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Louis d'Héricourt's memorandum, Paris (1725-1726)
Source: Bibliothèque nationale de France : Mss. Fr. 22072 n° 62
Citation:
Louis d'Héricourt's memorandum, Paris (1725-1726), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org
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12 translated pages
Chapter 1 Page 1
TO HIS LORDSHIP
THE KEEPER OF THE SEALS.
My Lord,
The Community of Sworn Booksellers and Printers of the University
of Paris, alarmed by the urgent and energetic solicitation of your
Lordship by Booksellers of the Provinces in favour of the withdrawal of
Privileges accorded to the Booksellers of Paris for the printing of Books,
observes in all humility that the proposals of the provincial Booksellers
is in such direct opposition to reason, natural equity, and the Laws and
Customs of the Realm, that it is astonishing that they should have dared
to apply to the Magistrate in sole charge of the administration of Justice
and the harmony of the State for the authorization of an enterprise so
injurious to both.
Two propositions based on those principles which form the deepest
bond of all well-policed Societies, and two consequences which follow
necessarily from them, will make this truth quite obvious and, by dispelling
irrevocably the specious pretext of the Public Good which the Booksellers of
the Provinces have abused in order to take advantage of Your Lordship's
Religion, will restore to the Booksellers of Paris their peace of mind and
the honour of Your Lordship's Protection, of which these people strive to
deprive them; and will at the same time allow the domain of Letters to retain
the advantages it has found for so long in Privileges and in the Protection
which our Kings have hitherto seen fit to bestow upon it.
Since the maxims which we shall offer in opposition to the proposals of
our Adversaries have their origin in Public Law and in the Law of the People,
we do not feel able to proceed without a preliminary observation concerning
the principles which they provide; not
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only because this first observation will be the base and
foundation of the methods established in what follows, but
moreover because it alone would almost suffice to make palpable
the odiousness of these Booksellers' conduct, which consists in
requesting that the Protector of Justice clothe them in the
skinned hides of their Brothers, in contempt of that which men
should hold most sacred; and in demanding for their own ends the
destruction of the most important principles of Society.
We are all indeed aware that men intended by Nature for
Society, and thus for work which is its bond, necessarily form a
society in each state, to the benefit of which they mutually apply
their talents for the common good, and within which they have the
right to live by their labour, and to obtain from their industry a
legitimate profit which they may possess in confidence and peace of
mind, in order to provide for themselves and their families the
commodities of life; and to this end it is always necessary that they
retain a permanent and immutable right of property over the items
which they transfer to one another by sale, exchange, or otherwise,
without which their work would become useless; and they would
necessarily descend into a pernicious idleness if their liberty in
this respect were infringed even slightly.
It is also to prevent these disadvantages, and to stimulate men
to work, that reason has dictated to the wisest of them those Laws
which still serve amongst us as the rules of our Trade, and as
guarantees of our agreements.
Following these principles, which once set out require no further
proof, and whose fairness and necessity has been felt by all Nations,
there is no doubt that the fruit of men's labour in relation to the
state in which a Society is found represents the most significant
portion of their wealth, particularly as concerns businessmen; there is
thus no doubt that neither Citizens nor Foreigners may be permitted to
deprive men of the fruit of their labour without incurring the just
punishment that the Laws provide for those who disturb the public order.
FIRST PROPOSITION
It is certain, according to the principles just established, that it
is not by royal Privilege that Booksellers become the owners of the Works
they print, but solely by their acquisition of the Manuscript, the property
of which the author transfers to the Bookseller by means of the payment he
receives in return; the truth of this proposition can be demonstrated by two
observations which are as simple as they are natural.
Firstly, a Manuscript, in so far as it is not inimical to
Religion, the Laws of the State, and the interests of private Individuals, is
so much the property of its Author, that it is no more permissible to deprive
him of it than it is to deprive him of money, goods, or even land; since, as
we have observed, it is the fruit of his personal labour, which he must be at
liberty
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to dispose of as he pleases, in order to obtain, in addition to the
glory to which he might aspire, a profit which might supply his own
needs, and even those of any persons who are connected to him, be
it by blood, friendship, or gratitude.
Secondly, following this, if the Author is the owner indefinitely
and therefore the sole master of his Work, only he or his representatives
may legitimately transfer it to another person, and relinquish his
rights to it in favour of that person: thus the King, having no right
to the Work for as long as the Author is alive or is represented by his
heirs or Beneficiaries, is unable to transfer it by means of a Privilege
to anyone, without the consent of its rightful owner.
This truth, which is founded on the principles we have established,
is moreover confirmed by the authority of the ancient Edicts and
Proclamations of our past Kings concerning Printing, in which we find the
origin of the Privileges that Booksellers must obtain from the King before
printing literary works, and the sensible reasoning behind this old custom
which, far from encroaching upon the property rights of Authors to their
Works, or upon those of the Booksellers to whom they transmit their rights,
serves instead only to establish those same rights, and to ensure the
status of both parties.
For almost a century, from the invention of the Printing press to
around 1550, Authors and Booksellers, by virtue of the Liberty common to
all men, printed their Works without being required to obtain permission to
do so from the King; but as the abuse of this precious gift of Nature began
to become dangerous to Society; as all and sundry printed whatever they
pleased, to the discredit of Religion, the Laws of the State, and the peace,
Henri II and after him Charles IX were obliged, in order to set just
boundaries upon this licence, not to appropriate for themselves the Works of
the Men of Letters of their age to dispose of them as they pleased, but
simply to forbid by Edict (the Edicts of 1547 and 1563) the printing of any
Work which had not previously been examined by the King's Council and
authorized by a Privilege marked with the Great Seal, which was accorded
after examination of the Work, once it was found not to contain anything
inimical to Religion, the Laws of State, and the honour and interests of
Private Individuals; this was renewed by the Assemblée des États held at
Moulins in 1566.
