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for the harmfulness of reprinting            415

deliberations, and to submit a formal report on this to
the Emperor and the Empire *)
      *) Electoral Capitulation, Art.VIII, §.3.

§.13

      The author of this essay is pursuing no other
intention than that of promoting what is best for
literature, the book trade, and the reading public.
Neither northern nor southern Germany, neither
wholesale book traders, nor retail booksellers,
neither the wealthier book-lover, who is able to
spend considerable sums on expensive editions
and on freshly published books, nor the poorer
friend of books, who has to take care that his
purse will last him for the whole year, neither
the writer who is fortunate to be in a well-off
position, nor the humble inhabitant of a garret,
receive any special or preferential treatment on
the author's part. He is and remains firmly

[Col. 2]

convinced that the decline of literature, of the
book trade, of good taste, the increase in book
prices, the excessive fees commanded by authors in
some cases, are all consequences of reprinting; and
that once reprinting has been extirpated, and the
book industry, by virtue of its commercial nature,
taken under the supervision of the sovereign authori-
ties, all these deleterious consequences will
automatically disappear. He confidently invokes the
testimony of all statesmen who are in charge of
commercial matters, and who will vouchsafe that it
is not necessary - nay, that it is most harmful - to
publicly fix the price of a specific commodity,
since complete security of property, protection
against deceit, facilitation of the means of redress,
etc. will stimulate competition amongst the
sellers, the result of which is to bring about
the cheapest possible price for the commodity
being sold.

      Regensburg, printed with a [Lang ?] typeface,
1790.