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Book trade regulations, Paris (1686)
Source: Bibliothèque nationale de France : Mss. Fr. 22061 n° 120
Citation:
Book trade regulations, Paris (1686), 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
6 translated pages
Chapter 1 Page 1
1
__________________
STATUTES
AND REGULATIONS FOR THE
PRINTERS AND BOOKSELLERS
OF PARIS
Registered in Parlement, on 21 August 1686.
[Published on 11 January 1687 in the Syndical Chamber]
LOUIS by the Grace of God, King of France
& of Navarre: To all those who are present & yet to come,
GREETINGS. As a result of our Royal predecessors having
made several Ordinances & Regulations concerning
Printing & the Book Trade, the impressions
carried out in this Kingdom were taken by
this means to such a degree of perfection that they have
been much appreciated & sought after above all others
in foreign Countries, & this success having since
caused several excellent Works [Ouvrages] to be brought to light,
a great trade [commerce] in these was carried on over a long
succession of years, & [all this] right until the most recent times, when
all sorts of people without skills, without experience.
& without any of the other qualities required
by the said Ordinances & Regulations, have been
indiscriminately & in large numbers allowed to exercise the
Profession of Master Printers & Booksellers; wherefrom
several great disorders have resulted which have been
detrimental to the State. Wishing not only to remedy
this, but also to restore, by our solicitude &
by new Regulations, the beauty & perfection
of printing & commerce with good Books, above
all in our good City of Paris, where the Professions
of Printers & Booksellers have been so thriving,
& where this restoration is all the more necessary,
since it can be useful for Religion, & is one of the
principal means which We can avail ourselves of,
in order to augment, embellish & preserve the Sciences &
fine Arts. FOR THESE REASONS, & others which
compel us to this, after having arranged that We might
be shown the Ordinances of our Royal predecessors, regarding
Printing & the Book Trade, & the Statutes of the Printers
& Booksellers of our good City of Paris, [We]
Chapter 1 Page 2
2
We have, by these presents, signed with our hand
& with our certain knowledge, full power &
Royal authority, Said, decreed & commanded: & We hereby do Say,
decree, command & desire the following, so it pleases us.
ARTICLE I.
[TIT. 1. & 2.: On the Franchises, Exemptions & Immunities of the Printers & Booksellers
of Paris, & of Master Artisans in general]
Printers & Booksellers will always be deemed [censez]
considered & regarded as belonging to the body corporate & staff [supposts] of
the University of Paris, in all respects distinguished and separated
from the mechanical Arts & in this capacity maintained
& protected in the enjoyment of all the rights, franchises
& prerogatives granted to them by our Royal
predecessors & by Us.
II. No Printer will be allowed to exercise the Profession of
Printing unless he has two Presses which belong to him,
& unless these are equipped with good fonts, without it being
allowed that several Printers should associate themselves into a
single Printing-shop.
III. All Printers & Booksellers must print, &
cause to be printed, Books using elegant Types,
on good-quality Paper & with accurate proof-reading, with
the Name & Trade-mark of the Printer who has carried out
the impression, & when the said Books are printed
at the expense of Booksellers & on their account,
the Printer who carries out the impression is obliged
to put his Name at the end of the said Books, as well as
the Name & Trade-mark of the Bookseller having to be
put on the first page of the said Books – all this on pain
of confiscation & fines, & of even greater penalties if
the offence is repeated.
IV. Printers & Booksellers are likewise
obliged to include, at the end or at the beginning
of the said Books, the Privileges, or Extracts from the
Privileges & the Permits which they have obtained,
on pain of confiscation & punishment.
V. We also forbid all Printers &
Booksellers to fraudulently use [supposer] any other Printer
or Bookseller's name, & to put it instead of their own
on any Book, & to affix to it the trade-mark of any
other Printer or Bookseller, on pain of being punished
as forgers [faussaires], of being charged a fine of three thousand livres, &
confiscation of the Copies.
