The Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers (until 1937 the Worshipful Company of Stationers), usually known as the Stationers' Company, is one of the livery companies of the City of London.^[1] The Stationers' Company was formed in 1403; it received a Royal Charter in 1557.^[2] It held a monopoly over the publishing industry and was officially responsible for setting and enforcing regulations until the enactment of the Statute of Anne, also known as the Copyright Act of 1710.^[3] Once the company received its charter, "the company's role was to regulate and discipline the industry, define proper conduct and maintain its own corporate privileges."^[4]

The company members, including master, wardens, assistants, liverymen, freemen and apprentices are mostly involved with the modern visual and graphic communications industries that have evolved from the company's original trades. These include printing, paper-making, packaging, office products, engineering, advertising, design, photography, film and video production, publishing of books, newspapers and periodicals and digital media. The company's principal purpose nowadays is to provide an independent forum where its members can advance the interests (strategic, educational, training and charitable) of the industries associated with the company.^[5]

In 1403, the Corporation of London approved the formation of a guild of stationers. At this time, the occupations considered stationers for the purposes of the guild were text writers, limners (illuminators), bookbinders or booksellers who worked at a fixed location (stationarius) beside the walls of St Paul's Cathedral.^[6] Booksellers sold manuscript books, or copies thereof produced by their respective firms for retail; they also sold writing materials. Illuminators illustrated and decorated manuscripts.

Printing gradually displaced manuscript production so that, by the time the guild received a royal charter of incorporation on 4 May 1557, it had in effect become a printers' guild. In 1559, it became the 47th in city livery company precedence. At the time, it was based at Peter's College, which it bought from St Paul's Cathedral.^[7] During the Tudor and Stuart periods, the Stationers were legally empowered to seize "offending books" that violated the standards of content set down by the Church and state; its officers could bring "offenders" before ecclesiastical authorities, usually the Bishop of London or the Archbishop of Canterbury, depending on the severity of the transgression.^[8] Thus the Stationers played an important role in the culture of England as it evolved through the intensely turbulent decades of the Protestant Reformation and toward the English Civil War.

The Stationers' Charter, which codified its monopoly on book production, ensured that once a member had asserted ownership of a text or "copy" by having it approved by the company, no other member was entitled to publish it, that is, no one else had the "right to copy" it. This is the origin of the term "copyright". However, this original "right to copy" in England was different from the modern conception of copyright. The stationers' "copy right" was a protection granted to the printers of a book; "copyright" introduced with the Statute of Anne, or the Copyright Act of 1710, was a right granted to the author(s) of a book based on statutory law.^[9]

Members of the company could, and mostly did, document their ownership of copyright in a work by entering it in the "entry book of copies" or the Stationers' Company Register.^[10] The Register of the Stationers' Company thus became one of the most essential documentary records in the later study of English Renaissance theatre.^[11] (In 1606 the Master of the Revels, who was responsible until this time for licensing plays for performance, acquired some overlapping authority over licensing them for publication as well; but the Stationers' Register remained a crucial and authoritative source of information after that date too.) Enforcement of such rules was always a challenge, in this area as in other aspects of the Tudor/Stuart regime. Works were often printed surreptitiously and illegally, and this would remain a subject of interest to both the Company and the government into the modern period.

In 1603, the Stationers formed the English Stock, a joint stock publishing company funded by shares held by members of the company.^[12] This profitable venture gave the Company a monopoly on printing certain types of works, including almanacs, prayer-books, and primers, some of the best-selling works of the day. By buying and holding shares in the English Stock (which were limited in number), members of the company received a nearly guaranteed return each year. The English Stock at times employed out-of-work printers, and disbursed some of the profit to the poor and to those reliant on the Company's pensions. When a printer or bookseller who held a share passed away, it might often pass to another relation, most often his widow.^[13]

In 1606, the company bought Abergavenny House in Ave Maria Lane and moved out of Peter's College.^[14] The new hall burnt down in the Great Fire of 1666, along with most of its contents, including a great number of books. The Company's clerk, George Tokefeild, is said to have removed a great number of the Company's records to his home in the suburbs—without this act, much of the Company's history before 1666 would have been lost.^[15] It was rebuilt by 1674, and its present interior is much as it was when it reopened. The Court Room was added in 1748, and in 1800 the external façade was remodelled to its present form.^[16]

In 1695, the monopoly power of the Stationers' Company was diminished by the lapsing of their monopoly on printing, allowing presses to operate more freely outside of London than they had previously. This blow was compounded when in 1710 Parliament passed the Copyright Act 1709, the first such act to establish copyright as the purview of authors, not printers or publishers.^[17]

In 1861, the company established the Stationers' Company's School at Bolt Court, Fleet Street for the education of sons of members of the Company. In 1894, the school moved to Hornsey in north London, eventually closing nearly a century later in 1983.