Louis XIII, in the same spirit and with the same objectives,
confirmed these Edicts with an Order in January 1626 which contains word for
word the same provisions that we have just described; and these prohibitions
were again renewed by a Proclamation of the same Prince made 27 December 1627,
and finally by a Proclamation in the form of a Judgement of the late King of
glorious memory, made 29 April 1678. The rights of Authors and Booksellers
having thus been in no way infringed, the Common Law of the Realm subsists
in its entirety, and the King consequently having no rights upon
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the Works of Authors cannot transfer them to anyone without the consent
of their current legitimate owners.
In accordance with these principles, and remaining strictly within
the spirit of the Edicts and Proclamations of which we have just spoken,
there should be no doubt that the Privileges which Authors and Booksellers
are currently obliged to obtain for the printing of Literary Works may
only be considered as authentic authorizations, intended on the one hand
to provide Safety for the Bookseller and to place him above molestation
should a Work subsequently be found to contain something contrary to the
ideas of the government; and on the other hand, to reassure the Public
that they may read the Work without fear, in the knowledge that it
contains nothing inimical to Religion, to the rights of the King, or to
Private Individuals.
Such is certainly the exact idea of the privilege, whereby we may
suggest with confidence that the King himself, as a result of his own Laws,
finds himself fortunately unable to withdraw those Privileges which he has
accorded to a Bookseller who owns a Manuscript, in favour of another who
has no right to the it; because these sorts of Privileges are not merely
signs of his generosity and of the Protection with which he honours
Learned Men and Booksellers, but a form of justice which he delivers in
order to stimulate them to work for the glory of his Realm, and for the
benefit of his people.
These rules seem to us all the more inviolable, since they are
founded in justice and reason, and confirmed by the customs of the
centuries which have passed since the invention of the printing press
to the present.
SECOND PROPOSITION
The Manuscripts which Booksellers purchase from Authors, as well as
the Texts of Books which they acquire in establishing themselves in this
kind of Business, are in and of themselves genuine possessions, of the
same nature as those which fall within the domain of trade in civil
Society; and they must therefore be subject to the same Laws which
guarantee the status of all other possessions of men, be it land, houses,
movables, or whatever else.
To prove this second proposition, one need only join the principles
established at the beginning of this Memorandum with some reflections
specifically concerning the productions of Men of Letters which, when
applied to Booksellers, will allow for no doubt as to the certainty of
what we have argued so far, in particular regarding the current situation
in this kind of Trade, in which the tradesman's fortune consists of nothing
more that the property of those Works which he purchases, and which make up
his stock.
We have already shown, in establishing the first proposition
concerning the Privileges which the King grants Booksellers for printing,
how the Works of Authors
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are goods of which the Authors may not be deprived. Let us now
examine if these Authors may transfer this right of property with
the same extent and strength it had when in their possession, and
thus whether Literary Works do not count among those things which,
like all others, fall within the domain of human commerce, that is
to say, whether they do not constitute an advantage and even an
absolute necessity; as it is this alone in our society which makes
legitimate any kind of commerce.
If men were, like animals, a crude assemblage of
organised material, whose needs were limited to the upkeep of
their own persons; and, being subject only to the Laws of Nature
while ignorant of their Author, were unable to deviate from them,
then agriculture and manual work would meet their needs, and they
would have use neither for Learned Men, nor for their Works; but
as their existence is not limited to the short duration of their
bodies, and as they have moreover the power to deviate from the
rules which nature and reason prescribe for them; and as the
majority of them abuse this precious advantage only too frequently,
to the detriment of Society, they require a Religion to regulate
their inner selves, civil and political Laws to repress their
passions; it is therefore necessary that there exist among them not
only men who know these laws and may ensure that they are observed,
as well as men to teach them to those who will go on to instruct
others, but also men who reduce these laws to principles for the
benefit of both these groups, and who add to them the discoveries
which experience and profound meditation have led them to make.
In order that these great men may be in a position to apply
their talents for the benefit of the Society to which they find
themselves attached by inclination or by Nature, it is necessary
that they be able to draw from their precious industry advantages
proportionate to the importance of their labour, and the utility
which the Public may find in it; and to this end, it is essential
that they may transfer the property of it and the benefit it yields
to whomsoever they choose: which may only be done by means of Trade,
and only insofar as those individuals to whom they transfer their
Works may remain Owners of those Works for as long as they see fit,
or transfer the Works to others, who may in turn draw from them a
benefit proportionate to the amount they will have paid and to the
pains they will have taken to allow the Public to profit, since
without this the Work of a man of Letters becomes useless, remaining
always in his possession; which is what would happen if there were no
advantage to him in transferring it, and the body of the State would
then be deprived of the utility it might have found in it.
These principles may be naturally applied in a very simple
argument. If literary productions occupy the first rank of all human
productions in terms of the benefit they provide, it is in the common
interest that they be transferable: if they are to be transferable,
Authors must be able to transmit them to others by the channels of
sale or exchange; so literary productions are amongst the things which
fall within
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the domain of Commerce, like all other productions of industry; and in
necessary consequence the Laws of the Realm, which have been produced
by Commerce and Industry in order to guarantee the status of Citizens'
agreements, must be applied in particular to those agreements made
between Authors and Booksellers.
Now there is no doubt that under the law, the owner of a thing,
in passing it to another person by the channels of sale or exchange,
transfers to the new owner the same rights that he had over the item
which he relinquishes. We have already shown how the Author of a Work
is the master of that Work to such an extent that he may not be
deprived of it without injustice; that the same Work, fruit of his
intelligence, falls within the domain of Commerce along with all other
productions of industry; and finally, that the individuals to whom he
sees fit to transfer it immediately acquire all the same rights over
the item that he transmits to them; so a Bookseller who has acquired a
Manuscript, in which nothing has been found contrary to Religion, the
Laws of the State, or to the interests of Private Individuals; and who
has ultimately obtained a Privilege to print it, must remain the
perpetual owner of the Text of this Work, he and his descendants, as
of a piece of land or a house that he might have acquired, since the
nature of the acquisition in an inheritance differs in no way from that
of the acquisition of a Manuscript, but only in what follows, where the
risks are considerable, whereas in the case of land, after the acquirer
has taken the appropriate precautions to shield himself from mortgages
or eviction, he runs no risk at all: but as far as the nature of the
acquisition of these two things is concerned, it is exactly the same,
and both acquisitions must in consequence be treated at least equally.
