Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900)
www.copyrighthistory.org
Identifier: s_1506


Commentary on “Nebrija’s Printing Privileges” (1506)

José Bellido (Birkbeck College, University of London)

Raquel Xalabarder (Universidad Oberta de Catalunya)

Ramón Casas Valles (Universidad de Barcelona)

 
Please cite as:
Bellido, J., Xalabarder, R. & Casas Valles, R. (2011) ‘Commentary on Nebrija’s Printing Privileges (1495)', in Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org


 

1.          Full Title

2.         Abstract

3.         Governing the Text

4.         Ambition & Privilege

5.         Geographies of Privileges

6.         Terms & Conditions

7.         References

 

1.          Full Title

            Privilegios de Impresión de las obras de Antonio de Nebrija (1506)

 

2.         Abstract

These specific privileges held an honoured place within the splendour of Spanish book production because of their outstanding rarity. The grammarian, orator and philologist Antonio de Nebrija, or Lebrija (1444-1522) was possibly the first “author” to obtain a book privilege in Spain. This historical overview allows us to trace the development of book privileges, publication channels and literary protectors in Castile and other kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula. It aims to show how privileges in Spain were granted, their main characteristics and the procedural features of Spanish bureaucracies behind their administration in the sixteenth century.

 

3.         Governing the Text

The standard account of the privilege system’s emergence identifies its origins in Venice.[1] If we compare dates and chronologies, evidence of book-privileges granted in Spain appeared relatively early. This is surprising when we consider that the printing press arrived quite late in the Iberian Peninsula.[2] Nevertheless, and despite attempts to produce narratives that connected Venice and Castile,[3] Frederick John Norton (1904-1986) once suggested that “the system appears to have developed spontaneously in Castile”.[4] In his thorough attempt to locate instances of such a spontaneous emergence, he relied on the annotations of bibliographers and copyright scholars such as Walter Arthur Copinger (1847-1910)[5] and Konrad Haebler (1857-1946).[6]  Almost half a century before him, they had already explored the territory of incunabula and identified what could have been one of the first concessions of exclusive printing privileges granted in the Iberian peninsula,[7] a privilege granted to the royal physician Julián Gutiérrez (?- ca. 1520).[8]

 

The work awarded the privilege was an important treatise on urology,[9] commissioned by a bookseller and published in April 1498.[10] Its place of publication, Toledo, was a well-known printing centre in Castile. The location was already exclusive and privileged, responsible for the issue of bulls and indulgences.[11] Regarding the first privilege granted to an individual, certain doubts surrounding the authorship of the work have been triggered by recent discoveries of archival material. These findings reveal an indirect reference to an underlying dispute concerning the paternity of the book, suggesting that the author was not Julián Gutiérrez, but a doctor of Jewish origin, Juan de Guadalupe (?-1494).[12] One result of an empirical focus in such a genealogical controversy is the opportunity of exploring an uncharted territory in the pre-history of copyright law in Spain. By focusing on the dispute, the episode could shed light on the nexus of authorial invisibility and the constraints experienced by Jewish authors forcibly converted to Catholicism in Spain.[13] Important though it seems, such history is yet to be written. Nevertheless, scholarly attention and typographical analysis have also considered the significance of this book based on other grounds. Print historians and bibliographers have preferred to turn to the solid evidence provided by the item itself in an attempt to highlight a remarkable physical feature. In particular, they have identified a brief note inside its cover, a statement confirming that the Royal Council assessed its sale price.[14] The note is important because it constitutes an indirect documented indication of the existence of royal privileges.[15] More specifically, the fixing of the official retail price (tasa) is considered the distinctive customary aspect of the system of privileges in Spain.[16] As a type of royal intervention embedded in the procedure of granting a privilege in the book trade,[17] the price-setting process took into account the book’s physically features, such as the number of pages and the quality of the paper. The official price often appeared in the preliminaries, frequently included on the title-page of the book and only occasionally announced in the printer's colophon.[18]

 

4.         Ambition & Privilege  

While printers and booksellers were the most common privilege applicants,[19] the possibility of obtaining a privilege also interested some authors. Amongst the first Spanish authors seeking to protect his works was the well-known grammarian and historian Antonio de Nebrija, or Lebrija (1444-1522).[20] His experience in Italy, his contribution to the introduction of the craft of printing in Salamanca and his close relationship with literary patrons such as the Archbishop of Toledo, Cardinal Cisneros (1436-1517)[21] have been used as evidence of his acquaintance with the system of privileges.[22] The close supervision he exercised in the edition of his works could serve as confirmation that he was indeed the holder of book-related privileges in relation to his own works.[23] In fact, the eminent historian Konrad Haebler (1857-1946) once confessed that he was convinced that Nebrija was “one of the first authors who made use of copyright in Spain”.[24]

 

