PRIMARY SOURCES

ON COPYRIGHT

(1450-1900)


This is a freely-accessible, publicly-funded digital archive that collects together significant documents relating to the history of copyright law and practice. The documents have been selected by national editors, with the input of an editorial advisory board. Key documents are, where appropriate, transcribed and translated. The editors have written commentaries, explaining the reasons for selecting documents and their significance. The project was launched in 2008, initially funded by the AHRC in relation to 5 countries. Since 2024 it is supported by the AHRC as UK research infrastructure. The archive now extends to more than 20 (including historical and religious) jurisdictions and over 700 primary source documents. They can be browsed by date/language/jurisdiction, or searched.


All | Italy | Germany | France | Jewish Law | Spain | United Kingdom | United States | Scandinavia


All documents: Keyword books, protected subject matter

Back | 128 results(* indicates core document)

1479* Privilege of the Prince-Bishop of Würzburg (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1501* Imperial Senate privilege to the Sodalitas Celtica (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1502Privilege of the Imperial Senate for Works of Conrad Celtis (Germany)
1504* Privilege Granted to Benedetto Bordon (Italy)
1507* Eloy d'Amerval's privilege (France) Commentary: [1]
1511* Imperial Privilege for Arnolt Schlick (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1513* Imperial privilege for Eucharius Rösslin (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1515Imperial Privilege for Konrad Peutinger (Germany)
1516Imperial Privilege for Johannes Eck (Germany)
1517Privilege of the Duke of Bavaria (Germany)
1531* Basel Printers' Statute (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1550* Rema Ruling re: Maharam of Padua (Jewish Law) Commentary: [1]
1552Letter Concerning the Danish Bible (Scandinavia)
1554* Royal Charter for Licensing (Spain) Commentary: [1]
1556* Privilege Granted to Giovanni Ostaus (Italy)
1559* Privilege for printing music for the Indies (Spain) Commentary: [1]
1559* Pérez v. Fernández de Córdoba (Spain)
1559Day's The Cosmographical Glass (United Kingdom)
1559* Day's privilege for The Cosmographical Glass (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1]
1565Lauritz Benedicht's Printing Monopoly (Scandinavia)
1572Privilege for Petrus Johannis Godhus (Scandinavia)
1596* Total Ban on Book Imports, Denmark–Norway (Scandinavia)
1643* Establishment of the First Printing House in Norway (Scandinavia)
1660* Frankfurt Printers' Ordinance (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1670Exclusive Rights to the Book Trade in Christiania (Scandinavia)
1673Nuremberg Printers' Ordinance (Germany)
1684* Renewed Swedish Censorship Laws (Scandinavia) Commentary: [1]
1688Establishment of a Printing Press in Iceland (Scandinavia) Commentary: [1]
1714Decree on Fine Arts (France)
1721Printer Joachim Wielandt's Privilege for Popular Chapbooks, Denmark–Norway (Scandinavia) Commentary: [1]
1723Freedom to Print Non-Privileged Books, Denmark–Norway (Scandinavia)
1738* Thurneysen: On the Illicit Reprinting of Books (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1740Privilege of the Protestant Swiss Cantons (Germany)
1762* Free Trade Regulations (Spain)
1766* The Swedish Freedom of the Press Ordinance (Scandinavia) Commentary: [1]
1773Information for Alexander Donaldson (United Kingdom)
1774Booksellers' Bill (United Kingdom)
1783* Connecticut Copyright Statute (United States) Commentary: [1]
1783Massachusetts Copyright Statute (United States)
1783Maryland Copyright Statute (United States)
1783New Jersey Copyright Statute (United States)
1783New Hampshire Copyright Statute (United States)
1784Pennsylvania Copyright Statute (United States)
1784South Carolina Copyright Statute (United States)
1785Virginia Copyright Statute (United States)
1785North Carolina Copyright Statute (United States)
1786Georgia Copyright Statute (United States)
1786New York Copyright Statute (United States)
1787Constitutional Convention Journal Entry (United States)
1787Madison's Journal Record (United States)
1787Madison's Edited Journal Record (United States)
1788The Federalist No. 43 (United States)
1789Joint Copyright Patent Bill [H.R. 10] (United States)
1790* Copyright Act (United States) Commentary: [1]
1790-1800Sample registrations (United States)
1793* French Literary and Artistic Property Act (France) Commentary: [1]
1794* Prussian Statute Book (ALR) (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1801* Copyright Act (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1]
1801A Bill for the Further Encouragement of Learning (United Kingdom)
