"In the 1600s, the British government faced continuous threats from pirates. In fact, in a span of less than a decade, Barbary Coast corsairs plundered nearly 500 merchant vessels, commandeering the ships and selling the crews and passengers into slavery. The pirates roamed with impunity, often ransacking and even decimating coastal settlements.
"But the corsairs weren't the only pirates profiting at the time. The invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in 1436 greatly simplified the manufacturing--and piracy--of books. Armed with moveable type presses, Scottish plagiarists 'looted' British booksellers by selling bootlegged tomes at prices 30-50 percent below the price of an original..."