Registration under the Copyright Act 1911 ended in December 1923; the company then established a voluntary register in which copyrights could be recorded to provide printed proof of ownership in case of disputes.

In 1937, a royal charter amalgamated the Stationers' Company and the Newspaper Makers' Company, which had been founded six years earlier (and whose members were predominant in Fleet Street), into the company of the present name.

In March 2012, the company established the "Young Stationers," to provide a forum for young people (under the age of 40) within the company and the civic City of London more broadly. This led to the establishment of the Young Stationers' Prize in 2014, which recognises outstanding achievements within the company's trades. Prize winners have included novelist Angela Clarke, journalist Katie Glass, and professor of journalism Dr Shane Tilton.

The company's motto is Verbum Domini manet in aeternum, Latin for "The Word of the Lord endures forever;" which appears on their heraldic charge.^[18]

In November 2020 Stationers' Hall the home of the Stationers' Company were granted approval to redevelop their Grade 1 listed building to bring modern day conference facilities, air-cooling and step free access to its historic rooms. It reopened in July 2022 for live events, weddings, and filming.

The modern Stationers' Company represents the "content and communications" industries within the City of London Liveries. This includes the following trades and specialisms:

• Archiving (including librarian, curators, and book conservation)
• Bookselling and distribution
• Communications (including advertising, marketing, and PR)
• Digital media and software
• Newspapers and broadcasting
• Office products and supplies
• Packaging
• Paper
• Print machinery
• Printing
• Publishing (including digital publishing and design)
• Writing (including journalism, broadcasting, and authorship)

Stationers' Hall is at Ave Maria Lane near Ludgate Hill. The site of the present hall was formerly the site of Abergavenny House, which was purchased by the Stationers in 1606 for £3,500, but destroyed in the Great Fire of London, 1666.^[19] The current building and hall date from circa 1670. The hall was remodelled in 1800 by the architect Robert Mylne and, on 4 January 1950, it was designated a Grade I listed building.^[20][21]

Stationers' Hall hosts the Shine School Media Awards, where students compete in the creation of websites and magazines.

• Stationers' Hall
• Main Hall
• Caxton window
• The Stock Room
• The Court Room

• Edward Allde
• John Cleave
• Thomas Cotes
• George Eld
• Edmund Evans
• George Faulkner
• Richard Field
• Augustine Matthews
• George Mudie (Owenite)
• Rupert Murdoch
• Thomas Cautley Newby
• Nicholas Okes
• Peter Short
• William Stansby
• John Trundle
• Sir Christopher Meyer
• William Hague

Below are lists of officials who either sat on the Stationer's Company Court of Assistants, or who worked for the Company in another official capacity (Beadle, Treasurer, and Clerk) from the time the Company was first granted a charter in 1556 to the present day. As with most London livery companies, the Master of the Company was elected yearly, along with the Wardens. For the Stationers, this election day always took place in late June, the day before St. Peter's Day (June 29). Thus, a Master's term would run effectively from July to July. The dates below reflect the year a Master was elected and began a term of service. Upper and Under Wardens were elected at the same time, while Renter Wardens (those two wardens charged with collecting dues from members of the Company annually) were chosen for the following year in March, on or around Lady Day. The roles of Beadle and Clerk were likewise elected positions, filled whenever they came open, but were often held by the same members for years or even decades. The Treasurer of the Company/English Stock was elected annually in March along with the Stockeepers, and again, was often held by the same person for years.

The master oversaw Company "courts," meetings of the Assistants and sometimes the Livery and wider membership where Company business was discussed and resolved. These courts were usually held monthly but could be held more or less frequently. Although official company positions were historically always held by men until the twentieth century, women have always participated meaningfully in the life of the Company, at certain times even holding a controlling interest in the Company's joint stock venture, known as the English Stock.^[22][23][24]

The first woman elected master was Helen Esmonde, who held the position in 2015.^[25]

The "Young Stationers' Prize" is an annual prize awarded by the Young Stationers' Committee to a young person under 40 years of age who has distinguished themself within the company's trades. Launched in 2014, the prize is a pewter plate (donated by the Worshipful Company of Pewterers) onto which each winner's name is engraved.

• Authorized King James Version
• Eyre & Spottiswoode
• Fleet Street
• Printing patent