Inevitably, another element adds a level of complexity to this original claim. Nebrija may have been responsible for the establishment of an anonymous printing press at Salamanca from which many of his books were printed.[25] Viewed in this way, the boundary between author and printer in the constitution of his books is blurred. Nebrija would not have been only focused on the intellectual creation of the work but also on its practicalities and materialities. In fact, he represents a historical singularity of an author being converted into a printer and an entrepreneur of his own books. Some scholars have speculated on this use of anonymity as a logical way for someone holding an eminent position at the University to hide his identity,[26] yet no conclusive evidence of the direct privilege grant to Nebrija has ever been produced. However, given his presumably remarkable position he may have occupied in the Spanish pre-history of copyright, it is interesting to verify whether the first editions of his books had been awarded exceptional royal prerogatives.[27] This appears to have been the case: Nebrija’s dictionary, printed in Salamanca in 1492, contained the official retail price, a hint - as we mentioned above - of its privileged existence.[28] The same could be said about another of his books printed in Salamanca three years later.[29] Almost a decade later, and as a result of his connection with the most prestigious printer in Spain at the time, Arnao Guillén de Brocar (1460-1523), we can observe that a series of his works were again privileged and published.[30] In this case there are indications that Brocar had acquired a ten-year privilege to print Nebrija’s works.[31] Therefore the evidence seems to confirm Haebler’s conviction: Nebrija was one of the first authors who made use of copyright in Spain.[32]

  

5.         Geographies of privileges 

The feature that made Nebrija’s individual texts commercially attractive and legally desirable was not only the prestige of its author, but also the type of books produced. They were mainly “useful” books; materials of practical utility such as textbooks, vocabularies and dictionaries. This made them particularly suitable for print privileges.[33] It is therefore no surprise that privileges over Nebrija’s works constituted a valuable legacy that lasted for centuries. Attempts to ensure their commercial exclusivity would occasionally shift from privilege to monopoly through official declarations making the texts compulsory in different Spanish and Latin American schools.[34] In fact, such a functional and special character was also a characteristic of early printing outputs in Spanish book production and, therefore, of the first type of privileges given.[35] Royal concessions abounded in relation to bulls and indulgences as well as the printing of textbooks, school hymns, and dictionaries. This early attempt to regulate the presses also covered laws and law-books.[36] Because the printing press allowed for the fixation and dissemination of statutes, privileges over legal material became at once significantly valuable and paradigmatic of the change the printing press brought to the way in which the law was conceived.[37] Interestingly, all these materials (textbooks, law books and statutes) and their respective privileges shared another remarkable feature: they were specifically designed for local consumption. In this sense, the specialization of the press led to a primitive delineation of what we may consider today the international- national distinction.

 

However, such a distinction is obviously a recent development. The politico-juridical division of Spain into kingdoms had a crucial effect on the circulation of books and the extension and performance of privileges.[38] Privileges were territorial in nature, being limited to a geographical and jurisdictional area. Because of this, it was quite rare that collective privileges were in effect in more than one kingdom. Again, the exception to the rule is found in Nebrija’s works, which were occasionally subjected to a privilege applicable throughout Spain or were once reported to have been awarded a privilege which covered not only the territory of Castile, but also that of Aragon.[39] Nevertheless, such a wide scope was the exception to the rule. The largest number of privileges surveyed by bibliographers and print historians come from the Kingdom of Castile. In contrast, only a small number have been located from Aragon, [40] a kingdom with a more liberal regime in terms of the publication and importation of books.[41] The most far-reaching effect of the disparity in the grant of privileges was the increase in piracy wars between the two kingdoms.[42] Piracy encompasses a number of different categories: false licenses, unlicensed books and counterfeits.[43] The jurisdictional gap would have then allowed for a range of illegal copies to emerge throughout the Iberian Peninsula.[44] While printers in Aragon pirated books covered only by a Castilian privilege, Castilian printers made books with “false Aragonese imprints”.[45]

 

 6.         Terms & Conditions   

Terms and conditions applied. The local emphasis of the privilege was frequently coupled with temporal limits.[46] Some scholars have produced a narrative that shows a sustained and on-going temporal evolution in the practice of granting privileges,[47] expressing a similar sentiment to that of recent criticism regarding the expansion of copyright.[48] However, the politico-juridical fragmentation and the evidence available deny such a teleological and over-expanding vision of the temporal extension in the practice of granting privileges. There is a rich variety of privilege temporalities throughout the different kingdoms of Spain. For most texts the privilege offered a ten-year grant.[49] Nevertheless, there is a plethora of examples which show that protection could encompass a shorter or longer period.[50] In 1505, the kingdom of Valencia granted a privilege lasting two years to Alonso de Proaza (c. 1445-1519) for his Oratio.[51] In 1510 and 1511, copies of Nebrija’s works appeared with the inscription cum privilegio for five years in Castile and ten years in Aragon.[52] Moreover, there is evidence of privileges granted for only four months.[53] Consideration of such limitations and their possible extensions facilitate an understanding of the ways in which local authorities attempted to develop their own discrete policy-orientated decisions in order to stimulate domestic markets.