And indeed, if we examine with some care what happens in the
acquisition of land or a house, we will not find the slightest thing
which might make that acquisition justifiably more durable than that
of a Manuscript. For what happens in the sale of a piece of land or a
house? On the one hand the payment by the acquirer of the price of the
item he purchases, on the other the transmission by the vendor of the
ownership of the same item by means of the price he receives in return
for it. Does anything different happen in the sale of a Manuscript?
We doubt that anyone will suggest that it does.
The nature of the agreement in these two different types of
acquisition being exactly the same, they must, as we have already observed,
be treated equally, since literary commerce is not only legitimate in its
own right, but also authorized; why should the man who has entered this
type of commerce not use 10,000 livres he has at his disposal to acquire
a good manuscript, and to make the Public acquainted with it, with as much
confidence as he might acquire a house? And for what reason should he not
benefit with confidence from the ownership of either, since we now see that
the two things are precisely analogous?
Yet even though these two different types of acquisition are
of the same nature as concerns the agreement involved,
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and despite the fact that the visionary has yet to be found who
would have recourse to the authority of his Prince to enter into
possession of another man's house, on the pretext that its current
occupants or the architects have owned it for a very long time;
today the Booksellers of the Provinces nevertheless demand the
Privileges of Books, the ownership of which their Brethren of Paris
have acquired for a monetary price, which they have gone to
considerable expense to print, and, finally, which constitute their
best and most tangible goods. In truth, reason and humanity revolt
at the sight of an enterprise so opposed to decent morals.
Having demonstrated that the proposals of the Provincial
Booksellers are equally contrary to natural equity, to reason, and
to the customs of the Realm, it only remains, in order to complete
the project we have set for ourselves, to show that if such a proposal
is odious in its own right, it is also infinitely dangerous by its
consequences, which will tend directly to overturn public order and to
ruin the domain of Letters which is the ornament of the State; as shall
become clear from the consequences which follow naturally from the
principles we have proposed.
Since the structure and harmony of a State consist primarily in
allowing its constituent members to enjoy in peace what belongs to them,
and in returning it to them should another dare to seize it, we can
observe that the confusion and disorder which bring about the ruin of a
State are invariably the unfortunate product of a failure to act on this
principle.
Following these maxims, founded on Laws divine and human which
conspire in equal measure to preserve each man in the possession of what
he legitimately owns, it is easy to show that the proposal of our Adversaries
not only has nothing to do with the Public Good, which is never to be found
where equity is lacking, but rather ruins the most solid foundations of
Society and Commerce; and that if they were to succeed in securing its
authorization, nothing would be certain among us.
We have proved that the acquisition of a Manuscript represents a
genuine personal possession of the individual who purchases it, of the same
nature as those possessions which make up the fortunes of all other members
of the State; how then would it be possible, without doing injury to justice,
not to apply to these kinds of possessions those Laws by whose authority all
the King's other subjects enjoy what they have acquired in peace? How are we
to overturn these Laws to the detriment of some, while allowing them to persist
for others, since they must be general and common to all?
They must then either be destroyed entirely, or allowed to persist for
all members of the State without distinction. Now if the Booksellers of Paris
were to be stripped of their property of the Works that they have acquired in
favour of the Booksellers of the Provinces, on the pretext of the benefit the
former have had and the necessity that the latter group should subsist as well
as members of the State, we will have to use the same argument in favour of
those who cast themselves in a similar role to our Adversaries,
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and who, alleging similar pretexts, namely that certain people
possess goods of which they have had the benefit for twenty or
thirty years, will argue that they have a right to share in these,
because of the long benefit the owners have already had, and who
will insist on being allowed to enter into possession of the goods
and to benefit from them in their turn; such individuals will
certainly not be difficult to find.
Then the fortune of the best subjects will be prey to those
whom criminal indolence has led to fall into indigence, or to those
voluptuaries who have used their patrimony only to abandon themselves
to debauchery, in which their fortune has disappeared as swiftly as
their pleasures; and from then on the foundations of Society will be
overturned, the Laws held in contempt and abolished; sobriety, economy
and laboriousness will no longer be necessary to establish one's family
advantageously and honourably, since, possessions being in these
circumstances only temporary, it will not be possible to transmit them
to our descendants. Thus instead of the emulation and good order which
reign among us, we shall see only confusion and attempts by one man
to appropriate for himself the wealth of the other.
Such would be the effects of our Adversaries' new system as far
as Society in general is concerned. Now, setting aside the principles
we have established and limiting ourselves simply to the spirit of
Commerce and of the Laws which regulate it, let us examine what would
follow from the new ideas concerning Bookselling which have been so
whimsically imagined; and if, as some have alleged, it would be
advantageous to the Public if the Texts of Books became common property
after the expiration of Privileges: or rather, let us show how these
people have recourse to the idea of public utility only to veil the
criminal cupidity of their motivations; and that far from it being in
the Public interest to see the Texts of Books which constitute the
fortune of the Booksellers or Paris pass into the hands of these men,
it is on the contrary of infinite importance to that same public, and
to the Republic of Letters, that the Booksellers of Paris not only enjoy
their Privileges perpetually, but furthermore that they be specially
protected as the supporters of a Trade which is honourable and useful
to the Nation.
Reason and Experience teach us in equal measure that within each
of the different Communities which occur within a State, it is necessary
to have a barrier against which the schemes that members might make
against each other are shattered, to prevent them from mutual destruction:
this is why our Kings have provided each Community with Statutes, which
have sufficient authority to control members' behaviour towards one
another, and which provide them with rules. Booksellers have them; they
contain the Laws of their Trade and the ways in which they must behave;
and to these Rules, which are the same throughout the Realm, they are all
equally subject.