1801Copyright Act (parchment copy) (United Kingdom)
18021802 Amendment (United States)
1814* Court of Cassation on sculptures (France) Commentary: [1]
1814* Copyright Act (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1]
1814Bill to amend Acts for the Encouragement of Learning (18 May) (United Kingdom)
1814Bill to amend Acts for the Encouragement of Learning (7 June) (United Kingdom)
1814Bill to amend Acts for the Encouragement of Learning (12 July) (United Kingdom)
1814Bill to amend Acts for the Encouragement of Learning (15 July) (United Kingdom)
1818Select Committee Report on the Copyright Acts (United Kingdom)
1826* Minutes of the 1825-1826 Commission (France)
1827* Treaties on reciprocal protection between Prussia and various German States (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1828H.R. 140 Committee Bill (United States)
1828H.R. 140 Consolidated Bill (United States)
1831* Copyright Act (United States) Commentary: [1]
1831House Debate (United States)
1835* Sofer Responsum on Vilna-Slavuta Talmud Dispute (Jewish Law) Commentary: [1]
1837* Prussian Copyright Act (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1837* Directive for reciprocal copyright protection within the German Confederation (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1838Copyright Bill (27 Feb.) (United Kingdom)
1838Copyright Bill (6 June) (United Kingdom)
1839Copyright Bill (United Kingdom)
1840* Bilateral Treaty between Austria and Sardinia (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1840Copyright Bill (United Kingdom)
1841* Report of Lamartine and parliamentary debates on literary property (France)
1841Copyright Bill (United Kingdom)
1841Swedish Ordinance on the Limitation of Terms of Protection (Scandinavia) Commentary: [1]
1842* Copyright Act (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1]
1842Bill to Amend the Law of Copyright (4 March) (United Kingdom)
1842Bill to Amend the Law of Copyright (23 March) (United Kingdom)
1842Bill to Amend the Law of Copyright (21 April) (United Kingdom)
1844* Saxon Copyright Act (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1844* International Copyright Act (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1]
1846* Bilateral Treaty between Prussia and Great Britain (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1846* Austrian Copyright Act (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1847* Literary Property Act (Spain) Commentary: [1]
1848* Copyright Formalities: Registration (Spain)
1851Anglo-French Copyright Treaty (United Kingdom)
1852* International Copyright Act (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1]
1853* Bluntschli: On Authors' Rights (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1853British-American Copyright Convention Draft (United States)
1857* Wächter: 'Publishing Right' (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1861* Confederate States of America Copyright Act (United States)
1863Confederate States of America Copyright Act Amendement (United States)
1865* Copyright Act Amendment (United States)
1866* Literary and artistic property act (France)
1868* Proudhon: 'Les Majorats littéraires' (France)
1870* Copyright Act for the German Empire (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1870* Copinger's Law of Copyright (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1]
1870* Copyright Act (United States)
1876Book Printer H. J. Jensen vs. The Poet Henrik Ibsen (Scandinavia)
1876Act on the Protection of Written Property, Norway (Scandinavia)
1876Act on the Protection of Written Property, Norway (Scandinavia)
1877* Gareis: Juridical Nature of Author's Rights (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1877* Swedish Copyright Act (Scandinavia) Commentary: [1]
1878* Morillot on the author's right (France)
1878* Spanish Copyright Formalities: Certificates (Spain)
1878* Royal Commissioners' Report (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1]
1878Royal Commission on Copyright: Minutes of Evidence (United Kingdom)
1879Copyright Consolidation Bill (United Kingdom)
1879* Baker v. Selden (United States) Commentary: [1]
1879Baker's Argument (United States)
1884Bilateral treaty between Switzerland and France (Germany)
1885* First Inscriptions of Works at the Spanish Copyright Office (Spain)
1886* International Copyright Act (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1]
1886International Copyright Bill (United Kingdom)
1886Correspondence respecting the Copyright Union (United Kingdom)
189150 Prussian Expert Opinions from 1870-1876 (Germany)
1892* Bilateral treaty between the German Reich and the U.S.A. (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1896Regarding Norway’s Accession to the Berne Convention (Scandinavia)