 

As a marketable asset, privileges rapidly became businesses.[54] Indeed, clerks, merchants and agents had the possibility of acquiring such privileges and, in doing so, they moved frequently from property to transaction regimes; from possession to transaction.[55] For instance, Norton gives the example of a clerk who obtained a printing privilege as a reward for his help in drafting laws and who “chose to sell his rights to a bookseller”.[56] In fact, those who had the opportunity to procure a privilege (authors, translators, privileges and merchants) often entered into contracts and agreements in order to maximise their profit.[57] A cursory glance in the first decades of the privilege era in the Iberian Peninsula reveals a variety of arrangements made between agents and publishers;[58] translators and printers,[59] authors and publishers[60] and among publishers and their colleagues from different areas. Remarkably, dynasties such as the Portonaris[61] or the Giunta family[62] epitomise the international collectives that produced networks of contracts, privileges and wills throughout Europe that also reached Spain.[63] In such complex web of transactions and partnerships, some individuals became fundamental in the history of the Spanish printing press even without printing anything. An example of this literary underground is Julio Junta (? - 1619), a true example of a commissioner, who made his career in the procurement of contracts, the exchange of book privileges and the production of a transnational networks by putting printers and booksellers in contact with one another.[64] 

 

The existence of multiple interests surrounding the same legal exclusivity caused some privileges to overlap and collide. It is thus worth concluding by highlighting how, in the case of an infringement, some privileges already carried penalties and methods of enforcement.[65] The most typical remedy was the confiscation of copies printed without the privilege holder’s authorisation.[66] There were also examples of privileges specifying a fixed fine for each illicit copy[67] and it was also possible to make a request for the seizure of the means and apparatus that had facilitated the infringement.[68]

 

7.         References  

Armstrong, E. Before Copyright. The French Book-privilege System, 1498-1526 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990)

Bécares Botas, V. “Noticias de libreros leoneses en el siglo XVI” in Morán Suárez, Mª A. and Rodríguez López, M. C. (coord.) La documentación para la investigación: homenaje a José Antonio Martín Fuertes (León: Universidad, 2002) pp. 119-128

Bently, L., “R. v. The Author: From Death Penalty to Community Service” 32 Columbia Journal of Law & Arts 1, 91 (2008)

Cuesta Gutiérrez, L., “El enigma de la imprenta del humanista Elio Antonio de Nebrija y sus sucesores” Gutenberg Jahrbuch, (1961), pp. 107-114

Cruickshank, D. W. 'Some Aspects of. Spanish Book-production in the Golden Age', The Library, vol. 31 (1976), pp. 1-19

De Amezúa y Mayo, G.A. Cómo se hacía un libro en nuestro siglo de oro (Madrid, Imprenta de Editorial Magisterio Español, 1946)

Deazley, R. (2008) ‘Commentary on Copinger's Law of Copyright (1870)', in Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org

De la Mano González, M., Mercaderes e Impresores de Libros en la Salamanca del Siglo XVI (Salamanca, Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca 1998)

Delgado Casado, J. Diccionario de Impresores Españoles siglos XV-XVII vols. I and II (Madrid: Arco-Libros, 1996)

De los Reyes Gómez, F. “Con Privilegio. La Exclusiva de Edición del Libro Antiguo Español” Revista General de Información y Documentación, 11, 2-2001, pp. 163-200.

De los Reyes Gómez, F. El Libro en España y América. Legislación y Censura (siglos xv-xviii) vol I (Madrid, Arco, 2000)

De los Reyes Gómez, F. “La Tasa en el Libro español antiguo” Pliegos de Bibliofilia, 4, 1998, pp. 35-52

Dexeus, M. “Las imprentas de la Corona de Aragón en la difusión de la literatura del siglo de Oro” Edad de Oro 12, 1993, pp. 71-80.

Cátedra, P. M. “Arnao Guillén de Brocar, impresor de las obras de Nebrija” in López-Vidriero, M. L. &  Cátedra, P. M. El libro antiguo español III. El libro en Palacio y otros estudios bibliográficos (Salamanca: Universidad de Salamanca, 1996) pp. 43-80.

Cuesta Gutiérrez, L., “El enigma de la imprenta del humanista Elio Antonio de Nebrija y sus sucesores” Gutenberg Jahrbuch, (1961), pp. 107-114

Espinosa Maeso, R. “Contratos de impresiones de libros” Boletín de la Real Academia Española XIII (1926) pp. 291-301

Fernández-Sevilla, Julio. "Un maestro preferido: Elio Antonio de Nebrija." Thesaurus 29 (1974): 1-33

García Cuadrado, A. “Aproximación a los criterios legales en materia de imprenta durante la Edad Moderna en España” Revista General de Información y Documentación, vol. 6, n.2, 1996, pp. 125-190.

