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'Books Constitution' of Emperor Rudolf II, Leipzig (1713)
Source: Universitätsbibliothek Freiburg R 633
Citation:
'Books Constitution' of Emperor Rudolf II, Leipzig (1713), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org
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on [the title-page] of every book, / without
deceit / or fraud. In order to make it easier for
you to carry out all this, / we want / every book
printer, / trader, / or seller / to show you an
index of all his books / before he actually
opens his store-house and shop / and starts
selling any books; / he must also give you
credible information / as to how and in what
fashion he has been authorised to print these
books. / Should he not have an Imperial
privilege for a given book, / he must without
fail deliver / or hand to you / a copy of it / so
that you may then forward it to our Imperial
Chancellery. Furthermore, since we have
received reliable information that a certain trick
is being resorted to by some book printers and
sellers: / namely, that on [the title-pages of]
some of their books / they are often keen on
printing the following words: “CUM GRATIA ET
PRIVILEGIO” [“with grace and privilege”], even
though neither the one nor the other has been
requested, / still less obtained, / by them –
which is not at all unlike a fraud, / especially /
given that the word they are trying to imply /
should follow naturally from the preceding
phrase is: “CAESAREO” [“Imperial ” – i.e. so
that the Latin phrase would read: “With
Imperial grace and privilege”], / which they
have cunningly left out. – since under this
pretence many preposterous things are
smuggled into [the Empire] / and put to print,
whereby these printers and sellers are venturing
/ to harm Our Imperial reputation / and to save
on the fee which they would otherwise be due,
and this is something that from now on is by no
means to be permitted, / still less to be tolerated
or consented to any extent, / we therefore want
you to investigate this diligently, / and should
you discover anything of the sort, / you are to
undertake, / with the help of the mayor and city
council of Frankfurt / if necessary, / the
confiscation [of such books] and further
punishment regardless [of who the offenders
are].
Since in the drafting of the Catalogus
Librorum [Catalogue of Books], inaccuracies
have also kept coming into notice to no less an
extent – / nay, many Catholic books are even
omitted completely! – / it is our most gracious
will and decision that, / in order to obviate this,
/ before the Catalogus
[Column 2]
novorum librorum [Catalogue of New Books]
is printed, / it is to be scrutinized by you / and
corrected where necessary. To prevent you
from suffering any hindrances on the part of
the mayor and city council of Frankfurt when
carrying this out, / we have already, / as you
may see from the decree, / notified them of all
the necessary [legislation], / being confident /
that they will assist you in every possible way.
Moreover, to prevent the secrets, /
reports, and votes / of our Imperial Chamber
Court / from being printed indiscriminately, /
without us or our Imperial Supreme Court
having been informed beforehand, / and thus
exposed to everyone’s eyes in this completely
punishable way, / we hereby command you / to
earnestly / and categorically / prohibit, / in our
place / and name, / all book printers, / traders, /
and sellers – / on pain of incurring our great
displeasure and becoming liable to punishment –
/ from printing, / carrying about, / offering
for sale, / and selling any such materials in
future, / except where they have obtained our /
or the Imperial Chamber Court’s / explicit
approval and permission.
And finally, / in the case of all old and
new / privileged books / for which we have not
yet received the due number of copies, / you
are to demand and obtain these without delay,
in exchange for a receipt [which you are to
issue to the booksellers concerned], / and then
send them to us. You are to do this at all future
[book] fairs / and must also notify, / in our
name, / the booksellers and printers attending
them / that they have to observe this regulation
/ if they wish to avoid coming to grief. By
carrying out all this, you are fulfilling our will
and decision, / and all and sundry of you can
count on our Imperial favour and good-will.
Issued in Our Royal castle in Prague, / on 15
March 1608. In the 33rd year of Our Reign / as
Roman Emperor, / the 36th year of Our Reign
in Hungary, / and, again, the 33rd year of Our
Reign in Bohemia.
Rudolph.
No Transcription available.
