The year 1849 is another key year in the history of the theatre in Spain. The decade of the 1840s witnessed a significant shift in the power structure of the theatre. The monopoly of the Principe and the Cruz companies disappeared (although they remained the flagship theatres of the capital) as dozens of new theatres and theatrical companies were formed, merged, and eliminated in a move toward what would eventually approximate a free market. The repertory changed as more national, original plays were added which brought about - as much by accident as by design - the de-emphasis on translations and refundiciones. Censorship was less intense, while at the same time more conflict erupted inside and outside the theatres which performed political dramas. Significantly, inexpensive printed versions of the plays flooded the bookstores of the major cities. We have little information about actual print runs or consumers of these printed plays, but the rather astonishing quantity produced leads unequivocally to the suggestion that there existed a vastly expanded market for them. In fact, so active was the publishing industry that by February 1847 the newspaper La Luneta was complaining bitterly about the mass pirating of cheap editions.