PRIMARY SOURCES

ON COPYRIGHT

(1450-1900)

Engravers' Copyright Act, London (1735)

Source: Durham University Library

Citation:
Engravers' Copyright Act, London (1735), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org

Back | Record | Images | Commentaries: [1]
Record-ID: uk_1735

Permanent link: https://copyrighthistory.org/cam/tools/request/showRecord.php?id=record_uk_1735

Full title:
An Act for the encouragement of the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints, by vesting the properties thereof in the inventors and engravers, during the time therein mentioned, 1735, 8 Geo. II, c.13

Full title original language:
N/A

Abstract:
Legislation conferring exclusive rights, for a period of 14 years, on persons inventing and designing engravings and similar works. This was first occasion on which British copyright legislation extended to something other than literary works. The commentary describes the background to the Act, in particular the lobbying efforts of a small group of artists and engravers led by William Hogarth, and details similarities and differences which the legislation bore to the Statute of Anne 1710. The commentary suggests that, whereas the Statute of Anne essentially sought to regulate the production of the physical book, with the Engravers' Act the legislature began to articulate a more subtle distinction between the physical object and the subject of copyright protection, which was in this case, the engraved image.

1 Commentary:
commentary_uk_1735

Bibliography:
  • Paulson, R., Hogarth: His Life, Art, and Times, 2 vols. (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1971)

  • Paulson, R., Hogarth's Graphic Works, 2 vols. (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1965)

  • Hunter, D., 'Copyright Protection for Engravings and Maps in Eighteenth-Century Britain', The Library, 6th ser., 9 (1987): 128-47

  • Deazley, R., On the Origin of the Right to Copy: Charting the Movement of Copyright Law in Eighteenth Century Britain (1695-1775) (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2004)


Related documents in this database:
1735: The Case of Designers, Engravers, Etchers, &c.
1735: Engravers' Copyright Act (parchment copy)
1766: Engravers' Copyright Act
1777: Engravers' Copyright Act

Author: N/A

Publisher: N/A

Year: 1735

Location: London

Language: English

Source: Durham University Library

Persons referred to:
George II
Pine, John

Places referred to:
Westminster

Cases referred to:
N/A

Institutions referred to:
N/A

Legislation:
Engravers' Copyright Act, 1735, 8 Geo.II, c.13

Keywords:
art market
authorship, legal concept of
copying, concept of
engravings, protected subject matter
idea/expression
lobbying
replica

Responsible editor: Ronan Deazley


Copyright History resource developed in partnership with:

Our Partners

Copyright statement

You may copy and distribute the translations and commentaries in this resource, or parts of such translations and commentaries, in any medium, for non-commercial purposes as long as the authorship of the commentaries and translations is acknowledged, and you indicate the source as Bently & Kretschmer (eds), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900) (www.copyrighthistory.org).

With the exception of commentaries that are available under a CC-BY licence (compliant with UKRI policy) you may not publish individual documents or parts of the database for any commercial purposes, including charging a fee for providing access to these documents via a network. This licence does not affect your statutory rights of fair dealing.

Although the original documents in this database are in the public domain, we are unable to grant you the right to reproduce or duplicate some of these documents in so far as the images or scans are protected by copyright or we have only been able to reproduce them here by giving contractual undertakings. For the status of any particular images, please consult the information relating to copyright in the bibliographic records.

Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900) is co-published by Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge, 10 West Road, Cambridge CB3 9DZ, UK and CREATe, School of Law, University of Glasgow, 10 The Square, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK