David and Goliath, piracy and censorship: the history of Irish publishing

In the rollercoaster boom and bust of publishing, in Ireland and elsewhere, most publishers survived for only a few years. The introduction of fixed book prices in the 1890s created a more stable environment, allowing publishers to dictate to booksellers the price at which their publications were to be sold. This was known as the Net Book Agreement, and it lasted in Britain and Ireland for nearly a century.