Source: Universitätsbibliothek Freiburg R 633
Citation:
'Books Constitution' of Emperor Rudolf II, Leipzig (1713), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org
Back | Record | Images | Commentaries: [1]
Translation only | Transcription only | Show all | Bundled images as pdf
on [the title-page] of every book, / without
deceit / or fraud. In order to make it easier for
you to carry out all this, / we want / every book
printer, / trader, / or seller / to show you an
index of all his books / before he actually
opens his store-house and shop / and starts
selling any books; / he must also give you
credible information / as to how and in what
fashion he has been authorised to print these
books. / Should he not have an Imperial
privilege for a given book, / he must without
fail deliver / or hand to you / a copy of it / so
that you may then forward it to our Imperial
Chancellery. Furthermore, since we have
received reliable information that a certain trick
is being resorted to by some book printers and
sellers: / namely, that on [the title-pages of]
some of their books / they are often keen on
printing the following words: “CUM GRATIA ET
PRIVILEGIO” [“with grace and privilege”], even
though neither the one nor the other has been
requested, / still less obtained, / by them –
which is not at all unlike a fraud, / especially /
given that the word they are trying to imply /
should follow naturally from the preceding
phrase is: “CAESAREO” [“Imperial ” – i.e. so
that the Latin phrase would read: “With
Imperial grace and privilege”], / which they
have cunningly left out. – since under this
pretence many preposterous things are
smuggled into [the Empire] / and put to print,
whereby these printers and sellers are venturing
/ to harm Our Imperial reputation / and to save
on the fee which they would otherwise be due,
and this is something that from now on is by no
means to be permitted, / still less to be tolerated
or consented to any extent, / we therefore want
you to investigate this diligently, / and should
you discover anything of the sort, / you are to
undertake, / with the help of the mayor and city
council of Frankfurt / if necessary, / the
confiscation [of such books] and further
punishment regardless [of who the offenders
are].
Since in the drafting of the Catalogus
Librorum [Catalogue of Books], inaccuracies
have also kept coming into notice to no less an
extent – / nay, many Catholic books are even
omitted completely! – / it is our most gracious
will and decision that, / in order to obviate this,
/ before the Catalogus
novorum librorum [Catalogue of New Books]
is printed, / it is to be scrutinized by you / and
corrected where necessary. To prevent you
from suffering any hindrances on the part of
the mayor and city council of Frankfurt when
carrying this out, / we have already, / as you
may see from the decree, / notified them of all
the necessary [legislation], / being confident /
that they will assist you in every possible way.
Moreover, to prevent the secrets, /
reports, and votes / of our Imperial Chamber
Court / from being printed indiscriminately, /
without us or our Imperial Supreme Court
having been informed beforehand, / and thus
exposed to everyone’s eyes in this completely
punishable way, / we hereby command you / to
earnestly / and categorically / prohibit, / in our
place / and name, / all book printers, / traders, /
and sellers – / on pain of incurring our great
displeasure and becoming liable to punishment –
/ from printing, / carrying about, / offering
for sale, / and selling any such materials in
future, / except where they have obtained our /
or the Imperial Chamber Court’s / explicit
approval and permission.
And finally, / in the case of all old and
new / privileged books / for which we have not
yet received the due number of copies, / you
are to demand and obtain these without delay,
in exchange for a receipt [which you are to
issue to the booksellers concerned], / and then
send them to us. You are to do this at all future
[book] fairs / and must also notify, / in our
name, / the booksellers and printers attending
them / that they have to observe this regulation
/ if they wish to avoid coming to grief. By
carrying out all this, you are fulfilling our will
and decision, / and all and sundry of you can
count on our Imperial favour and good-will.
Issued in Our Royal castle in Prague, / on 15
March 1608. In the 33rd year of Our Reign / as
Roman Emperor, / the 36th year of Our Reign
in Hungary, / and, again, the 33rd year of Our
Reign in Bohemia.
Rudolph.
No Transcription available.