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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All documents: Keyword censorship

Back | 56 results(* indicates core document)

1469* Johannes of Speyer's Printing Monopoly (Italy) Commentary: [1]
1479* Privilege of the Prince-Bishop of Würzburg (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1501* Imperial Senate privilege to the Sodalitas Celtica (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1502* Licensing Rules (Spain) Commentary: [1]
1513* Imperial privilege for Eucharius Rösslin (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1516* Appointment of Andrea Navagero as Literary Censor (Italy)
1531* Basel Printers' Statute (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1545* Venetian Decree on Author-Printer Relations (Italy) Commentary: [1]
1546* Privilege Granted to Enea Vico (Parmigiano) (Italy)
1552Letter Concerning the Danish Bible (Scandinavia)
1554* Royal Charter for Licensing (Spain) Commentary: [1]
1556* Privilege Granted to Giovanni Ostaus (Italy)
1557* Stationers' Charter (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1]
1558* Censorship Rules (Spain)
1566* Star Chamber Decree (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1]
1594* Council of Four Lands Printing and Book Trade Regulation (Jewish Law) Commentary: [1]
1598Frankfurt Printers' Ordinance (Germany)
1660* Frankfurt Printers' Ordinance (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1662* Licensing Act (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1]
1663L'Estrange's Considerations and Proposals (United Kingdom)
1672* Usher's Printing Privilege (United States) Commentary: [1]
1673Nuremberg Printers' Ordinance (Germany)
1684* Renewed Swedish Censorship Laws (Scandinavia) Commentary: [1]
1688Laws Concerning Printing, Censorship, and Distribution of Books and Almanacs, Denmark–Norway (Scandinavia)
1701* Royal letters patent (France) Commentary: [1]
1701* Censorship Instruction for Newspapers, Denmark–Norway (Scandinavia) Commentary: [1]
1704* Defoe's Essay on the Press (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1]
1713* 'Books Constitution' of Emperor Rudolf II (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1713Augsburg Printers' Ordinance (Germany)
1723Freedom to Print Non-Privileged Books, Denmark–Norway (Scandinavia)
1724* Electoral Saxon Printing and Censorship Acts from 1549 to 1717 (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1725-1726* Pierre-Jacques Blondel's memorandum (France) Commentary: [1]
1738* Thurneysen: On the Illicit Reprinting of Books (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1740Venetian Decree Against Unauthorized Printing of Songs (Italy)
1752* Juan Curiel as Censor (Spain)
1763* Diderot's Letter on the book trade (France) Commentary: [1]
1766* The Swedish Freedom of the Press Ordinance (Scandinavia) Commentary: [1]
1770Abolishment of Censorship (Scandinavia) Commentary: [1]
1771Rescript Limiting the Freedom Allowed by the 1770 Legislation (Scandinavia) Commentary: [1]
1773Rescript on Post-Publication Censorship (Scandinavia) Commentary: [1]
1781Chodowiecki's Allegory 'Works of Darkness' (Germany)
1785* Austrian Statutes on Censorship and Printing (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1791* Le Chapelier's report (France) 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)
1815* Annotated Publishers' Petition to the Congress of Vienna (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1826* Minutes of the 1825-1826 Commission (France)
1832Select Committee Report: Dramatic Literature (United Kingdom)
1832Parliamentary Debates on Drama and Dramatic Literature (31 May) (United Kingdom)
1833Parliamentary Debates on the Dramatic Literary Property Act (12 March) (United Kingdom)
1837* Directive for reciprocal copyright protection within the German Confederation (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1838* Remarks on Literary Property (Spain)
1840* Bilateral Treaty between Austria and Sardinia (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1841* Report of Lamartine and parliamentary debates on literary property (France)
1868* Proudhon: 'Les Majorats littéraires' (France)