It appears that our Adversaries have never paid attention to the
provisions of their Statutes; for had they examined them, they would have
found
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that it is precisely prohibited to demand Privileges for the
printing of Books with belong to their Brethren; and in pondering
this wise provision, they would have discovered that it has two
motivations which are equally fair and necessary to the preservation
of Bookselling; the first is to preserve each Bookseller in the
possession of the Works he has acquired, and to incite among them
a fitting emulation of the larger enterprises; the second is to
prevent them from scheming against one another by professional envy,
and from bringing about their mutual ruin.
Then, in a moment of salutary self-examination, they would have
become aware that their proposal is not only unfair and ridiculous,
but also contrary to their own true interests, since its success would
leave them vulnerable in their turn to the spoliation by their Brethren
of the Works they might acquire; we are convinced that this consideration
alone would have persuaded them to remain within the spirit of the Law
we have in common, and that they would have respected and followed it,
instead of wishing to destroy it and bring back the disorder which the
wisdom of the Statutes sought to avoid.
But since they have neglected to do so, we have found it necessary
to remind them of the Law, in order to show them that in confining
ourselves to the spirit and the rules of our Trade, it cannot be to the
Public advantage that the Texts of Books become common property, as they
suggest, not only because the Law of the Statutes expressly forbids this,
but moreover because it is impossible to infringe the Law even slightly
without bringing back all the difficulties which the Statutes sought to
avoid: these difficulties can be reduced to two principles which subsume
all the others.
The first that springs to mind is that, if the Texts of Books become
the common property of Booksellers after the expiration of Privileges,
they would be totally ruined since they would be abandoned to envy and
jealousy, only too prevalent among people of the same profession, which
endangers their Trade.
Secondly, if Texts become common property, Booksellers will no longer
wish to buy Manuscripts; thus no new enterprises will be undertaken; in
consequence, Authors, no longer finding in their work the resource they had
hoped for, will be discouraged and will cease to work.
In order to convince ourselves that the Texts of Books cannot become
common property, without ruining Booksellers, it is necessary only to pay
some small attention to the nature of their Trade.
Everyone knows that the Trade of a Bookseller is entirely dependent
upon his ownership of a certain number of Texts of Books of different sorts,
which he acquires for a price, and of which many copies form a stock which
constitutes his funds, the retail sale of which allows him to live along with
his family, provides him with fresh cash funds, and puts him in a position to
acquire new Works and to reprint those he already owns, when the copies he has
run out; everyone also knows that, according to the terms of the Statutes as
we have explained them, Booksellers are forbidden to print Books which belong
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to their Brethren; and finally that it is by the protection of the Laws of the
Realm, and of the Statutes, that each Bookseller peacefully enjoys his ownership
of the Works he has acquired; in such a way that they are to the Bookseller akin
to a plot of land which, being well cultivated, provides, by means of his labour,
for his needs and those of his family, whose only patrimony consists of these
sorts of possessions.
If we take this to be certain, can we doubt for a moment that the slightest
infringement of this custom, which is founded in the Common Law of the Realm, or
of the Statutes which represent the Law of this Community, in going against their
express provision to make the Texts of Books common property after the expiration
of Privileges, would strip their Trade of all its security? Then, the barrier which
served to keep Booksellers in check among themselves being broken; waiting for the
expiry of each Privilege, they will not fail to print at will each other's best
Books, whose Manuscripts their Brethren will have paid dearly for, which they will
have had printed at great cost, the risks of which they will have run, and whose
first Edition will have been far from sufficient to recoup the cost of the Manuscript
and the expense of the printing, and in consequence they will ruin their colleagues
and themselves, since the infinite increase in the number of copies of each sort of
Book brings about a fall in its price, and it will eventually fall totally; and
rightly so, since in order to reduce their cost, they will be hastily and poorly
printed on low-quality paper, so as to distribute them more rapidly.
In these circumstances, what would become of Booksellers' Stocks, which
represent for them considerable sums, and which are their families' sole fortune?
They will be nothing more than useless heaps of paper, fit only to burn or pulp,
and this would reduce the Booksellers to the worst indigence; Bookselling would
thus be destroyed in Paris, and at the same time in the Provinces, who find great
advantage in their correspondence with the Booksellers of Paris.
This then would be the fate of Bookselling in France, and of the Booksellers
of Paris, whom our Kings have hitherto honoured with special protection as a part
of the most famous University in the world, to whom they have accorded such generous
Privileges, whom they have always singled out among other Artisans, especially
Louis XII in his letters patent of April 1513. Who have exempted them from the
octroi, the ayde and the gabelle etc [tolls, taxes, duties], in recognition of the
discovery of the precious Art of Printing which they have offered to France, and by
means if which, as that Prince declares, the Catholic Religion has been advanced in
the Realm, justice better administered, and the divine Service celebrated with more
dignity and majesty.
And yet it is this Community, to whom France owes such a debt of gratitude,
that the Booksellers of the Provinces wish to destroy, in the hope of clothing
themselves in the skinned hides of their Brethren, under the specious pretext of
the Public Good, which, as we have just shown, would be done a serious disservice
by the decline of the most important of the Crafts. The Public interest being thus
totally opposed
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to the proposals of our Adversaries, their only remaining support is their
own interests, to which they would sacrifice not only their Brethren,
but also Knowledge, which would not fail to fall.
These Booksellers will perhaps contend that, in order to allay
our grievances, they would be content with only little everyday Books,
from which we have benefited for a long time, and which must consequently
have recouped the price of the Manuscript and the printing costs, and more;
and thus that they could be given these sorts of Privileges without causing
us any loss, or disturbing out Trade, whose real object is only those great
Works to which we have always been attached; and thus that the Booksellers
of Paris would get by perfectly well while sharing with those in the
Provinces these kinds of little Books.
The response to this objection, specious as it is, is very simple;
to strike it down, it is only necessary to recall the principles established
at the beginning of this Memorandum, according to which it is undeniable that
the Works under discussion constitute part of the wealth of the Booksellers
of Paris, which it is no more legitimate to take from them, than it would be
a hectare of land from a man who owned two hundred more, since both of these
possessions are of the same nature.
