PRIMARY SOURCES

ON COPYRIGHT

(1450-1900)

Galliot Du Pré's Privilege (1515)

Source: Bibliothèque municipale de Beaune

Citation:
Galliot Du Pré's Privilege (1515), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org

Back | Record | Images | Commentaries: [1]
Record-ID: f_1515

Permanent link: https://copyrighthistory.org/cam/tools/request/showRecord.php?id=record_f_1515

Full title:
Privilege granted to the printer Galliot Du Pré for 'Le Grand Coutumier de France'

Full title original language:
N/A

Abstract:
The privilege granted by the Royal Chancery to Galliot Du Pré, a renowned Parisian bookseller, was one of the first of its kind in France. It was obtained in May 1514 from Louis XII, to be definitively confirmed by his successor Francis I in 1515. At a time when the book trade was growing rapidly, in particular from the beginning of the sixteenth century, exclusive rights (exclusivity, or 'l'exclusif', as Diderot would later put it) over a publication appeared to be, as in all Europe, the most obvious means to protect this new market and its protagonists, printers and booksellers, but also authors (see f_1507 for the latter). In a world where the freedom to print and publish was still the rule, before the development of censorship, the request for a precious royal monopoly had to be grounded on some simple rationales: particularly economic ones, that is, to protect the hazardous investments involved in this new trade, especially if these financial risks were being taken in order to publish useful and interesting books for the king's subjects. Consequently, privileges were not conceded as a recognition of a pre-existing right, and had, in particular, to be limited in duration.

1 Commentary:
commentary_f_1515

Bibliography:
N/A

Related documents in this database:
1507: Eloy d'Amerval's privilege
1552: General privilege granted to Adrien Le Roy and Robert Ballard

Author: N/A

Publisher: N/A

Year: 1515

Location: N/A

Language: French

Source: Bibliothèque municipale de Beaune

Persons referred to:
Du Pré, Galliot
Francis I
Louis XII

Places referred to:
Paris

Cases referred to:
N/A

Institutions referred to:
King's Council of State (France)
Provostship of Paris

Legislation:
N/A

Keywords:
book market
book trade
classics, Greek and Latin
duration
humanism
novelty
patronage
privileges, French
privileges, printing
reprints

Responsible editor: Frédéric Rideau


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