There was a constantly increasing speed in the British printing industry from 1695 on. At a first sight it can be supposed that it was due to abolishing of the License Act from 1695 which brought to an end the monopoly of court over printing, a fact that could lead to a quick development of press. Still, it is a false impression, as it was needed more time in order not only to remove restrictions, but also to make sure there were given rights to press. The fruitful development of printing, especially the explosive development of press was possibly first of all due to a public willing to be entertained and informed. Socially and intellectually, the 18th century England was ready and willing for a well-structured system of news circulation. It is difficult and speculative to determine the number of newspaper readers and readers in common. Certainly there were more developed industrial areas with a higher level of living, this fact implying better wages and more money spent for products others than “necessities”. It is more likely that there was a greater audience in Scotland and the Southeast of England. What can be said with a greater degree of certainty is that there was an explosive development of press in London from the beginning of the century on, followed by a fruitful development of provincial press. By the middle of the 18th century there were registered around forty local newspapers. It is generally assumed that contemporaries as well as visitors of 18th century England tended to overestimate the number of reading people stretching it down to the lower provincial ranks. The investigations concerning the literate public of the 18th century Britain present two different approaches regarding the spreading of literacy among the middle-class people. On the one hand there are such researchers as James Raven and Ian Watt who consider the ability to read as nothing more but a necessity valid for those involved in trade and administrative work. Margaret Spufford, David Cressy and J. Paul Hunter, on the other hand, reveal facts that prove the existence of a bigger amount of literate people in the 18th century Britain. What most of these researches have in common is the inevitable connection between the increasing of literacy, the development and spreading of press and the growth of the middle-class.