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    Core documents by: Date Place Core documents for: Italy Germany France Britain United States All documents for: Italy Germany France Britain United States Original language: English French German Italian Latin Browse documents by: Person ... by name ... by occupation ... by life dates Place Institution Legislation Case law Browse commentaries by: Person ... by name ... by occupation ... by life dates Place Institution Legislation Case law Browse database by: Key words Editors' login:  | | Diderot's Letter on the book trade, Paris (1763) Source: Bibliothèque nationale de France : Mss. Fr. (Naf) 24232 n°3 Citation: Diderot's Letter on the book trade (1763), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org Record Images Commentary Record-ID: f_1763 Full title A historical and political letter to a magistrate on the book trade, its former and current state, its regulations, privileges, tacit permissions, censors, pedlars, the expansion of trade across the river and other subjects relating to literary laws Full title original language Lettre historique et politique adressée à un magistrat sur le commerce de la librairie, son état ancien et actuel, ses réglements, ses privilèges, les permissions tacites, les censeurs, les colporteurs, le passage des ponts et autres objets relatifs à la police Abstract The "Letter on the book trade", written for the Director of the French book trade administration, Antoine de Sartine, discussed the nature of author's rights as a property. This famous mémoire, probably written in 1763, was not published in its original form until the second half of the nineteenth century, although an altered version by the Parisian booksellers did finally reach its original addressee. Following some precisions on the history of this mémoire, the commentary shows that, fundamentally, Diderot followed the path initiated by Louis d' Héricourt in 1725: the legal qualification of the bond linking the author to his work must be understood from the perspective of a property right, although the philosopher's approach has been said to be more "personalist", that is, invoking a property of a particular type, more personal to its author than any other goods to his owner. The patrimonial consequences of such a property, however, remained completely traditional for Diderot, and, most significantly, he saw this property as completely transferable. Of course, this approach also had consequences on royal privileges themselves, understood as a simple means to secure pre-existent rights. Finally, the Letter was also concerned with censorship matters. Bibliography N/A Related documents in this database Author Denis Diderot (1713-1784) Publisher N/A Location Paris Year 1763 Language French Source Bibliothèque nationale de France : Mss. Fr. (Naf) 24232 n°3 Physical description N/A Illustrations tables N/A Persons referred to Aguesseau, Henri-François d' (1668-1751) Alexander the Great (356 B.C.-323 B.C.) Astruc, Jean (1684-1766) Badius, Josse (1462-1535) Barthélemy, Jean Jacques (1716-1795) Basnage, Henri (1656-1710) Bayle, Pierre (1647-1706) Beaumont, Christophe de (1703-1781) Beuvelet, Mathieu (c.1600-after 1663) Boccaccio, Giovanni (1313-1375) Bossuet, Jacques Bénigne (1627-1704) Bouhier, Pierre (fl.1582-1584) Boulanger, Nicolas-Antoine (1722-1759) Busée, Pierre (1540-1587) Capperonier, Claude (1671-1744) Catrou, François (1659-1737) Charles VIII (1470-1498) Clairaut, Alexis Claude (1713-1765) Colbert, Jean Baptiste (1619-1683) Corneille, Pierre (1606-1684) Crébillon, Prosper Jolyot de (1674-1762) Cujas, Jacques (1522-1590) Daniel, Gabriel (1649-1728) Deparcieux, Antoine (1703-1768) Desfontaines, Pierre François (1685-1745) Diderot, Denis (1713-1784) Du Cange, Charles Dufresne, Sieur (1610-1688) Durand, Laurent (1712-1763) Dumoulin, Charles (1500-1566) Estienne, Robert (1503-1559) Fournier, Pierre Simon (1712-1768) Gutenberg, Johannes (c.1400-1468) Hénault, Charles-Jean-François (1685-1770) Henri II (1519-1559) Héricourt, Louis d' (1687-1752) Homer (fl.700 B.C.-?) Juvenal, Decimus Junius Juvenalis (c.55-c.140) Kerver, Jacques (1535-1583) Ladvocat, Jean-Baptiste (1709-1765) La Fontaine, Jean de (1621-1695) La Landelle de Saint-Rémy, l'Abbé de (fl.1736) Le Gendre, Louis (1655-1733) Louis XIII (1601-1643) Louis XIV (1638-1715) Louis XV (1710-1774) Martène, Edmond (1654-1739) Merkus (fl.1755-1770) Mézeray, François-Eudes de (1610-1683) Molière (1622-1673) Montesquieu, Charles de Secondat, Baron de la Brède et de (1689-1755) Montfaucon, Bernard de (1655-1741) Morand, Sauveur François (1697-1773) Moreri, Louis (1643-1680) Newton, Sir Isaac (1642-1727) Ormesson, Olivier Le Fèvre d' (1616-1686) Petronius Arbiter (c.27-66) Pierre, Jean de la (fl.1470) Pindar (c.522 B.C.