García Martín, J. El juzgado de imprentas y la utilidad pública. Cuerpo y alma de una Monarquía Vicarial (Bilbao, Servicio Editorial Universidad del País Vasco, 2003)

García Oro, J. Los reyes y los libros. La política libraría de la Corona en el Siglo de Oro (1475-1598) (Madrid, Editorial Cisneros, 1995)

Gaselee, S. The Early Spanish Printing Press (London, Hudson & Kearns, 1924)

Griffin, C. The Cromberger of Seville (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1988)

Haebler, K. Early Printers of Spain and Portugal (London, Bibliographic Society, 1897)

Haebler, K. Bibliografía ibérica del siglo xv (La Haya: Martinus Nijhoff y Leipzig Karl W. Hersemann, 1903)

Hain & Copinger. W.A. Repertorium Bibliographicum (London: H. Sotheran and co., 1895-1902)  

Ijsewijn “Dirk Martens of Aalst” J. in Bietenholz, P. G. and Deutscher, T. B. (eds) Contemporaries of Erasmus. A Biographical register of the Renaissance and Reformation (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1985) pp. 394-396

Kostylo, J. “From Gunpowder to Print: The Common Origins of Copyright and Patent”, in Kretschmer, M., Bently, L. and Deazley, R., (eds) Privilege and Property: Essays on the History of Copyright Law (Cambridge: Open Book, 2010), pp. 23-50.

Norton, F. J. Printing in Spain 1501-1520: with a note on the early editions of the “Celestina” (London: Cambridge U.P,   1966)

Martín Abad, J. Los primeros tiempos de la imprenta en España (c. 1471-1520) (Madrid: Laberinto, 2003)

Martín Abad, J. “Nebrija en los talleres de Arnao Guillén de Brocar y Miguel de Eguía” in Escavy, R.; Hernández Terrés, J.M. y Roldán, A. (eds) (eds.) Actas del Congreso Internacional de Historiografía Lingüística. Nebrija V Centenario, 1 (Murcia, Universidad de Murcia, 1994) pp. 23-57

Madurell Marimón, J. M. & Rubió i Balaguer, J. (comps) Documentos para la historia de la imprenta y libreria en Barcelona, 1474-1553 (Barcelona, Gremios de Editores, de Libreros y de Maestros Impresores, 1955)

Madurell Marimón, J. M. "Licencias reales para la impresión y venta de libros (1519-1705)” Revista de Archivos, Bibliotecas y Museos, n. 72, 1964-1965, pp. 111-248

McPheeters, D. W. El humanista español Alonso de Proaza (Valencia: Editorial Castalia, 1961)

Méndez, F. Tipografía Española o Historia de la introducción, propagación y progresos del Arte de la Imprenta en España (Madrid, Imprenta de las Escuelas Pias 1861)

Méndez Aparicio, J. “Impresos de Pedro Hagembach que se conservan en la Biblioteca Pública de Toledo” Toletum 12 (1981) p. 12-13

Moll, J. “Problemas bibliográficos del libro del Siglo de Oro”, Boletín de la Real Academia Española 59 (January-April 1979) pp. 49-107

Mosquera Armendáriz, J.A. Compendio de la vida y obra de AG de Brocar (Pamplona, Imprenta Navarro, 1989)

Norton, F. J. A descriptive catalogue of printing in Spain and Portugal 1501-1520 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1978)

Norton, F.J. Printing in Spain, 1501-1520 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1966)

Odriozola, A., “La caracola del bibliófilo nebrisense. Extracto seco de bibliografía de Nebrija en los siglos xv y xv” Revista de Bibliografía Nacional, vii 1946, pp. 3-114.

Olmedo, F.G. Nebrija (1441-1522) (Madrid, Editora Nacional, 1942)

Pérez Albacete, M. “La urología durante el Renacimiento” Revista de Urología, 2007; 8(1): 4-13.

Pérez Pastor, C. La imprenta en Toledo (Madrid, Imprenta de Manuel Tello, 1887)

Pettas, W. A History and Bibliography of the Giunti (Junta) Printing Family in Spain 1526-1628 (Delaware, Oak Knoll Press, 2005)

Rummel, E. Jiménez de Cisneros: On the Threshold of Spain’s Golden Age (Tempe, Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 1999)

Rubió i Balaguer, J. Llibreters i Impressors a la Corona d’Aragó (Barcelona, Departament de Cultura de la Generalitat de Catalunya, Pubicacions de l'Abadia de Montserrat, 1993)

Rose, M. Authors and Owners. The Invention of Copyright (Cambridge Mass. Harvard University Press, 1993)

Simón Díaz, J. El Libro Español Antiguo: Análisis de su estructura (Kurt and Roswitha Reichenberger, 1983)

Soberanas. A-J. “Las Introductiones Latinae de Nebrija en Cataluña. Guía bibliográfica” in Rico F. and Soberanas, A-J (eds) Nebrija en Cataluña. Exposición conmemorativa en el quinto centenario de las Introductiones Latinae (Barcelona: Biblioteca de Cataluña, 1981) pp. 20-67.

