s. 8d. } seven quires at 3^-. ^d. These 

 illustrations might be multiplied, and will, I think, confirm 

 what I have said that, though generally parcels of the ream 

 were dearer than the whole quantity, they were some- 

 times cheaper, which must have been for the reason alleged 

 above. 



Although the quality was generally the same, it appears that 

 the quantity either in size or bulk varied. The first note 

 I have of this is in 1495, where four quires ' large ' are bought 

 at ^\d. the quire, and six small at a fraction below id. These 

 purchases are at Oxford. In Cambridge two quires are bought 

 at 2<, and five, now designated royal, at 8d. the quire. In 

 1512, when the ream is at the ordinary price, or rather below 

 it, large paper costs 6d. the quire. In 1532 a ream of ordinary 

 paper costs 3.5-. at Greenwich ; of royal, 6s. But the entry of 

 1536 is puzzling. Demy paper, 12 J inches by 8J, costs 6s. 8d. 

 the ream ; small, $s. In the same year royal paper at Oxford 

 is bought, a single quire, at 8d. In 1539 the two qualities at 

 Canterbury are z\d. and 6d. In 1541 demy at Greenwich is 

 half the price of small, 6s. 8d. to 3.$-. <\d. In 1561 royal paper 

 is 20 s. the ream ; demy, 13^-. ^d. In 1562 royal is 20^. ; small, 

 6s. 8d., the prices also of 1563 and 1569, when demy is again 

 13.$-. 4d. by the quire. Royal is 20^. in 1570; small, 6s. 8d., 

 as also in 1573. In the latter year royal is bought by the city in 

 considerable quantity, viz. half a ream at 23^. ^d. In 1574? 

 1577, 1578, and 1580 royal and small paper are bought for 

 the use of the Crown at the prices given above, and in the year 

 1580 at the same price in York, one quire only being purchased. 



The purchases of the Crown seem to have been at a nearly 

 uniform price. The consumption was large, and the demand 

 regular. But the case would be different with the ordinary 



VOL. IV. Q q 



