PRIMARY SOURCES

ON COPYRIGHT

(1450-1900)

Defoe's Essay on the Press, London (1704)

Source: National Editor's personal collection: Facsimile Edition, (Oxford: Luttrell Society, 1947)

Citation:
Defoe's Essay on the Press, London (1704), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org

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Record-ID: uk_1704

Permanent link: https://copyrighthistory.org/cam/tools/request/showRecord.php?id=record_uk_1704

Full title:
An Essay on the Regulation of the Press

Full title original language:
N/A

Abstract:
Treatise in which Daniel Defoe sets out his arguments concerning the importance of maintaining a free press, as well as the need to provide for a statutory protection to prevent the 'press-piracy' of published books. Defoe sets out various public interest arguments concerning the encouragement of learning, industry and the arts, in support of his case for the introduction of copyright legislation. The commentary describes part of the background to the passing of the Statute of Anne 1710 (uk_1710), in particular: the various unsuccessful attempts to reintroduce an alternative to the Licensing Act 1662 (uk_1662); Defoe's public writing on the need for, and social value of, copyright protection; and the influence of his writings in providing the Company of Stationers with a new rhetorical strategy with which to lobby parliament and secure the passing of the Statute of Anne.

1 Commentary:
commentary_uk_1704

Bibliography:
  • Rose, M., Authors and Owners: The Invention of Copyright (London: Harvard University Press, 1993)

  • Feather, J., 'The Book Trade in Politics: The Making of the Copyright Act of 1710', Publishing History, 8 (1980): 19-44

  • Downie, J.A., Robert Harley and the Press: Propaganda and Public Opinion in the Age of Swift and Defoe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1978)


Related documents in this database:
1706: Reasons Humbly Offer'd for the Bill for the Encouragement of Learning

Author: Daniel Defoe

Publisher: N/A

Year: 1704

Location: London

Language: English

Source: National Editor's personal collection: Facsimile Edition, (Oxford: Luttrell Society, 1947)

Persons referred to:
Anderton, William
Aristotle
Athanasius, St
Augustine, St
Baxter, Richard
Charles II
Cicero, Marcus Tullius
Coward, William
Defoe, Daniel
Epictetus
Filmer, Sir Robert
Horace
James I
Livy
Louis XIV
Ovid
Plato
Plutarch
Richelieu, Armand Jean Duplessis, Cardinal de
Sidney, Algernon
Virgil
William III

Places referred to:
England
Europe
France

Cases referred to:
N/A

Institutions referred to:
Church of England
Parliament
Royal Academy

Legislation:
N/A

Keywords:
Stationers' Company
abridgements
authenticity
censorship
interest groups
learning, the advancement of
moral rights, integrity
piracy
property analogies
public good
reprints

Responsible editor: Ronan Deazley


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