Literary Copyright Reform in Early Victorian England: The Framing of the 1842 Copyright Act

by Catherine Seville

• ISBN13: 9780521174503
• ISBN10: 0521174503
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-03-03
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Talfourd's first Copyright Bill was presented in 1837, and the public and Parliamentary controversy it provoked is reflected in contemporary pamphlets, correspondence, and hundreds of petitions presented to Parliament, as well as in the changing aims of the Bill itself. In addition to the expected debate as to the nature of literary property and the economic effects on the publishing trade, discussion of copyright law raised broader questions; the relative values of literature and science, the importance of public education, the dangers of monopolies, and the nature of public interest. In a period of social, political and technological upheaval, these were incendiary matters. Talfourd audaciously demanded not only a considerable extension of copyright term, but also international protection. This book explores and sets in context the making of the Copyright Act 1842, using it to illuminate enduring issues and difficulties in the legal concept of intellectual property.

Table of Contents

Introduction: the 1842 Act - passage and position

Copyright - its nature and history

Talfourd and his aims

Conflicting rationales

Petitions and copyright: Petitioning - parliamentary history and background

Petitions

Forms and formalities

Petitions

Volume and subjects

Critics in Parliament: The Radical nexus

Political cross-currents

Brougham

Macaulay

Critics in the book trade I: print workers and their allies: Printers

Master Printers

Journeymen

Compositors

Pressmen

Machinemen

The dispute spreads - journeymen 1839-1840

The process of diffusion

Associated trades

Bookbinders

Papermakers

Other print-related specialisms

Supporters of cheap print

Camp followers

Critics in the book trade II: publishing and publishers: the book trade and authors

Cheap publications: the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge

Cheap Publications - the book trade

Co-operation and organisation

The campaign against the bills

Publisher's petitions

Other means of protest

The campaign in the daily press

London dailies

The Times

The Morning Chronicle

The Morning Post

Evening Papers

The Globe

The Courier

Authors and the beginnings of authors' organisations: Southey

Wordsworth: campaign manager

The making of the case for the bill: petitions in favour

The argument in the periodicals

Conclusion

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