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Vitré's memorandum on the prolongation of privileges, unknown (1650s)
Source: Bibliothèque nationale de France : Mss. Fr. 22071 n°83
Citation:
Vitré's memorandum on the prolongation of privileges, unknown (1650s), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org
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2
for one another – [which are so necessary] at a time in which our country's Ministers,
seconding the King's intentions, are working with so much diligence for the re-
establishment of Commerce and the improvement of the Arts.
This trust [bonne foi] and honest conduct are so deeply rooted in Holland that
the Booksellers there, far from counterfeiting their neighbour's Book, have so great a
respect for what has been printed by another that the right to this [book] even passes
down to the latter's heirs, who may not even happen to be Booksellers themselves,
and who can sell this right just as if it had been acquired through a Privilege from the
State.
The same thing happens in England and Germany: people have the utmost
respect for the Letters [patent] and gifts [grâces] of a sovereign Prince because the
penalties borne by these Privileges are not just simply threats for non-compliance
[comminatoires]: no, the person who violates them can count himself as ruined –
unless, that is, he is quite powerful - there are examples of this.
The first cause of this disorder, which is ever increasing on a daily basis, is the
high number of all sorts of people who set themselves up as Master Printers. They
have gone through neither proper training nor study, and sometimes they don't even
know how to use the most basic tool of those which are used in Printing. Yet, even so,
they take it upon themselves to exercise this profession in Paris and in several other
Towns of France – I assure you that I am not exaggerating when I say this.
There have even been some Syndics, who, in order to recoup the expenses
which they claim to have made for the sake of their Guild, have admitted twenty-five
Master Printers or thirty Gilders of Books all at the same time, and amongst these
Gilders there have been some who had four, five, or six children who were all
[registered as] Master Printers before they could even speak, let alone have the use of
reason. Amidst this multitude of people the respect which our ancestors had for one
another has been lost. Nowadays anyone will brazenly counterfeit his neighbour's
Book, using poor-quality type, on mediocre paper, and without any proof-reading
beforehand. That is why it has proved necessary to have recourse to Prolongations of
Privileges, which, in my opinion, do nothing worse than to compel by force the
muddlers of our times to do what our Ancestors previously did for the sake of honour
and courtesy.
If those who are so zealously opposed to Privileges and their Prolongations
were to reflect a little bit more on this matter, they would soon realize that they are
doing a very great deal of harm to the public – above all to the Men of letters – and
that they are contributing to their own ruin. This is how.
No Transcription available.
Source: Bibliothèque nationale de France : Mss. Fr. 22071 n°83
Citation:
Vitré's memorandum on the prolongation of privileges, unknown (1650s), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org
Back | Record | Images | No Commentaries
Translation only | Transcription only | Show all | Bundled images as pdf
for one another – [which are so necessary] at a time in which our country's Ministers,
seconding the King's intentions, are working with so much diligence for the re-
establishment of Commerce and the improvement of the Arts.
This trust [bonne foi] and honest conduct are so deeply rooted in Holland that
the Booksellers there, far from counterfeiting their neighbour's Book, have so great a
respect for what has been printed by another that the right to this [book] even passes
down to the latter's heirs, who may not even happen to be Booksellers themselves,
and who can sell this right just as if it had been acquired through a Privilege from the
State.
The same thing happens in England and Germany: people have the utmost
respect for the Letters [patent] and gifts [grâces] of a sovereign Prince because the
penalties borne by these Privileges are not just simply threats for non-compliance
[comminatoires]: no, the person who violates them can count himself as ruined –
unless, that is, he is quite powerful - there are examples of this.
The first cause of this disorder, which is ever increasing on a daily basis, is the
high number of all sorts of people who set themselves up as Master Printers. They
have gone through neither proper training nor study, and sometimes they don't even
know how to use the most basic tool of those which are used in Printing. Yet, even so,
they take it upon themselves to exercise this profession in Paris and in several other
Towns of France – I assure you that I am not exaggerating when I say this.
There have even been some Syndics, who, in order to recoup the expenses
which they claim to have made for the sake of their Guild, have admitted twenty-five
Master Printers or thirty Gilders of Books all at the same time, and amongst these
Gilders there have been some who had four, five, or six children who were all
[registered as] Master Printers before they could even speak, let alone have the use of
reason. Amidst this multitude of people the respect which our ancestors had for one
another has been lost. Nowadays anyone will brazenly counterfeit his neighbour's
Book, using poor-quality type, on mediocre paper, and without any proof-reading
beforehand. That is why it has proved necessary to have recourse to Prolongations of
Privileges, which, in my opinion, do nothing worse than to compel by force the
muddlers of our times to do what our Ancestors previously did for the sake of honour
and courtesy.
If those who are so zealously opposed to Privileges and their Prolongations
were to reflect a little bit more on this matter, they would soon realize that they are
doing a very great deal of harm to the public – above all to the Men of letters – and
that they are contributing to their own ruin. This is how.
No Transcription available.