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.


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Back | 112 results(* indicates core document)

1469* Johannes of Speyer's Printing Monopoly (Italy) Commentary: [1]
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]
1511* Imperial Privilege for Albrecht Dürer (Germany)
1512Lyrical Reference to an Imperial privilege for Arnolt Schlick (Germany)
1532Antonio Blado's edition of Machiavelli's 'History of Florence' (Italy)
1533* Schott v. Egenolph (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1546* Privilege Granted to Enea Vico (Parmigiano) (Italy)
1549* Statutes of the Venetian Guild of Printers and Booksellers (Italy)
1552Letter Concerning the Danish Bible (Scandinavia)
1556 (1555 m.v.)* Privilege Granted to Antonio Floriano (Italy)
1556* Privilege Granted to Giovanni Ostaus (Italy)
1558Calve's privilege for the 'Holsome and Catholick Doctrine' (United Kingdom)
1566* Star Chamber Decree (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1]
1579* Notice of Rabbinic Reprinting Ban (Jewish Law)
1586* Star Chamber Decree (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1]
1594* Council of Four Lands Printing and Book Trade Regulation (Jewish Law) Commentary: [1]
1596* Total Ban on Book Imports, Denmark–Norway (Scandinavia)
1598Frankfurt Printers' Ordinance (Germany)
1617Continued Ban on Possessing, Selling or Distributing Imported Books, Denmark–Norway (Scandinavia)
1618* Book trade regulations and incorporation of the Parisian book trade (France) Commentary: [1]
1637* Star Chamber Decree (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1]
1647Ordinance against Unlicensed or Scandalous Pamphlets (United Kingdom)
1650s* Vitré's memorandum on the prolongation of privileges (France)
1653An Act for reviving [the 1649 Act] (United Kingdom)
1660* Frankfurt Printers' Ordinance (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1662* Licensing Act (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1]
1663L'Estrange's Considerations and Proposals (United Kingdom)
1665* French book trade regulations (France)
1673Nuremberg Printers' Ordinance (Germany)
1676* Decree on Sculptures (France)
1684* Renewed Swedish Censorship Laws (Scandinavia) Commentary: [1]
1686* Book trade regulations (France)
1690Amendment to the Frankfurt Printers' Ordinance (Germany)
1695Reasons for objecting to the renewal of the Licensing Act (United Kingdom)
1713* 'Books Constitution' of Emperor Rudolf II (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1714Decree on Fine Arts (France)
1724* Electoral Saxon Printing and Censorship Acts from 1549 to 1717 (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1735Engravers' Copyright Act (parchment copy) (United Kingdom)
1737Privilege of Printing Pontoppidan's Catechism Granted to the Royal Orphanage (Scandinavia)
1738* Thurneysen: On the Illicit Reprinting of Books (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1740Venetian Decree Against Unauthorized Printing of Songs (Italy)
1740* Encyclopaedia Article on 'The Reprinting of Books' (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1741* The Danish Copyright Ordinance (Scandinavia) Commentary: [1]
1752Regulations and Rules for the Printing Industry in Sweden (Scandinavia)
1763* Diderot's Letter on the book trade (France) Commentary: [1]
1765Reich v. Pauli (Germany)
1766* The Swedish Freedom of the Press Ordinance (Scandinavia) Commentary: [1]
1770* Luneau de Boisjermain's case (France)
1773Rescript on Post-Publication Censorship (Scandinavia) Commentary: [1]
1783Maryland Copyright Statute (United States)
1785* Austrian Statutes on Censorship and Printing (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1789Joint Copyright Patent Bill [H.R. 10] (United States)
1790* J.F.F. Ganz's draft for a general ban on reprinting within the whole Empire (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1790* Sieyès' report (France) Commentary: [1]
1791* Report of François Hell to the National Assembly (France) Commentary: [1]
1794* Prussian Statute Book (ALR) (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1799* Renewed Censorship Legislation, Denmark–Norway (Scandinavia)
1810Swedish Freedom of the Press Ordinance (Scandinavia) Commentary: [1]
1812* Swedish Freedom of the Press Ordinance (Scandinavia)
1813Select Committee Report on Acts for the Encouragement of Learning (United Kingdom)
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)
1827* Treaties on reciprocal protection between Prussia and various German States (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1829Music publishers' agreement to ban reprinting (Germany)
1831* Copyright Act (United States) Commentary: [1]
1833Bill to amend the Laws relating to Dramatic Literary Property (United Kingdom)
1835* Publication of Lectures Act (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1]
1837* Prussian Copyright Act (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1837* Directive for reciprocal copyright protection within the German Confederation (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1838Ordinance on the Establishment of Societies of Copyright Experts (Germany)
1838Copyright Bill (27 Feb.) (United Kingdom)
1838Copyright Bill (6 June) (United Kingdom)
1839Copyright Bill (United Kingdom)
1840Copyright Bill (United Kingdom)
1841* Report of Lamartine and parliamentary debates on literary property (France)
1841Court of Cassation on artistic 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]
1846* Austrian Copyright Act (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1851* SACEM's act of constitution (France)
1861* Confederate States of America Copyright Act (United States)
1870* Copyright Act for the German Empire (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1870* Copyright Act (United States)
1876* Copyright Acts for the German Empire regarding works of art, photography, and designs (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1876Book Printer H. J. Jensen vs. The Poet Henrik Ibsen (Scandinavia)
1876Act on the Protection of Written Property, Norway (Scandinavia)
1877* Supreme Court on Music Copyright (Spain)
1877* Swedish Copyright Act (Scandinavia) Commentary: [1]
1879* Copyright Act (Spain) Commentary: [1]
1879Copyright Consolidation Bill (United Kingdom)
1880* Copyright Regulations (Spain) Commentary: [1]
1884Bilateral treaty between Switzerland and France (Germany)
189150 Prussian Expert Opinions from 1870-1876 (Germany)
1891* International Copyright Act (The Chace Act) (United States)
1894Report on H.R. 6835 (United States)
1894H.R. 6835 (Cummings Bill) (United States)
1896Public Performance Bill (United States)
1896Report on H.R. 1978 (United States)
1896Report on S. 2306 (United States)
1896Treloar Copyright Bill (H.R. 5976) (United States)
1896Debate in Congress (United States)
1897* Copyright Act (Public Performance of Musical Compositions) (United States)
1899Bleistein v. Donaldson Lithographing Co., District Court Decision (United States)
1900Bleistein v. Donaldson Lithographing Co., Circuit Court Decision (United States)
1902Bleistein's Brief (United States)
1902Bleistein: Donaldson Lithographing Co. Brief (United States)