The king’s
printer

Print’s effectiveness for large-scale communication had political implications, and this led to a ‘King’s Printer’ being appointed from 1503. In the English Civil War, printing contributed to the battle of ideas. The King’s Printer took refuge in Exeter when York, Shrewsbury, Oxford and Bristol were taken by Cromwell’s forces. When Parliament captured Exeter, printers were again appointed for propaganda and administrative purposes. Since those times, with its strategic location in the South-West, it is said that: ‘Exeter has never lacked a resident printer’.