-c.440 B.C.) Plato (c.428 B.C.-c.348 B.C.) Pliny 'the Elder' (23-79) Racine, Jean (1639-1699) Richelieu, Armand Jean Duplessis, Cardinal de (1585-1642) Riencourt, Simon de (fl.1688) Rousseau, Jean Baptiste (1671-1741) Rousseau, Jean Jacques (1712-1778) Saurin, Joseph (1659-1737) Séguier, Pierre (1588-1672) Velly, l'abbé Paul François (1709-1759) Virgil (70 B.C.-19 B.C.) Voltaire, François Marie Arouet de (1694-1778) Persons referred to in commentary Aguesseau, Henri-François d' (1668-1751) Aston, Richard (1717-1778) Bayle, Pierre (1647-1706) Blackstone, William (1723-1780) Blondel, Pierre-Jacques (1683-1739) Boisguilbert, Pierre de (1646-1714) Cochu, Joseph-Félicité (fl.1760-1771) Diderot, Denis (1713-1784) Enfield, William (1741-1797) Gaultier de Biauzat, Jean-François (1739-1815) Héricourt, Louis d' (1687-1752) Lamoignon, Guillaume II, seigneur de Blancmesmil et de Malesherbes (1683-1772) Le Breton, André François (1708-1779) Linguet, Simon Nicolas Henri (1736-1794) Locke, John (1632-1704) Luneau de Boisjermain, Pierre-Joseph-Francois (1732-1801) Millar, Andrew (1705-1768) Phélypeaux, Louis (1643-1727) Phélypeaux, Louis, Duc de La Vrillière (1705-1777) Pluquet, François-André-Adrien (1716-1790) Sartine, Antoine de (1729-1801) Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd Earl of (1671-1713) Taylor, Robert (fl.1763) Turgot, Anne Robert Jacques (1727-1781) Volland, Sophie (1716-1784) Voltaire, François Marie Arouet de (1694-1778) Young, Edward (1683-1765) Willes, Edward (c.1723-1787) Places referred to Aix Amsterdam Avignon Bordeaux Cambridge Constantinople Dijon England Geneva Grenoble Holland Ireland Liège Limoges London Lyon Montpellier Noves Orleans Oxford Paris Peking Rouen Scotland Sorbonne Switzerland Thebes Tulette Toulouse Valence Villeneuve Places referred to in commentary Lyon Paris Rouen Legislation referred to Edict of Charles VIII (1488), limiting the number of University booksellers Royal Letters Patent of 1649 Ruling of the Parlement of Paris (1657), forbidding new editions unless the work had been significantly enlarged Parisian Book Trade Regulations 1686 French royal edict 1742 Ruling of the King's Council (1749), in favour of M. de Crébillon French royal edict 1754 Ruling of King's Council (1761), awarding a privilege to the granddaughters of La Fontaine Legislation referred to in commentary Decree of the King's Council on the duration of privileges (1777) Cases referred to Affaire des Demoiselles de La Fontaine (1761) Josse v. Malassis (1665) Cases referred to in commentary Affaire des Demoiselles de La Fontaine (1761) Josse v. Malassis (1665) Millar v. Taylor (1769) 4 Burr. 2303 Institutions referred to King's Council of State (France) Parisian Guild of Booksellers and Printers Parlement of Paris University of Paris (Sorbonne) Institutions referred to in commentary Parisian Guild of Booksellers and Printers Key words abridgements academic freedom author/publisher relations authors, self-publishing authors' remuneration book market book trade censorship censorship, pre-publication classics, Greek and Latin contract counterfeit customs duration duration, prolongation of privileges editions, new Enlightenment, the foreign reprints free trade French Revolution guilds humanism immoral works importation inheritability learning, the advancement of libraries licensing manuscript monopoly novelty penalties personality theory piracy price regulation printing, history of privileges privileges, printing property analogies property theory property theory, authors' property property theory, publishers' property public domain public good Reformation, the registration reprints reputation royalty/royalties scholarly writing societies, publishers' taxation translations, protection of typography universities utilitarianism Responsible editor Frédéric Rideau Copyright status Original document is out of copyright. In so far as these scans are protected by copyright, they are made available on the same terms as translations and commentaries (see home page). | |||||
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| Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge, 10 West Road, Cambridge CB3 9DZ, UK | |||||||