VI. All Printers & Booksellers are hereby forbidden
to print or cause to be printed any privileged Books [Livres de Privilege] outside
of the Kingdom, on pain of confiscation of all Copies that are discovered,
Chapter 1 Page 3
3
& a fine of fifteen hundred livres the first time
round, half of which is to be used for the benefit of the Guild [Communauté].
Only Printers shall have Presses & Types
which can be used for printing. We prohibit all other
persons from having or keeping the latter in any place
whatsoever, & under whatever pretext might be claimed,
on pain of exemplary punishment, confiscation
of the Presses & Types, & a fine of three thousand
livres. We likewise forbid all persons,
other than Printers & Booksellers,
to put up for sale & sell any Books, & to have them
advertised in order to sell them in their own names, regardless
of whether they claim to be the authors of these or not, on pain
of a fine of five hundred livres to be levied from those who
infringe this article, & confiscation of the said Books.
[...]
Chapter 1 Page 14
14
[...]
[TIT. 13.: On defamatory pamphlets, & other prohibited & forbidden books]
LXII. All Printers, Booksellers or other persons
who print or cause to be printed defamatory or prohibited
books & pamphlets [libelles] will be punished as counterfeiters [faussaires],
stripped & divested of their Privileges & immunities,
& declared incapable of ever again exercising the Art &
Profession of Printing & Bookselling.
LXIII. Journeymen [Compagnons] Booksellers & Journey-
Chapter 1 Page 15
15
-men [Compagnons] Printers may not sell & deal in [negocier]
any books on their own private account, on pain of
confiscation of the Books, & a fine of five hundred livres the
first time round, & exemplary punishment in case the
offence is repeated.
LXIV. Master Printers & Booksellers, or
their Widows, shall not lend their Names to anyone
whomsoever for running Printing-works or Bookshops,
selling or dealing in books, on pain of confiscation
of the Printing-works & books, to the benefit of the Guild [Communauté]
& a fine of five hundred livres, as well as a similar
sum to be levied from those who avail themselves of the name
of the said Printers & Booksellers.
[TIT. 14.: On Privileges & prolongations]
LXV. We forbid all Printers & Booksellers
to counterfeit books for which Privileges have
been granted, or prolongations of such Privileges,
to expose for sale & sell books which have been counterfeited, on
pain of the penalties specified in the said Privileges, which may
not be moderated or mitigated by the Judges; & in
case of a repeated offence those who violate this Article will be
subjected to corporal punishment, & will forfeit their Mastership [Maîtrise],
whereby they may no longer become involved, directly or
indirectly, in Printing or trading with books.
LXVI. No Printer or Bookseller is allowed
to print, or cause to be printed, any book without
Letters Patent signed & sealed with the Great Seal, which
letters cannot be requested or issued
until our beloved & loyal Chancellor of France has
received a manuscript copy of the book
for the printing of which the said Letters are being
requested; & the said letters are to be mentioned at
the beginning or at the end of said books. The said
books may not be printed anywhere else other than
the place of residence of the Booksellers or Printers
who have obtained these letters, even if they happen
to have ceded & transferred the Privilege, & in case
this Article is violated, the said books, which are printed
outside of the place of residence of those who had
obtained the said letters for them, may be printed, exposed
for sale & sold by all other Booksellers, just as if no
Privilege had been granted for them at all.
LXVII. The said Printers, Booksellers, & anyone
else, may not obtain any Privileges for the printing
of Polemical pamphlets [factums], Requests, Petitions [Placets], Death notices
[Billets d'enterrement], Pardons, Indulgences, Letters requesting payment [Monitoires],
Theses & suchlike works [ouvrages], & the said Works [ouvrages] may be printed
indiscriminately by any Printers whom private
Chapter 1 Page 16
16
persons may wish to engage for this service. However, Printers
& Booksellers may print the Pardons, Indulgences, & other Works
[Ouvrages] that are proper to each Diocese, under the protection
of special Privileges which the Bishops will have obtained for them.
