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Decree on Engravings, Paris (1660)
Source: Bibliothèque nationale de France : Mss. Fr. 22119 n°21
Citation:
Decree on Engravings, Paris (1660), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org
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ters and Print-sellers in a Trade Corporation
of the City, Provostship and Viscountcy of Paris, in the manner
of the other trades, and granting him the Profit that
might accrue from it, to the Lieutenant Civil and His
Majesty's Procureur at the Chastelet, in order that, having heard the said
Printmakers and Sellers, having been advised by them as to the con-
venience or inconvenience of the said establishment, and given the said advice,
reason gives orders as follows. HIS MAJESTY having
since been informed of the evil consequences to which
the implementation of this Decree and advice could give rise
for the glory of France, whose asset it is to cultivate the liberal
Arts as much as possible, including that of printmaking,
engraving and etching, which depend on
the imagination of its authors, and cannot be subject to any
other laws than those of genius; that this art bears no
comparison with other trades and manufactures; that none
of its works being among the number of necessities
that maintain the subsistence of civil society, [being]
of those only which serve to decorate, to please and to
entertain, the sale of which depends, consequently, on chance
and desire, it should be entirely free; That to reduce it
to a Guild would be to subjugate the nobility of this Art
at the discretion of a few private Individuals who know
it not, the exercise of which could not be made regular
and predictable because the manner of each Author of
a Print is different to that of every other, diversity being
there as great and many as there can be intentions:
finally, that as often as one of his Subjects,
motivated by personal interest, have previously
given comparable advice to His Majesty or to his
Predecessors, either on the feasibility of a Guild
or for the Control of Production, or on other
pretexts, His Majesty and his Predecessors have always
rejected them, and the Judges have dismissed them as contrary
to the glory that a flourishing Kingdom acquires by the good
treatment it extends to the liberal Arts: and because, instead of
opening the door to Foreigners, whose genius and courage
is elevated above the ordinary, it bars their entry,
by threatening them with constraints that are not
to be found among the less regulated Nations
No Transcription available.
Source: Bibliothèque nationale de France : Mss. Fr. 22119 n°21
Citation:
Decree on Engravings, Paris (1660), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org
Back | Record | Images | No Commentaries
Translation only | Transcription only | Show all | Bundled images as pdf
ters and Print-sellers in a Trade Corporation
of the City, Provostship and Viscountcy of Paris, in the manner
of the other trades, and granting him the Profit that
might accrue from it, to the Lieutenant Civil and His
Majesty's Procureur at the Chastelet, in order that, having heard the said
Printmakers and Sellers, having been advised by them as to the con-
venience or inconvenience of the said establishment, and given the said advice,
reason gives orders as follows. HIS MAJESTY having
since been informed of the evil consequences to which
the implementation of this Decree and advice could give rise
for the glory of France, whose asset it is to cultivate the liberal
Arts as much as possible, including that of printmaking,
engraving and etching, which depend on
the imagination of its authors, and cannot be subject to any
other laws than those of genius; that this art bears no
comparison with other trades and manufactures; that none
of its works being among the number of necessities
that maintain the subsistence of civil society, [being]
of those only which serve to decorate, to please and to
entertain, the sale of which depends, consequently, on chance
and desire, it should be entirely free; That to reduce it
to a Guild would be to subjugate the nobility of this Art
at the discretion of a few private Individuals who know
it not, the exercise of which could not be made regular
and predictable because the manner of each Author of
a Print is different to that of every other, diversity being
there as great and many as there can be intentions:
finally, that as often as one of his Subjects,
motivated by personal interest, have previously
given comparable advice to His Majesty or to his
Predecessors, either on the feasibility of a Guild
or for the Control of Production, or on other
pretexts, His Majesty and his Predecessors have always
rejected them, and the Judges have dismissed them as contrary
to the glory that a flourishing Kingdom acquires by the good
treatment it extends to the liberal Arts: and because, instead of
opening the door to Foreigners, whose genius and courage
is elevated above the ordinary, it bars their entry,
by threatening them with constraints that are not
to be found among the less regulated Nations
No Transcription available.