From an international perspective, the slow and problematic development of the book trade in the British Isles during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries had serious consequences. Due to the relatively high prices of books produced in Britain the export of scholarly and scientific books to the European Continent was minimal. The high prices of British books had a damaging effect. The growing interest on the Continent in British authors, particularly theological and scientific writers, encouraged foreign printers to reap the benefits of publication themselves, either by pirating these texts or having them translated into other languages. In spite of its negative connotations, book piracy, a common phenomenon in the European book trade, served as a useful corrective of poor distribution and excessive prices. The location and denomination of the Continental printing presses producing English religious texts depended on the changing religious and political situations in Britain and on the Continent.