But to this first observation we must join a second, in order to force
our Adversaries to abandon this last outpost; and to do this, we need only
recognize that it is the everyday income of these little works which allows
the Booksellers of Paris to live, and which puts them in a position to make
larger undertakings, since they sell two hundred copies of these little Books,
whose prices are very modest, for every two copies of those books which cost
considerably more, and which are moreover of use only to a small number of
people; while the others are suited to and within the grasp of everyone. Thus
it is impossible to deprive the Booksellers of Paris of these little Works,
without rendering them unable to support themselves, in addition to the fact
that the slightest infringement of their Statutes and their Property of Texts,
whatever its nature, would destroy the certainty of their Trade and cause its
downfall, as well as that of Bookselling and Knowledge, as we shall
definitively prove in concluding.
Bookselling has such an intimate relationship with the domain of Letters,
that the destruction of the former would simultaneously bring about that of the
latter. A cursory consideration of what motivates Learned Men to work, and of
the use to which Booksellers put their Works, is sufficient to prove the truth
of this proposition.
It would require a total ignorance of human nature, and of the multitude
of human needs, to convince oneself that it is not partly the hope of a
legitimate profit that persuades men to undertake the different kinds of work
to which they apply their talents.
Since Learned Men are hardly exempt from this, their actions
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have the same motivations, and they essentially only work to meet their
needs, although they may nevertheless hope to find glory in their work
as well. Following this principle, which reason alone makes clear, it is
essential that Authors be able to sell their Works; and to this end, it
is essential that Booksellers be able to acquire them securely, without
fear that they will be stripped of them, in which case they will not wish
to take them on.
Now, if after the expiration of the Privilege granted to a Bookseller
for the printing of a Work, it were to become common property, he would
certainly refrain from purchasing a Manuscript for a considerable sum,
which he could not compel the Author to reimburse any more than the printing
costs, if the Work were to prove not to the Public's liking, or if at the
expiration of the Privilege the print-run were not sold entirely; or if the
product had not been sufficient to recoup the Bookseller's expenditure or to
raise a profit proportionate to his labour, which almost never happens with
the first Edition; thus, able neither to be certain of his ongoing property
of a Text, nor to compel the Author to cover any loss he might incur, it
would be unwise and imprudent of him to employ for such an acquisition funds
which he could employ more usefully and with greater peace of mind for the
purchase of a house, or of anything else, the property of which he could
count on; and to expose himself thus to a loss which he could only reimburse
by means of a perpetual ownership and an exclusive right which would be taken
from him.
In these circumstances, it is easy to see that Authors, no longer able to
sell their Works or to find in their labours the support they require, will be
discouraged and will cease to work; which will lead to the downfall of Knowledge,
and the rebirth of the centuries of darkness which preceded the birth of Printing.
Having proved, as the Booksellers of Paris are confident they have, that
their property of the Texts of the Books they have acquired may not be even
slightly infringed, without causing injury to the most respectable Laws of
Society, the pure lights of Reason, the Common Law of the Realm; and having
proved that the proposal they fight against tends directly to destroy the harmony
of the Realm; they are confident, MY LORD, that, far from granting to their
prejudice Permissions to print the Books which belong to them, YOUR LORDSHIP
will on the contrary use his Authority to reprimand the schemes that the
Booksellers of the Provinces continually make against them; in so doing, he will
unite in his person the glorious titles of Chief of Justice, and Protector of
Letters.
Translation by: Andrew Counter
Source: Bibliothèque nationale de France : Mss. Fr. 22072 n° 62
Citation:
Louis d'Héricourt's memorandum, Paris (1725-1726), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org
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12 translated pages
Chapter 1 Page 1
TO HIS LORDSHIP
THE KEEPER OF THE SEALS.
My Lord,
The Community of Sworn Booksellers and Printers of the University
of Paris, alarmed by the urgent and energetic solicitation of your
Lordship by Booksellers of the Provinces in favour of the withdrawal of
Privileges accorded to the Booksellers of Paris for the printing of Books,
observes in all humility that the proposals of the provincial Booksellers
is in such direct opposition to reason, natural equity, and the Laws and
Customs of the Realm, that it is astonishing that they should have dared
to apply to the Magistrate in sole charge of the administration of Justice
and the harmony of the State for the authorization of an enterprise so
injurious to both.
Two propositions based on those principles which form the deepest
bond of all well-policed Societies, and two consequences which follow
necessarily from them, will make this truth quite obvious and, by dispelling
irrevocably the specious pretext of the Public Good which the Booksellers of
the Provinces have abused in order to take advantage of Your Lordship's
Religion, will restore to the Booksellers of Paris their peace of mind and
the honour of Your Lordship's Protection, of which these people strive to
deprive them; and will at the same time allow the domain of Letters to retain
the advantages it has found for so long in Privileges and in the Protection
which our Kings have hitherto seen fit to bestow upon it.
Since the maxims which we shall offer in opposition to the proposals of
our Adversaries have their origin in Public Law and in the Law of the People,
we do not feel able to proceed without a preliminary observation concerning
the principles which they provide; not
Chapter 1 Page 2
only because this first observation will be the base and
foundation of the methods established in what follows, but
moreover because it alone would almost suffice to make palpable
the odiousness of these Booksellers' conduct, which consists in
requesting that the Protector of Justice clothe them in the
skinned hides of their Brothers, in contempt of that which men
should hold most sacred; and in demanding for their own ends the
destruction of the most important principles of Society.
We are all indeed aware that men intended by Nature for
Society, and thus for work which is its bond, necessarily form a
society in each state, to the benefit of which they mutually apply
their talents for the common good, and within which they have the
right to live by their labour, and to obtain from their industry a
legitimate profit which they may possess in confidence and peace of
mind, in order to provide for themselves and their families the
commodities of life; and to this end it is always necessary that they
retain a permanent and immutable right of property over the items
which they transfer to one another by sale, exchange, or otherwise,
without which their work would become useless; and they would
necessarily descend into a pernicious idleness if their liberty in
this respect were infringed even slightly.
It is also to prevent these disadvantages, and to stimulate men
to work, that reason has dictated to the wisest of them those Laws
which still serve amongst us as the rules of our Trade, and as
guarantees of our agreements.
