Buying and Selling in One Trip: Book Barter in Times of Trouble for Francesco Ciotti’s Printing and Bookselling House

Abstract

Sometimes archival materials can shed light on historical phenomena like no other sources. Barter was a common practice in the book industry, either to improve the cash balances or refresh stock. The recourse to such strategy was even more necessary for businessmen acting as printers/publishers and booksellers at the same time. This seems to be true, especially when large portions of a printer-publisher's stock were at risk of remaining unsold, or when the business was in trouble either for bad investments or because of overspending in previous years. For the documentation of this legal case, we learn important details on the practice of barter in Francesco Ciott's printing house in Palermo. Bartering was an expedient to sell off stock of his own publications and at hte same time to acquire new titles that would afterwards be offered for sale in Palermo from his bookshop, and help resolve the increasingly acute crisis of liquidity facing the family firm.