Thomas, D. M. “Printing privileges in Spain: Nebrija’s Latin Grammar as a source of income in eighteenth-century Madrid” Publishing History, 5 (1979) pp. 105-126

Thomas, H. “The output of Spanish books in the sixteenth century," The Library, Sept.1920, pp. 69–94

Valcárcel Domínguez, A., “El médico judío orensano de los Reyes Católicos” in the following webpage [http://planetagalego.blogaliza.org/2006/04/05/248/]

Virseda Rodríguez, J. A. “Julián Gutiérrez de Toledo and his book Cure of the stone and pain in the loin and/or renal colic in 1498” Actas Urol. S 1994 Mar;18(3), pp. 165-77.

Yirmiyahu Y.The Other Within. The Marranos: Split Identity and Emerging Modernity (Princeton University Press, 2009)



[1] See Kostylo, J. “From Gunpowder to Print: The Common Origins of Copyright and Patent”, in Kretschmer, M., Bently, L. and Deazley, R., (eds) Privilege and Property: Essays on the History of Copyright Law (Cambridge: Open Book, 2010), pp. 23-50; 23. Rose, M. Authors and Owners. The Invention of Copyright (CambridgeMass. Harvard University Press, 1993) pp. 9-12.

[2] Cuesta Gutiérrez, L., “El enigma de la imprenta del humanista Elio Antonio de Nebrija y sus sucesores” Gutenberg Jahrbuch, (1961), pp. 107-114; 107; Simón Díaz, J. El Libro Español Antiguo: Análisis de su estructura (Kurt and Roswitha Reichenberger, 1983) p. 89

[3] For instance, see Ijsewijn “Dirk Martens of Aalst” J. in Bietenholz, P. G. and Deutscher, T. B. (eds) Contemporaries of Erasmus. A Biographical register of the Renaissance and Reformation (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1985) pp. 394-396; 394; see also Haebler, K. Early Printers of Spain and Portugal (London, Bibliographic Society, 1897) p. 11 and 27 [“Perhaps in this case it was Melchior de Gurrizo, at whose expense the book was issued, who first in Spain took advantage of an institution he had known in his native land; for it was in Italy, especially in Venice, that printing privileges were first all granted”]; Griffin, C. The Cromberger of Seville (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1988) p. 4.

[4] Norton, F. J. Printing in Spain 1501-1520: with a note on the early editions of the “Celestina” (London:   Cambridge U.P,   1966) p. 121.

[5] Hain & Copinger. W.A. Repertorium Bibliographicum (London: H. Sotheran and co., 1895-1902)  n. 8336 For a commentary on Copinger and his landmark treatise on the law of copyright, see Deazley, R. (2008) ‘Commentary on Copinger's Law of Copyright (1870)', in Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org

[6] Haebler, K. Bibliografía ibérica del siglo xv (La Haya: Martinus Nijhoff y Leipzig Karl W. Hersemann, 1903) pp. 146-147.

[7] Armstrong, E. Before Copyright. The French Book-privilege System, 1498-1526 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990) p. 7. See also Martín Abad, J. Los primeros tiempos de la imprenta en España (c. 1471-1520) (Madrid: Laberinto, 2003) p. 160.

[8] The singularity of this book had been already highlighted in previous studies such as Méndez, F. Tipografía Española o Historia de la introducción, propagación y progresos del Arte de la Imprenta en España (Madrid, Imprenta de las Escuelas Pias 1861) p. 147.

[9] Its relevance to the history of Spanish medicine is explained in Virseda Rodríguez, J. A. “Julián Gutiérrez de Toledo and his book Cure of the stone and pain in the loin and/or renal colic in 1498” Actas Urol. S 1994 Mar;18(3), pp. 165-77. See also Pérez Albacete, M. “La urología durante el Renacimiento” Revista de Urología, 2007; 8(1): 4-13.

[10] Méndez Aparicio, J. “Impresos de Pedro Hagembach que se conservan en la Biblioteca Pública de Toledo” Toletum 12 (1981) p. 12-13; Armstrong, E. Before Copyright, The French Book-privilege System, 1498-1526 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990) p. 7 [Peter Hagenbach for Melchior de Gurizzo]

[11] Pérez Pastor, C. La imprenta en Toledo (Madrid, Imprenta de Manuel Tello, 1887) at ix.

[12] The work-in-progress is found in Valcárcel Domínguez, A., “El médico judío orensano de los Reyes Católicos” in the following webpage [http://planetagalego.blogaliza.org/2006/04/05/248/]

[13] In that sense, it would be an exploration of split identity and authorship. A general overview can be read in Yirmiyahu Yovel, The Other Within: The Marranos: Split Identity and Emerging Modernity (Princeton University Press, 2009)

[14] Norton, F. J. Printing in Spain 1501-1520: with a note on the early editions of the “Celestina” (London:   Cambridge U.P,   1966) p. 121; De los Reyes Gómez, F. “Con Privilegio. La Exclusiva de Edición del Libro Antiguo Español” Revista General de Información y Documentación, 11, 2-2001, pp. 163-200; 167

[15] De los Reyes Gómez, F. “Con Privilegio. La Exclusiva de Edición del Libro Antiguo Español” Revista General de Información y Documentación, 11, 2-2001, pp. 163-200; 167.