Following these principles, which once set out require no further
proof, and whose fairness and necessity has been felt by all Nations,
there is no doubt that the fruit of men's labour in relation to the
state in which a Society is found represents the most significant
portion of their wealth, particularly as concerns businessmen; there is
thus no doubt that neither Citizens nor Foreigners may be permitted to
deprive men of the fruit of their labour without incurring the just
punishment that the Laws provide for those who disturb the public order.
It is certain, according to the principles just established, that it
is not by royal Privilege that Booksellers become the owners of the Works
they print, but solely by their acquisition of the Manuscript, the property
of which the author transfers to the Bookseller by means of the payment he
receives in return; the truth of this proposition can be demonstrated by two
observations which are as simple as they are natural.
Firstly, a Manuscript, in so far as it is not inimical to
Religion, the Laws of the State, and the interests of private Individuals, is
so much the property of its Author, that it is no more permissible to deprive
him of it than it is to deprive him of money, goods, or even land; since, as
we have observed, it is the fruit of his personal labour, which he must be at
liberty
Chapter 1 Page 3
to dispose of as he pleases, in order to obtain, in addition to the
glory to which he might aspire, a profit which might supply his own
needs, and even those of any persons who are connected to him, be
it by blood, friendship, or gratitude.
Secondly, following this, if the Author is the owner indefinitely
and therefore the sole master of his Work, only he or his representatives
may legitimately transfer it to another person, and relinquish his
rights to it in favour of that person: thus the King, having no right
to the Work for as long as the Author is alive or is represented by his
heirs or Beneficiaries, is unable to transfer it by means of a Privilege
to anyone, without the consent of its rightful owner.
This truth, which is founded on the principles we have established,
is moreover confirmed by the authority of the ancient Edicts and
Proclamations of our past Kings concerning Printing, in which we find the
origin of the Privileges that Booksellers must obtain from the King before
printing literary works, and the sensible reasoning behind this old custom
which, far from encroaching upon the property rights of Authors to their
Works, or upon those of the Booksellers to whom they transmit their rights,
serves instead only to establish those same rights, and to ensure the
status of both parties.
For almost a century, from the invention of the Printing press to
around 1550, Authors and Booksellers, by virtue of the Liberty common to
all men, printed their Works without being required to obtain permission to
do so from the King; but as the abuse of this precious gift of Nature began
to become dangerous to Society; as all and sundry printed whatever they
pleased, to the discredit of Religion, the Laws of the State, and the peace,
Henri II and after him Charles IX were obliged, in order to set just
boundaries upon this licence, not to appropriate for themselves the Works of
the Men of Letters of their age to dispose of them as they pleased, but
simply to forbid by Edict (the Edicts of 1547 and 1563) the printing of any
Work which had not previously been examined by the King's Council and
authorized by a Privilege marked with the Great Seal, which was accorded
after examination of the Work, once it was found not to contain anything
inimical to Religion, the Laws of State, and the honour and interests of
Private Individuals; this was renewed by the Assemblée des États held at
Moulins in 1566.
Louis XIII, in the same spirit and with the same objectives,
confirmed these Edicts with an Order in January 1626 which contains word for
word the same provisions that we have just described; and these prohibitions
were again renewed by a Proclamation of the same Prince made 27 December 1627,
and finally by a Proclamation in the form of a Judgement of the late King of
glorious memory, made 29 April 1678. The rights of Authors and Booksellers
having thus been in no way infringed, the Common Law of the Realm subsists
in its entirety, and the King consequently having no rights upon
Chapter 1 Page 4
the Works of Authors cannot transfer them to anyone without the consent
of their current legitimate owners.
In accordance with these principles, and remaining strictly within
the spirit of the Edicts and Proclamations of which we have just spoken,
there should be no doubt that the Privileges which Authors and Booksellers
are currently obliged to obtain for the printing of Literary Works may
only be considered as authentic authorizations, intended on the one hand
to provide Safety for the Bookseller and to place him above molestation
should a Work subsequently be found to contain something contrary to the
ideas of the government; and on the other hand, to reassure the Public
that they may read the Work without fear, in the knowledge that it
contains nothing inimical to Religion, to the rights of the King, or to
Private Individuals.
Such is certainly the exact idea of the privilege, whereby we may
suggest with confidence that the King himself, as a result of his own Laws,
finds himself fortunately unable to withdraw those Privileges which he has
accorded to a Bookseller who owns a Manuscript, in favour of another who
has no right to the it; because these sorts of Privileges are not merely
signs of his generosity and of the Protection with which he honours
Learned Men and Booksellers, but a form of justice which he delivers in
order to stimulate them to work for the glory of his Realm, and for the
benefit of his people.
These rules seem to us all the more inviolable, since they are
founded in justice and reason, and confirmed by the customs of the
centuries which have passed since the invention of the printing press
to the present.
The Manuscripts which Booksellers purchase from Authors, as well as
the Texts of Books which they acquire in establishing themselves in this
kind of Business, are in and of themselves genuine possessions, of the
same nature as those which fall within the domain of trade in civil
Society; and they must therefore be subject to the same Laws which
guarantee the status of all other possessions of men, be it land, houses,
movables, or whatever else.
To prove this second proposition, one need only join the principles
established at the beginning of this Memorandum with some reflections
specifically concerning the productions of Men of Letters which, when
applied to Booksellers, will allow for no doubt as to the certainty of
what we have argued so far, in particular regarding the current situation
in this kind of Trade, in which the tradesman's fortune consists of nothing
more that the property of those Works which he purchases, and which make up
his stock.
We have already shown, in establishing the first proposition
concerning the Privileges which the King grants Booksellers for printing,
how the Works of Authors
Chapter 1 Page 5
are goods of which the Authors may not be deprived. Let us now
examine if these Authors may transfer this right of property with
the same extent and strength it had when in their possession, and
thus whether Literary Works do not count among those things which,
like all others, fall within the domain of human commerce, that is
to say, whether they do not constitute an advantage and even an
absolute necessity; as it is this alone in our society which makes
legitimate any kind of commerce.