[TIT. 15.: On Inventories, Appraisals & Sales]
LXVIII. All persons, of whatever rank and position they
may happen to be, are forbidden, if they are not Booksellers or
Printers, to draw up any inventories or appraisals of Printing-
shops & Books which are to be exposed for sale, regardless of the
manner & fashion in which this is done, on pain of the said
inventories & appraisals being rendered void, & a fine of five hundred
livres to be levied from those who violate this Article, & such an
Inventory is instead to be made by two Printers & Booksellers, &
placed & attached by the Notaries together with an inventory
of other movables [meubles]: it will then be mentioned by a single
article in the rough draft & fair copy [minute & grosse] of the
general inventory of other effects which is to be drawn up by
the said Notaries.
LXIX. The Sale or transportation of Presses & Types
for Printing may not be carried out without the
permission of the Lieutenant Général de Police, & in the
presence of the Syndic & Adjuncts, & the Syndic is to keep
a Register of such sales, on which those to whom the said
Presses & Types have been sold or adjudicated are obliged
to have their names recorded, on pain of confiscation & a fine
to be set at discretion & imposed on those who violate this
Article.
THUS, We give as an Order to our beloved & loyal
Counsellors, the People who make up our Court of Parlement,
the Provost of Paris, & our other Officials – each one in accordance
with his obligations [chacun en droit soi] – that what is contained
in these presents is to be executed by them & arranged to be
executed in all its points, according to their form & tenor,
without tolerating any infringements, & putting an end to all
disturbances & hindrances to the contrary: For such is our pleasure,
& so that this might be something which is firm & stable
for all times, We have had our Seal affixed to these presents. Given
at Versailles in the month of August, the year of our Lord one thousand
six hundred and eighty-six, & of our Reign the forty-fourth.
Signed LOUIS. By the King. COLBERT. On
the side is written: Visa BOUCHERAT, for the Letters
Patent concerning Printers & Booksellers.
Registered, yes & requesting this by the Procureur Général of
the King, so that they might be executed in accordance with
their form & tenor; At Paris, in Parlement, the twenty-first of
August, one thousand six hundred and eighty-six. Signed: JACQUES.
Translation by: Luis Sundkvist (pp.1-3, 14-16)
Source: Bibliothèque nationale de France : Mss. Fr. 22061 n° 120
Citation:
Book trade regulations, Paris (1686), 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
6 translated pages
Chapter 1 Page 1
__________________
STATUTES
AND REGULATIONS FOR THE
PRINTERS AND BOOKSELLERS
OF PARIS
Registered in Parlement, on 21 August 1686.
[Published on 11 January 1687 in the Syndical Chamber]
LOUIS by the Grace of God, King of France
& of Navarre: To all those who are present & yet to come,
GREETINGS. As a result of our Royal predecessors having
made several Ordinances & Regulations concerning
Printing & the Book Trade, the impressions
carried out in this Kingdom were taken by
this means to such a degree of perfection that they have
been much appreciated & sought after above all others
in foreign Countries, & this success having since
caused several excellent Works [Ouvrages] to be brought to light,
a great trade [commerce] in these was carried on over a long
succession of years, & [all this] right until the most recent times, when
all sorts of people without skills, without experience.
& without any of the other qualities required
by the said Ordinances & Regulations, have been
indiscriminately & in large numbers allowed to exercise the
Profession of Master Printers & Booksellers; wherefrom
several great disorders have resulted which have been
detrimental to the State. Wishing not only to remedy
this, but also to restore, by our solicitude &
by new Regulations, the beauty & perfection
of printing & commerce with good Books, above
all in our good City of Paris, where the Professions
of Printers & Booksellers have been so thriving,
& where this restoration is all the more necessary,
since it can be useful for Religion, & is one of the
principal means which We can avail ourselves of,
in order to augment, embellish & preserve the Sciences &
fine Arts. FOR THESE REASONS, & others which
compel us to this, after having arranged that We might
be shown the Ordinances of our Royal predecessors, regarding
Printing & the Book Trade, & the Statutes of the Printers
& Booksellers of our good City of Paris, [We]
Chapter 1 Page 2
We have, by these presents, signed with our hand
& with our certain knowledge, full power &
Royal authority, Said, decreed & commanded: & We hereby do Say,
decree, command & desire the following, so it pleases us.