[16] Cruickshank, D. W. 'Some Aspects of. Spanish Book-production in the Golden Age', The Library, vol. 31 (1976 ), pp. 1-19; 3 Norton, F. J. Printing in Spain 1501-1520: with a note on the early editions of the “Celestina” (London:   Cambridge U.P,   1966) p. 121 [“The price fixing was to be a normal part of the procedure for bestowing the royal privilege”];

[17] De los Reyes Gómez, F. El Libro en España y América. Legislación y Censura (siglos xv-xviii) vol I (Madrid, Arco, 2000) p. 28.

[18] De los Reyes Gómez, F. “La Tasa en el Libro español antiguo” Pliegos de Bibliofilia, 4, 1998, pp. 35-52; 37-38.

[19] According to García Cuadrado they were the earliest applicants even before authors; see García Cuadrado, A. “Aproximación a los criterios legales en materia de imprenta durante la Edad Moderna en España” Revista General de Información y Documentación, vol. 6, n.2, 1996, pp. 125-190; 129.

[20] Haebler, K. The Early Printers of Spain and Portugal (London, Chiswick Press, 1896) p. 27

[21] For instance, the collaboration of Nebrija in the "Complutensian Polyglot", the multilingual Bible published under the aegis of cardinal Cisneros. See, Rummel, E. Jiménez de Cisneros: On the Threshold of Spain’s Golden Age (Tempe, Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 1999) p. 58; Gaselee, S. The Early Spanish Printing Press (London, Hudson & Kearns, 1924) p. 8;  

[22] Haebler, K. The Early Printers of Spain and Portugal (London, Chiswick Press, 1896) p. 26.

[23] Martín Abad, J. Los primeros tiempos de la imprenta en España (c. 1471-1520) (Madrid: Ediciones el Laberinto, 2003) p. 24, 31; Haebler, K. The Early Printers of Spain and Portugal (London, Chiswick Press, 1896) p. 26.

[24] Haebler, K. The Early Printers of Spain and Portugal (London, Chiswick Press, 1896) p. 27

[25] Delgado Casado, J. Diccionario de Impresores Españoles siglos XV-XVII vol. II (Madrid : Arco-Libros, 1996) pp. 486-487 and pp. 619-623; Cuesta Gutiérrez, L., “El enigma de la imprenta del humanista Elio Antonio de Nebrija y sus sucesores” Gutenberg Jahrbuch, (1961), pp. 107-114.

[26] Delgado Casado, J. Diccionario de Impresores Españoles siglos XV-XVII vol. II (Madrid : Arco-Libros, 1996) pp. 486-487.

[27] His ambitions at the university are summarised in Fernández-Sevilla, Julio. "Un maestro preferido: Elio Antonio de Nebrija." Thesaurus 29 (1974): 1-33; 5.

[28] De los Reyes Gómez, F. “La Tasa en el Libro español antiguo” Pliegos de Bibliofilia, 4, 1998, pp. 35-52; García Cuadrado, A. “Aproximación a los criterios legales en materia de imprenta durante la Edad Moderna en España” Revista General de Información y Documentación, vol. 6, n.2, 1996, pp. 125-190; 128.

[29] De los Reyes Gómez, F. El Libro en España y América. Legislación y Censura (siglos XV-XVIII) (Madrid, Arco Libros, 2000) p. 30.

[30] For instance, Antonii Nebrissensis grammatici apologia cum quibusdam sacrae scripturae locis non vulgariter expositis (Logroño: Brocar, c. 1507); Sacra lemmata quinque (Alcalá: Brocar, c. 1513). See, generally, Martín Abad, J. “Nebrija en los talleres de Arnao Guillén de Brocar y Miguel de Eguía” in Escavy, R.; Hernández Terrés, J.M. y Roldán, A. (eds) (eds.) Actas del Congreso Internacional de Historiografía Lingüística. Nebrija V Centenario, 1 (Murcia, Universidad de Murcia, 1994) pp. 23-57; Martín Abad, J. Los primeros tiempos de la imprenta (c. 1471-1520) (Madrid, Laberinto, 2003), p. 84.