If men were, like animals, a crude assemblage of
organised material, whose needs were limited to the upkeep of
their own persons; and, being subject only to the Laws of Nature
while ignorant of their Author, were unable to deviate from them,
then agriculture and manual work would meet their needs, and they
would have use neither for Learned Men, nor for their Works; but
as their existence is not limited to the short duration of their
bodies, and as they have moreover the power to deviate from the
rules which nature and reason prescribe for them; and as the
majority of them abuse this precious advantage only too frequently,
to the detriment of Society, they require a Religion to regulate
their inner selves, civil and political Laws to repress their
passions; it is therefore necessary that there exist among them not
only men who know these laws and may ensure that they are observed,
as well as men to teach them to those who will go on to instruct
others, but also men who reduce these laws to principles for the
benefit of both these groups, and who add to them the discoveries
which experience and profound meditation have led them to make.
In order that these great men may be in a position to apply
their talents for the benefit of the Society to which they find
themselves attached by inclination or by Nature, it is necessary
that they be able to draw from their precious industry advantages
proportionate to the importance of their labour, and the utility
which the Public may find in it; and to this end, it is essential
that they may transfer the property of it and the benefit it yields
to whomsoever they choose: which may only be done by means of Trade,
and only insofar as those individuals to whom they transfer their
Works may remain Owners of those Works for as long as they see fit,
or transfer the Works to others, who may in turn draw from them a
benefit proportionate to the amount they will have paid and to the
pains they will have taken to allow the Public to profit, since
without this the Work of a man of Letters becomes useless, remaining
always in his possession; which is what would happen if there were no
advantage to him in transferring it, and the body of the State would
then be deprived of the utility it might have found in it.
These principles may be naturally applied in a very simple
argument. If literary productions occupy the first rank of all human
productions in terms of the benefit they provide, it is in the common
interest that they be transferable: if they are to be transferable,
Authors must be able to transmit them to others by the channels of
sale or exchange; so literary productions are amongst the things which
fall within
Chapter 1 Page 6
the domain of Commerce, like all other productions of industry; and in
necessary consequence the Laws of the Realm, which have been produced
by Commerce and Industry in order to guarantee the status of Citizens'
agreements, must be applied in particular to those agreements made
between Authors and Booksellers.
Now there is no doubt that under the law, the owner of a thing,
in passing it to another person by the channels of sale or exchange,
transfers to the new owner the same rights that he had over the item
which he relinquishes. We have already shown how the Author of a Work
is the master of that Work to such an extent that he may not be
deprived of it without injustice; that the same Work, fruit of his
intelligence, falls within the domain of Commerce along with all other
productions of industry; and finally, that the individuals to whom he
sees fit to transfer it immediately acquire all the same rights over
the item that he transmits to them; so a Bookseller who has acquired a
Manuscript, in which nothing has been found contrary to Religion, the
Laws of the State, or to the interests of Private Individuals; and who
has ultimately obtained a Privilege to print it, must remain the
perpetual owner of the Text of this Work, he and his descendants, as
of a piece of land or a house that he might have acquired, since the
nature of the acquisition in an inheritance differs in no way from that
of the acquisition of a Manuscript, but only in what follows, where the
risks are considerable, whereas in the case of land, after the acquirer
has taken the appropriate precautions to shield himself from mortgages
or eviction, he runs no risk at all: but as far as the nature of the
acquisition of these two things is concerned, it is exactly the same,
and both acquisitions must in consequence be treated at least equally.
And indeed, if we examine with some care what happens in the
acquisition of land or a house, we will not find the slightest thing
which might make that acquisition justifiably more durable than that
of a Manuscript. For what happens in the sale of a piece of land or a
house? On the one hand the payment by the acquirer of the price of the
item he purchases, on the other the transmission by the vendor of the
ownership of the same item by means of the price he receives in return
for it. Does anything different happen in the sale of a Manuscript?
We doubt that anyone will suggest that it does.
The nature of the agreement in these two different types of
acquisition being exactly the same, they must, as we have already observed,
be treated equally, since literary commerce is not only legitimate in its
own right, but also authorized; why should the man who has entered this
type of commerce not use 10,000 livres he has at his disposal to acquire
a good manuscript, and to make the Public acquainted with it, with as much
confidence as he might acquire a house? And for what reason should he not
benefit with confidence from the ownership of either, since we now see that
the two things are precisely analogous?
Yet even though these two different types of acquisition are
of the same nature as concerns the agreement involved,
Chapter 1 Page 7
and despite the fact that the visionary has yet to be found who
would have recourse to the authority of his Prince to enter into
possession of another man's house, on the pretext that its current
occupants or the architects have owned it for a very long time;
today the Booksellers of the Provinces nevertheless demand the
Privileges of Books, the ownership of which their Brethren of Paris
have acquired for a monetary price, which they have gone to
considerable expense to print, and, finally, which constitute their
best and most tangible goods. In truth, reason and humanity revolt
at the sight of an enterprise so opposed to decent morals.
Having demonstrated that the proposals of the Provincial
Booksellers are equally contrary to natural equity, to reason, and
to the customs of the Realm, it only remains, in order to complete
the project we have set for ourselves, to show that if such a proposal
is odious in its own right, it is also infinitely dangerous by its
consequences, which will tend directly to overturn public order and to
ruin the domain of Letters which is the ornament of the State; as shall
become clear from the consequences which follow naturally from the
principles we have proposed.
Since the structure and harmony of a State consist primarily in
allowing its constituent members to enjoy in peace what belongs to them,
and in returning it to them should another dare to seize it, we can
observe that the confusion and disorder which bring about the ruin of a
State are invariably the unfortunate product of a failure to act on this
principle.
Following these maxims, founded on Laws divine and human which
conspire in equal measure to preserve each man in the possession of what
he legitimately owns, it is easy to show that the proposal of our Adversaries
not only has nothing to do with the Public Good, which is never to be found
where equity is lacking, but rather ruins the most solid foundations of
Society and Commerce; and that if they were to succeed in securing its
authorization, nothing would be certain among us.
