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 | Search term in commentaries | 90 results(* indicates core document)

1559Day's The Cosmographical Glass (United Kingdom)
1559* Day's privilege for The Cosmographical Glass (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1]
1624* Statute of Monopolies (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1]
1643* The Humble Remonstrance of the Stationers' Company (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1]
1644Milton's Areopagitica (United Kingdom)
1647Ordinance against Unlicensed or Scandalous Pamphlets (United Kingdom)
1650s* Vitré's memorandum on the prolongation of privileges (France)
1663L'Estrange's Considerations and Proposals (United Kingdom)
1690* Locke's Second Treatise on Government (selected extracts) (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1]
1690s* Memorandum on the dispute between the Parisian and the provincial booksellers (France) Commentary: [1]
1693Locke's Memorandum on the 1662 Act (United Kingdom)
1695Reasons for objecting to the renewal of the Licensing Act (United Kingdom)
1704* Defoe's Essay on the Press (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1]
1709Reasons Humbly Offer'd for the Bill for the Encouragement of Learning (United Kingdom)
1710* Statute of Anne (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1]
1737* Booksellers' Bill (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1]
1737An Act for the Encouragement of Learning (Draft) (United Kingdom)
1738* Thurneysen: On the Illicit Reprinting of Books (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1740* Encyclopaedia Article on 'The Reprinting of Books' (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1761Tonson v. Collins (United Kingdom)
1762* An Enquiry into Literary Property (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1]
1762A Vindication of the Rights of Authors (United Kingdom)
1763* Diderot's Letter on the book trade (France) Commentary: [1]
1766Blackstone's Commentaries, Vol.II (selected extracts) (United Kingdom)
1773Information for Alexander Donaldson (United Kingdom)
1774* Donaldson v. Becket (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1]
1774Hargrave's Argument in Defence of Literary Property (United Kingdom)
1774Enfield's Observations (United Kingdom)
1774Macauley's A Modest Plea (United Kingdom)
1777* Linguet's memorandum (France) Commentary: [1]
1778* Pluquet's letters (France) Commentary: [1]
1781* Andrew Law's Petition (United States) Commentary: [1]
1783Letter from Joel Barlow to the Continental Congress (United States)
1787* Calico Printers' Act (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1]
1787Calico Printers' Act (parchment copy) (United Kingdom)
1791* Le Chapelier's report (France) Commentary: [1]
1801* Copyright Act (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1]
1801A Bill for the Further Encouragement of Learning (United Kingdom)
1818Select Committee Report: Minutes of Evidence (United Kingdom)
1826Letter from Noah Webster to Daniel Webster (United States)
1828* Maugham's Treatise (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1]
1829Music publishers' agreement to ban reprinting (Germany)
1830* Amended music publishers' agreement against piracy (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1831House Debate (United States)
1832Select Committee Report: Dramatic Literature (United Kingdom)
1832Parliamentary Debates on Drama and Dramatic Literature (31 May) (United Kingdom)
1834* Balzac's letter to authors (France)
1834* Wheaton v. Peters (United States)
1834* Wheaton v. Peters Independent Report (United States)
1838Parliamentary Debates on the International Copyright Act (20 March) (United Kingdom)
1838Report, from the Committee on Patents (United States)
1838Memorial of the New York Typographical Society (United States)
1841Parliamentary Debates on the Copyright Bill (5 Feb.) (United Kingdom)
1841* Report of Lamartine and parliamentary debates on literary property (France)
1842* Lowndes' Historical Sketch of the Law of Copyright (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1]
1842Parliamentary Debates on the Copyright Act (9 May) (United Kingdom)
1842Memorial of a Number of Persons Concerned in Printing and Publishing (United States)
1843An Address to the People of the United States (United States)
1847* A Treatise on the Law of Copyright (United States) Commentary: [1]
1848Jay, Bryant and Others' Memorials (United States)
1852Parliamentary Debates on the International Copyright Act (13 Feb.) (United Kingdom)
1853Letters on International copyright (United States)
1853British-American Copyright Convention Draft (United States)
1853'Uncle Tom' at Law (United States)
1854* Jeffreys v. Boosey (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1]
1858Report of the Artistic Copyright Committee (United Kingdom)
1861Fine Art Copyright Bill (United Kingdom)
1862* Fine Art Copyright Act (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1]
1862Parliamentary Debates on the Fine Art Copyright Act (28 Feb.) (United Kingdom)
1862Fine Art Copyright Bill (27 Feb.) (United Kingdom)
1862Fine Art Copyright Bill (20 March) (United Kingdom)
1862Southern Feeling (United States)
1863Hardee's Memorial (United States)
1868* Proudhon: 'Les Majorats littéraires' (France)
1869Artistic Copyright Bill, London (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1]
1870* Copinger's Law of Copyright (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1]
1872Correspondence and Papers on Colonial Copyright (United Kingdom)
1873Committee on the Library Report (United States)
1878* Royal Commissioners' Report (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1]
1878Royal Commission on Copyright: Minutes of Evidence (United Kingdom)
1879Copyright Consolidation Bill (United Kingdom)
1879Baker's Argument (United States)
1883Sarony's Brief (United States)
1883Burrow-Giles' Brief (United States)
1885Carte v. Duff (United States)
1886Committee on Patents Report (United States)
1890Report on H.R. 10881 (United States)
1896The Question of Copyright (United States)
1899Artistic Copyright Bill, London (United Kingdom)
1900Artistic Copyright Bill, London (United Kingdom)