[31] García Oro, J. Los reyes y los libros. La política libraría de la Corona en el Siglo de Oro (1475-1598) (Madrid, Editorial Cisneros, 1995) p. 126; Martín Abad, J. La Imprenta en Alcalá de Henares (1502-1600) vol. 1 (Madrid, Arco Libros, 1991) p. 56Mosquera Armendáriz, J.A. Compendio de la vida y obra de AG de Brocar (Pamplona, Imprenta Navarro, 1989) p. 193. Odriozola, A., “La caracola del bibliófilo nebrisense. Extracto seco de bibliografía de Nebrija en los siglos xv y xv” Revista de Bibliografía Nacional, vii 1946, pp. 3-114; 75; Griffin, C. The Cromberger of Seville (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1988) p. 9 [“Brocar, for example, made his money not from the magnificent editions for which he is now remembered, but from the privilege he enjoyed on the best-selling works of the grammarian, Antonio de Nebrija”];.

[32] Haebler, K. The Early Printers of Spain and Portugal (London, Chiswick Press, 1896) p. 27; see also Martín Abad, J. La Imprenta en Alcalá de Henares (1502-1600) vol. 1 (Madrid, Arco Libros, 1991) pp. 58-59; Cátedra, P. M. “Arnao Guillén de Brocar, impresor de las obras de Nebrija” in López-Vidriero, M. L. &  Cátedra, P. M. El libro antiguo español III. El libro en Palacio y otros estudios bibliográficos (Salamanca: Universidad de Salamanca, 1996) pp. 43-80.

[33] A complete survey of these editions is Odriozola, A., “La caracola del bibliófilo nebrisense. Extracto seco de bibliografía de Nebrija en los siglos xv y xv” Revista de Bibliografía Nacional, vii 1946, pp. 3-114.

[34] Olmedo, F.G. Nebrija (1441-1522) (Madrid, Editora Nacional, 1942) p. 103; Soberanas. A-J. “Las Introductiones Latinae de Nebrija en Cataluña. Guía bibliográfica” in Rico F. and Soberanas, A-J (eds) Nebrija en Cataluña. Exposición conmemorativa en el quinto centenario de las Introductiones Latinae (Barcelona: Biblioteca de Cataluña, 1981) pp. 20-67; 26; De los Reyes Gómez, F. “Con Privilegio. La Exclusiva de Edición del Libro Antiguo Español” Revista General de Información y Documentación, 11, 2-2001, pp. 163-200; 171.

[35] Griffin, C. The Cromberger of Seville (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1988) p. 3

[36] De los Reyes Gómez, F. “Con Privilegio. La Exclusiva de Edición del Libro Antiguo Español” Revista General de Información y Documentación, 11, 2-2001, pp. 163-200; 167; Norton, F. J. A descriptive catalogue of printing in Spain and Portugal 1501-1520 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1978) pp. 3-4 [Quaderno de loas ordenanças cerca de la orden judicial]; De los Reyes Gómez, F. El Libro en España y América. Legislación y Censura (siglos xv-xviii) vol I (Madrid, Arco, 2000) pp. 31-32; Norton, F.J. Printing in Spain, 1501-1520 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1966) p. 122.

[37] García Martín, J. El juzgado de imprentas y la utilidad pública. Cuerpo y alma de una Monarquía Vicarial (Bilbao, Servicio Editorial Universidad del País Vasco, 2003) p. 144-152; García Oro, J. Los reyes y los libros. La política libraría de la Corona en el Siglo de Oro (1475-1598) (Madrid, Editorial Cisneros, 1995) p. 59.

[38] See, generally, Thomas, H. “The Output The output of Spanish books in the sixteenth century," The Library, Sept.1920, pp. 69–94; 69-70.

[39] Norton, F.J. Printing in Spain, 1501-1520 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1966) p. 123.

[40] Norton, F.J. Printing in Spain, 1501-1520 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1966) p. 123

[41] Rubió i Balaguer, J. Llibreters i Impressors a la Corona d’Aragó (Barcelona, Departament de Cultura de la Generalitat de Catalunya, Pubicacions de l'Abadia de Montserrat, 1993) p. 166.

[42] Simón Díaz, J. El Libro Español Antiguo: Análisis de su estructura (Kurt and Roswitha Reichenberger, 1983) p. 89.

[43] A survey of different forms of piracy can be read in Moll, J. “Problemas bibliográficos del libro del Siglo de Oro”, Boletín de la Real Academia Española 59 (January-April 1979) pp. 49-107.

[44] Dexeus, M. “Las imprentas de la Corona de Aragón en la difusión de la literatura del siglo de Oro” Edad de Oro 12, 1993, pp. 71-80; 72; García Cuadrado, A. “Aproximación a los criterios legales en materia de imprenta durante la Edad Moderna en España” Revista General de Información y Documentación, vol. 6, n.2, 1996, pp. 125-190; 145. De Amezúa y Mayo, G.A. Cómo se hacía un libro en nuestro siglo de oro (Madrid, Imprenta de Editorial Magisterio Español, 1946) p. 47.

[45] Cruickshank, D. W. 'Some Aspects of. Spanish Book-production in the Golden Age', The Library, vol. 31 (1976 ), pp. 1-19; 4

[46] De los Reyes Gómez, F. “Con Privilegio. La Exclusiva de Edición del Libro Antiguo Español” Revista General de Información y Documentación, 11, 2-2001, pp. 163-200; 184-185.

