Before Copyright: The French Book-Privilege System 1498–1526

by Elizabeth Armstrong

• ISBN13: 9780521893152
• ISBN10: 0521893151
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-05-09
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

When printing first began, a new book automatically fell into the public domain upon publication. Only a special law or privilegium enacted by a competent authority could protect it from being reprinted without the consent of the author or publisher. Such privileges for books are attested before 1480, but in Germany and Italy their efficacy was limited to a relatively small area by the political fragmentation of the country. During the 1480s and 1490s France became one of Europe's main centres of book production and, as competition intensified, privileges were sought there from 1498. Although privileges were to last as long as the Ancien Régime, the period to 1526 is the least-known stage of their development and the most important. Most privilege-holders printed the full text of their grant, and many others a summary.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	x
Preface	xi
Acknowledgements	xiii
Note on transcription	xv
Note on proper names	xv
Sigla and abbreviations	xvi
Origins and development of book-privileges in Europe	1	(20)
Germany and Italy	2	(5)
Spain, France, Portugal, Poland, Scotland, Scandinavia, England	7	(4)
The Papacy	11	(2)
The Empire and the Low Countries	13	(8)
Privilege-granting authorities in France	21	(42)
Royal	22	(1)
The royal chancery	22	(11)
The issue of privileges	22	(6)
Movements of the royal chancery: a problem for applicants	28	(5)
The sovereign courts	33	(15)
Parlement: origins of Parlement privilege-granting	33	(5)
Parlement of Paris, Grands Jours, Cour des Aides	38	(6)
Provincial Parlements	44	(4)
The Prevot of Paris and royal officers in the provinces	48	(7)
Academic and Ecclesiastical	55	(8)
Seeking and granting privileges: forms, conditions and procedures	63	(15)
The royal chancery: Letters Patent	63	(6)
Parlement: Arrets	69	(2)
Royal officers: Letters Patent, Orders etc.	71	(2)
Conditions: instances of price-control	73	(2)
Personal approaches	75	(3)
Grounds for seeking and granting privileges	78	(22)
Fair return for expenditure of time, skill and money, and other arguments	79	(13)
Authors	79	(5)
Publishers	84	(7)
Other applicants	91	(1)
The criterion of newness	92	(8)
Grant of privilege and permission to print	100	(18)
The royal chancery	100	(5)
The Parlement of Paris	105	(7)
The Prevot of Paris and royal officers in the provinces	112	(6)
Dating and duration of privileges	118	(22)
Duration of privileges	118	(7)
How reckoned (date of grant, date of publication, etc.)	125	(3)
Privileges for two or more books, and `package' privileges	128	(12)
The royal chancery	129	(8)
The Parlement and the Prevot	137	(3)
Display and advertisement of privileges	140	(25)
Choice of position in books: printing in full or summary	140	(5)
Presentation	145	(7)
Privileges paraphrased or announced in Latin, and some special cases	152	(8)
Deletion of privilege in certain copies	160	(5)
The range of interests reflected in privileged books: analysis by subject	165	(26)
Religion	165	(6)
Law and political theory	171	(6)
History and current events	177	(3)
Philosophy	180	(2)
Literature of entertainment	182	(5)
The classics and education	187	(2)
Medicine and surgery, geography and travel, mathematics	189	(2)
Ownership, enforcement and efficacy of privileges	191	(17)
Ownership and transfer of privileges	191	(3)
Penalties and lawsuits	194	(5)
Reprints after expiry of a privilege	199	(3)
Privileges not obtained	202	(2)
Extension of the privilege-system	204	(4)
Conclusion	206	(2)
REGISTER OF KNOWN PRIVILEGES, WITH CODE-NUMBERS	208	(75)
CH The known grants issued by the royal chancery from the beginning to 1526 inclusive, and grants for 1527--8 referred to in the text.	209	(31)
List of books known to have been published by Antoine Verard under his personal privilege (CH 1507, 1).	238	(1)
List of books known to have been published by Guillaume Eustace under his personal privilege (CH 1508, 2)	239	(1)
PA The known grants issued by the Parlements, Grands Jours and Cour des Aides from the beginning to 1526 inclusive, and grants for 1527 referred to in the text.	240	(28)
PR The known grants issued by the Prevot of Paris and other royal officers from the beginning to 1526 inclusive, and grants for 1527 referred to in the text.	268	(15)
Appendix to Register	283	(13)
CP The known books printed `Cum priuilegio' which provide no information on the authority granting the privilege.	283	(13)
Select bibliography	296	(5)
Index of publishers, printers and booksellers	301	(4)
General Index	305