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STATUTES
AND REGULATIONS FOR THE
PRINTERS AND BOOKSELLERS
OF PARIS

Registered in Parlement, on 21 August 1686.
            [Published on 11 January 1687 in the Syndical Chamber]

      LOUIS by the Grace of God, King of France
& of Navarre: To all those who are present & yet to come,
GREETINGS. As a result of our Royal predecessors having
made several Ordinances & Regulations concerning
Printing & the Book Trade, the impressions
carried out in this Kingdom were taken by
this means to such a degree of perfection that they have
been much appreciated & sought after above all others
in foreign Countries, & this success having since
caused several excellent Works [Ouvrages] to be brought to light,
a great trade [commerce] in these was carried on over a long
succession of years, & [all this] right until the most recent times, when
all sorts of people without skills, without experience.
& without any of the other qualities required
by the said Ordinances & Regulations, have been
indiscriminately & in large numbers allowed to exercise the
Profession of Master Printers & Booksellers; wherefrom
several great disorders have resulted which have been
detrimental to the State. Wishing not only to remedy
this, but also to restore, by our solicitude &
by new Regulations, the beauty & perfection
of printing & commerce with good Books, above
all in our good City of Paris, where the Professions
of Printers & Booksellers have been so thriving,
& where this restoration is all the more necessary,
since it can be useful for Religion, & is one of the
principal means which We can avail ourselves of,
in order to augment, embellish & preserve the Sciences &
fine Arts. FOR THESE REASONS, & others which
compel us to this, after having arranged that We might
be shown the Ordinances of our Royal predecessors, regarding
Printing & the Book Trade, & the Statutes of the Printers
& Booksellers of our good City of Paris, [We]