[TIT. 1. & 2.: On the Franchises, Exemptions & Immunities of the Printers & Booksellers
of Paris, & of Master Artisans in general]
Printers & Booksellers will always be deemed [censez]
considered & regarded as belonging to the body corporate & staff [supposts] of
the University of Paris, in all respects distinguished and separated
from the mechanical Arts & in this capacity maintained
& protected in the enjoyment of all the rights, franchises
& prerogatives granted to them by our Royal
predecessors & by Us.
II. No Printer will be allowed to exercise the Profession of
Printing unless he has two Presses which belong to him,
& unless these are equipped with good fonts, without it being
allowed that several Printers should associate themselves into a
single Printing-shop.
III. All Printers & Booksellers must print, &
cause to be printed, Books using elegant Types,
on good-quality Paper & with accurate proof-reading, with
the Name & Trade-mark of the Printer who has carried out
the impression, & when the said Books are printed
at the expense of Booksellers & on their account,
the Printer who carries out the impression is obliged
to put his Name at the end of the said Books, as well as
the Name & Trade-mark of the Bookseller having to be
put on the first page of the said Books – all this on pain
of confiscation & fines, & of even greater penalties if
the offence is repeated.
IV. Printers & Booksellers are likewise
obliged to include, at the end or at the beginning
of the said Books, the Privileges, or Extracts from the
Privileges & the Permits which they have obtained,
on pain of confiscation & punishment.
V. We also forbid all Printers &
Booksellers to fraudulently use [supposer] any other Printer
or Bookseller's name, & to put it instead of their own
on any Book, & to affix to it the trade-mark of any
other Printer or Bookseller, on pain of being punished
as forgers [faussaires], of being charged a fine of three thousand livres, &
confiscation of the Copies.
VI. All Printers & Booksellers are hereby forbidden
to print or cause to be printed any privileged Books [Livres de Privilege] outside
of the Kingdom, on pain of confiscation of all Copies that are discovered,
Chapter 1 Page 3
& a fine of fifteen hundred livres the first time
round, half of which is to be used for the benefit of the Guild [Communauté].
Only Printers shall have Presses & Types
which can be used for printing. We prohibit all other
persons from having or keeping the latter in any place
whatsoever, & under whatever pretext might be claimed,
on pain of exemplary punishment, confiscation
of the Presses & Types, & a fine of three thousand
livres. We likewise forbid all persons,
other than Printers & Booksellers,
to put up for sale & sell any Books, & to have them
advertised in order to sell them in their own names, regardless
of whether they claim to be the authors of these or not, on pain
of a fine of five hundred livres to be levied from those who
infringe this article, & confiscation of the said Books.
[...]
Chapter 1 Page 14
[...]
[TIT. 13.: On defamatory pamphlets, & other prohibited & forbidden books]
LXII. All Printers, Booksellers or other persons
who print or cause to be printed defamatory or prohibited
books & pamphlets [libelles] will be punished as counterfeiters [faussaires],
stripped & divested of their Privileges & immunities,
& declared incapable of ever again exercising the Art &
Profession of Printing & Bookselling.
LXIII. Journeymen [Compagnons] Booksellers & Journey-
Chapter 1 Page 15
-men [Compagnons] Printers may not sell & deal in [negocier]
any books on their own private account, on pain of
confiscation of the Books, & a fine of five hundred livres the
first time round, & exemplary punishment in case the
offence is repeated.
LXIV. Master Printers & Booksellers, or
their Widows, shall not lend their Names to anyone
whomsoever for running Printing-works or Bookshops,
selling or dealing in books, on pain of confiscation
of the Printing-works & books, to the benefit of the Guild [Communauté]
& a fine of five hundred livres, as well as a similar
sum to be levied from those who avail themselves of the name
of the said Printers & Booksellers.
