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 privileges

Back | 75 results(* indicates core document)

1479* Privilege of the Prince-Bishop of Würzburg (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1502Privilege of the Imperial Senate for Works of Conrad Celtis (Germany)
1511* Imperial Privilege for Arnolt Schlick (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1512Lyrical Reference to an Imperial privilege for Arnolt Schlick (Germany)
1513* Imperial privilege for Eucharius Rösslin (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1515Imperial Privilege for Konrad Peutinger (Germany)
1516Imperial Privilege for Johannes Eck (Germany)
1517Privilege of the Duke of Bavaria (Germany)
1531* Basel Printers' Statute (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1534Privilege of the Elector of Saxony (Germany)
1539Appointment of Academic Printer at the University of Copenhagen (Scandinavia)
1545* Luther's 'Warning to the Printers' (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1546* Privilege Granted to Enea Vico (Parmigiano) (Italy) Commentary: [1]
1556 (1555 m.v.)* Privilege Granted to Antonio Floriano (Italy) Commentary: [1]
1556* Privilege Granted to Giovanni Ostaus (Italy) Commentary: [1]
1559* Privilege for printing music for the Indies (Spain) Commentary: [1]
1604* Petition for licence and privilege by Cervantes (Spain) Commentary: [1]
1605* Don Quixote’s Privilege (Spain)
1605* Don Quixote’s Privilege Extensions (Spain)
1614* Publishing Agreement: the Spanish translation of Ludovico Blosio oeuvre (Spain)
1618* Book trade regulations and incorporation of the Parisian book trade (France) Commentary: [1]
1618Daniel's The Collection of the Historie of England (United Kingdom)
1650s* Vitré's memorandum on the prolongation of privileges (France)
1658* Schupp: The Book Thief (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1660* Frankfurt Printers' Ordinance (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1665* French book trade regulations (France)
1673Nuremberg Printers' Ordinance (Germany)
1675* Counterfeited Privilege in Grimmelshausen's 'The Magic Bird's Nest' (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1686* Book trade regulations (France)
1688Establishment of a Printing Press in Iceland (Scandinavia) Commentary: [1]
1690Beier: On the Book Trade and its Privileges (Germany)
1701* Royal letters patent (France) Commentary: [1]
1713* 'Books Constitution' of Emperor Rudolf II (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1721Printer Joachim Wielandt's Privilege for Popular Chapbooks, Denmark–Norway (Scandinavia) Commentary: [1]
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* Louis d'Héricourt's memorandum (France) Commentary: [1]
1737Privilege of Printing Pontoppidan's Catechism Granted to the Royal Orphanage (Scandinavia)
1738* Thurneysen: On the Illicit Reprinting of Books (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1740* Encyclopaedia Article on 'The Reprinting of Books' (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1750Fritsch: Treatise on Book Printers, Booksellers, Paper Manufacturers and Bookbinders (Germany)
1752* Privilege Tranfers: Contract between Antonio Sanz and his bookseller (Spain)
1762* Tonson v. Collins (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1]
1763* Diderot's Letter on the book trade (France) Commentary: [1]
1764Licence to Establish an Office of Advertisements in the City of Bergen (Scandinavia) Commentary: [1]
1765Reich v. Pauli (Germany)
1766* The Swedish Freedom of the Press Ordinance (Scandinavia) Commentary: [1]
1773* Saxonian Statute (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1776* Gaultier's memorandum for the provincial booksellers (France) Commentary: [1]
1777* French Decree of 30 August 1777, on the duration of privileges (France) Commentary: [1]
1778* Pluquet's letters (France) Commentary: [1]
1780Venetian Reprint of the French Decree of 30 August 1777, on the duration of privileges (Italy)
1790* Sieyès' report (France) Commentary: [1]
1791* Le Chapelier's report (France) Commentary: [1]
1792* Barcelona Newspaper' Printing Privilege (Spain)
1793* Fichte: Proof of the Unlawfulness of Reprinting (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1794* Prussian Statute Book (ALR) (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1796Lobethan: On Publishers' Privileges (Germany)
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)
1827* Treaties on reciprocal protection between Prussia and various German States (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1832* Gans: On the right to perform published stage plays (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1834* Privilege to the Royal Lithographic Establishment (Spain)
1838* Remarks on Literary Property (Spain)
1841* Report of Lamartine and parliamentary debates on literary property (France)
1842* Lowndes' Historical Sketch of the Law of Copyright (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1]
1853* Bluntschli: On Authors' Rights (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1868* Proudhon: 'Les Majorats littéraires' (France)
1869* Court of Cassation on originality (France) Commentary: [1]
1870* Copyright Act for the German Empire (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1876* Copyright Acts for the German Empire regarding works of art, photography, and designs (Germany) Commentary: [1]
1878* Morillot on the author's right (France)
1880* Kohler: Author's Right (Germany) Commentary: [1]