[47] García Cuadrado, A. “Aproximación a los criterios legales en materia de imprenta durante la Edad Moderna en España” Revista General de Información y Documentación, vol. 6, n.2, 1996, pp. 125-190; 128.

[48] For a survey of criticisms, see Bently, L., “R. v. The Author:  From Death Penalty to Community Service” 32 Columbia Journal of Law & Arts 1, 91 (2008).

[49] Griffin, C. The Crombergers of Seville (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1988) p. 140; Cruickshank, D. W. 'Some Aspects of. Spanish Book-production in the Golden Age', The Library, vol. 31 (1976 ), pp. 1-19; 3; Madurell Marimón, J. M.. "Licencias reales para la impresión y venta de libros ( 1519-1705)” Revista de Archivos, Bibliotecas y Museos, n. 72 , 1964-1965, pp. 111-248.

[50] De los Reyes Gómez, F. El Libro en España y América. Legislación y Censura (siglos XV-XVIII) (Madrid, Arco Libros, 2000) p. 36.

[51] Norton, F.J. Printing in Spain, 1501-1520 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1966) p. 124. For a biographical sketch of Alonso de Proaza, see D. W. McPheeters, El humanista español Alonso de Proaza (Valencia: Editorial Castalia, 1961)

[52] Martín Abad, J. Los primeros tiempos de la imprenta (c. 1471-1520) (Madrid, Laberinto, 2003), p. 84.

[53] Madurell Marimón, J. M. "Licencias reales para la impresión y venta de libros (1519-1705)” Revista de Archivos, Bibliotecas y Museos, n. 72, 1964-1965, pp. 111-248; 112.

[54] Thomas, D. M. “Printing privileges in Spain: Nebrija’s Latin Grammar as a source of income in eighteenth-century Madrid” Publishing History, 5 (1979) pp. 105-126; 105.

[55] Espinosa Maeso, R. “Contratos de impresiones de libros” Boletín de la Real Academia Española XIII (1926) pp. 291-301.

[56] Norton, F.J. Printing in Spain, 1501-1520 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1966) p. 122.

[57] De los Reyes Gómez, F. “Con Privilegio. La Exclusiva de Edición del Libro Antiguo Español” Revista General de Información y Documentación, 11, 2-2001, pp. 163-200; 184.

[58] Haebler, K. The Early Printers of Spain and Portugal (London, Chiswick Press, 1896) p. 27

[59] Madurell Marimón, J. M. & Rubió i Balaguer, J. (comps) Documentos para la historia de la imprenta y libreria en Barcelona, 1474-1553 (Barcelona, Gremios de Editores, de Libreros y de Maestros Impresores, 1955) p. 98; Rubió i Balaguer, J. Llibreters i Impressors a la Corona d’Aragó (Barcelona, Departament de Cultura de la Generalitat de Catalunya, Pubicacions de l'Abadia de Montserrat, 1993) pp. 173-174.

[60] Griffin, C. The Crombergers of Seville (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1988) p. 140.

[61] Bécares Botas, V. “Noticias de libreros leoneses en el siglo XVI” in Morán Suárez, Mª A. and Rodríguez López, M. C. (coords) La documentación para la investigación: homenaje a José Antonio Martín Fuertes (León: Universidad, 2002) pp. 119-128.

[62] Pettas, W. A History and Bibliography of the Giunti (Junta) Printing Family in Spain 1526-1628 (Delaware, Oak Knoll Press, 2005); Delgado Casado, J. Diccionario de Impresores Españoles siglos XV-XVII vol. I (Madrid: Arco-Libros, 1996) pp. 350-360.

[63] An excellent account of this space where the “personal and the professional” met is De la Mano González, M., Mercaderes e Impresores de Libros en la Salamanca del Siglo XVI (Salamanca, Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca 1998)

[64] Delgado Casado, J. Diccionario de Impresores Españoles siglos XV-XVII vol. I (Madrid: Arco-Libros, 1996) pp. 356-357

[65] Madurell Marimón, J. M. & Rubió i Balaguer, J. (comps) Documentos para la historia de la imprenta y libreria en Barcelona, 1474-1553 (Barcelona, Gremios de Editores, de Libreros y de Maestros Impresores, 1955) p. 851.

[66] De los Reyes Gómez, F. El Libro en España y América. Legislación y Censura (siglos XV-XVIII) (Madrid, Arco Libros, 2000) p. 44; De los Reyes Gómez, F. “Con Privilegio. La Exclusiva de Edición del Libro Antiguo Español” Revista General de Información y Documentación, 11, 2-2001, pp. 163-200; 189.

[67] Norton, F.J. Printing in Spain, 1501-1520 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1966) p. 124

[68] Madurell Marimón, J. M. "Licencias reales para la impresión y venta de libros (1519-1705)” Revista de Archivos, Bibliotecas y Museos, n. 72, 1964-1965, pp. 111-248; 112.