[TIT. 14.: On Privileges & prolongations]
LXV. We forbid all Printers & Booksellers
to counterfeit books for which Privileges have
been granted, or prolongations of such Privileges,
to expose for sale & sell books which have been counterfeited, on
pain of the penalties specified in the said Privileges, which may
not be moderated or mitigated by the Judges; & in
case of a repeated offence those who violate this Article will be
subjected to corporal punishment, & will forfeit their Mastership [Maîtrise],
whereby they may no longer become involved, directly or
indirectly, in Printing or trading with books.
LXVI. No Printer or Bookseller is allowed
to print, or cause to be printed, any book without
Letters Patent signed & sealed with the Great Seal, which
letters cannot be requested or issued
until our beloved & loyal Chancellor of France has
received a manuscript copy of the book
for the printing of which the said Letters are being
requested; & the said letters are to be mentioned at
the beginning or at the end of said books. The said
books may not be printed anywhere else other than
the place of residence of the Booksellers or Printers
who have obtained these letters, even if they happen
to have ceded & transferred the Privilege, & in case
this Article is violated, the said books, which are printed
outside of the place of residence of those who had
obtained the said letters for them, may be printed, exposed
for sale & sold by all other Booksellers, just as if no
Privilege had been granted for them at all.
LXVII. The said Printers, Booksellers, & anyone
else, may not obtain any Privileges for the printing
of Polemical pamphlets [factums], Requests, Petitions [Placets], Death notices
[Billets d'enterrement], Pardons, Indulgences, Letters requesting payment [Monitoires],
Theses & suchlike works [ouvrages], & the said Works [ouvrages] may be printed
indiscriminately by any Printers whom private
Chapter 1 Page 16
persons may wish to engage for this service. However, Printers
& Booksellers may print the Pardons, Indulgences, & other Works
[Ouvrages] that are proper to each Diocese, under the protection
of special Privileges which the Bishops will have obtained for them.
[TIT. 15.: On Inventories, Appraisals & Sales]
LXVIII. All persons, of whatever rank and position they
may happen to be, are forbidden, if they are not Booksellers or
Printers, to draw up any inventories or appraisals of Printing-
shops & Books which are to be exposed for sale, regardless of the
manner & fashion in which this is done, on pain of the said
inventories & appraisals being rendered void, & a fine of five hundred
livres to be levied from those who violate this Article, & such an
Inventory is instead to be made by two Printers & Booksellers, &
placed & attached by the Notaries together with an inventory
of other movables [meubles]: it will then be mentioned by a single
article in the rough draft & fair copy [minute & grosse] of the
general inventory of other effects which is to be drawn up by
the said Notaries.
LXIX. The Sale or transportation of Presses & Types
for Printing may not be carried out without the
permission of the Lieutenant Général de Police, & in the
presence of the Syndic & Adjuncts, & the Syndic is to keep
a Register of such sales, on which those to whom the said
Presses & Types have been sold or adjudicated are obliged
to have their names recorded, on pain of confiscation & a fine
to be set at discretion & imposed on those who violate this
Article.
THUS, We give as an Order to our beloved & loyal
Counsellors, the People who make up our Court of Parlement,
the Provost of Paris, & our other Officials – each one in accordance
with his obligations [chacun en droit soi] – that what is contained
in these presents is to be executed by them & arranged to be
executed in all its points, according to their form & tenor,
without tolerating any infringements, & putting an end to all
disturbances & hindrances to the contrary: For such is our pleasure,
& so that this might be something which is firm & stable
for all times, We have had our Seal affixed to these presents. Given
at Versailles in the month of August, the year of our Lord one thousand
six hundred and eighty-six, & of our Reign the forty-fourth.
Signed LOUIS. By the King. COLBERT. On
the side is written: Visa BOUCHERAT, for the Letters
Patent concerning Printers & Booksellers.
Registered, yes & requesting this by the Procureur Général of
the King, so that they might be executed in accordance with
their form & tenor; At Paris, in Parlement, the twenty-first of
August, one thousand six hundred and eighty-six. Signed: JACQUES.
Translation by: Luis Sundkvist (pp.1-3, 14-16)