We have proved that the acquisition of a Manuscript represents a
genuine personal possession of the individual who purchases it, of the same
nature as those possessions which make up the fortunes of all other members
of the State; how then would it be possible, without doing injury to justice,
not to apply to these kinds of possessions those Laws by whose authority all
the King's other subjects enjoy what they have acquired in peace? How are we
to overturn these Laws to the detriment of some, while allowing them to persist
for others, since they must be general and common to all?
They must then either be destroyed entirely, or allowed to persist for
all members of the State without distinction. Now if the Booksellers of Paris
were to be stripped of their property of the Works that they have acquired in
favour of the Booksellers of the Provinces, on the pretext of the benefit the
former have had and the necessity that the latter group should subsist as well
as members of the State, we will have to use the same argument in favour of
those who cast themselves in a similar role to our Adversaries,
Chapter 1 Page 8
and who, alleging similar pretexts, namely that certain people
possess goods of which they have had the benefit for twenty or
thirty years, will argue that they have a right to share in these,
because of the long benefit the owners have already had, and who
will insist on being allowed to enter into possession of the goods
and to benefit from them in their turn; such individuals will
certainly not be difficult to find.
Then the fortune of the best subjects will be prey to those
whom criminal indolence has led to fall into indigence, or to those
voluptuaries who have used their patrimony only to abandon themselves
to debauchery, in which their fortune has disappeared as swiftly as
their pleasures; and from then on the foundations of Society will be
overturned, the Laws held in contempt and abolished; sobriety, economy
and laboriousness will no longer be necessary to establish one's family
advantageously and honourably, since, possessions being in these
circumstances only temporary, it will not be possible to transmit them
to our descendants. Thus instead of the emulation and good order which
reign among us, we shall see only confusion and attempts by one man
to appropriate for himself the wealth of the other.
Such would be the effects of our Adversaries' new system as far
as Society in general is concerned. Now, setting aside the principles
we have established and limiting ourselves simply to the spirit of
Commerce and of the Laws which regulate it, let us examine what would
follow from the new ideas concerning Bookselling which have been so
whimsically imagined; and if, as some have alleged, it would be
advantageous to the Public if the Texts of Books became common property
after the expiration of Privileges: or rather, let us show how these
people have recourse to the idea of public utility only to veil the
criminal cupidity of their motivations; and that far from it being in
the Public interest to see the Texts of Books which constitute the
fortune of the Booksellers or Paris pass into the hands of these men,
it is on the contrary of infinite importance to that same public, and
to the Republic of Letters, that the Booksellers of Paris not only enjoy
their Privileges perpetually, but furthermore that they be specially
protected as the supporters of a Trade which is honourable and useful
to the Nation.
Reason and Experience teach us in equal measure that within each
of the different Communities which occur within a State, it is necessary
to have a barrier against which the schemes that members might make
against each other are shattered, to prevent them from mutual destruction:
this is why our Kings have provided each Community with Statutes, which
have sufficient authority to control members' behaviour towards one
another, and which provide them with rules. Booksellers have them; they
contain the Laws of their Trade and the ways in which they must behave;
and to these Rules, which are the same throughout the Realm, they are all
equally subject.
It appears that our Adversaries have never paid attention to the
provisions of their Statutes; for had they examined them, they would have
found
Chapter 1 Page 9
that it is precisely prohibited to demand Privileges for the
printing of Books with belong to their Brethren; and in pondering
this wise provision, they would have discovered that it has two
motivations which are equally fair and necessary to the preservation
of Bookselling; the first is to preserve each Bookseller in the
possession of the Works he has acquired, and to incite among them
a fitting emulation of the larger enterprises; the second is to
prevent them from scheming against one another by professional envy,
and from bringing about their mutual ruin.
Then, in a moment of salutary self-examination, they would have
become aware that their proposal is not only unfair and ridiculous,
but also contrary to their own true interests, since its success would
leave them vulnerable in their turn to the spoliation by their Brethren
of the Works they might acquire; we are convinced that this consideration
alone would have persuaded them to remain within the spirit of the Law
we have in common, and that they would have respected and followed it,
instead of wishing to destroy it and bring back the disorder which the
wisdom of the Statutes sought to avoid.
But since they have neglected to do so, we have found it necessary
to remind them of the Law, in order to show them that in confining
ourselves to the spirit and the rules of our Trade, it cannot be to the
Public advantage that the Texts of Books become common property, as they
suggest, not only because the Law of the Statutes expressly forbids this,
but moreover because it is impossible to infringe the Law even slightly
without bringing back all the difficulties which the Statutes sought to
avoid: these difficulties can be reduced to two principles which subsume
all the others.
The first that springs to mind is that, if the Texts of Books become
the common property of Booksellers after the expiration of Privileges,
they would be totally ruined since they would be abandoned to envy and
jealousy, only too prevalent among people of the same profession, which
endangers their Trade.
Secondly, if Texts become common property, Booksellers will no longer
wish to buy Manuscripts; thus no new enterprises will be undertaken; in
consequence, Authors, no longer finding in their work the resource they had
hoped for, will be discouraged and will cease to work.
In order to convince ourselves that the Texts of Books cannot become
common property, without ruining Booksellers, it is necessary only to pay
some small attention to the nature of their Trade.
Everyone knows that the Trade of a Bookseller is entirely dependent
upon his ownership of a certain number of Texts of Books of different sorts,
which he acquires for a price, and of which many copies form a stock which
constitutes his funds, the retail sale of which allows him to live along with
his family, provides him with fresh cash funds, and puts him in a position to
acquire new Works and to reprint those he already owns, when the copies he has
run out; everyone also knows that, according to the terms of the Statutes as
we have explained them, Booksellers are forbidden to print Books which belong
Chapter 1 Page 10
to their Brethren; and finally that it is by the protection of the Laws of the
Realm, and of the Statutes, that each Bookseller peacefully enjoys his ownership
of the Works he has acquired; in such a way that they are to the Bookseller akin
to a plot of land which, being well cultivated, provides, by means of his labour,
for his needs and those of his family, whose only patrimony consists of these
sorts of possessions.
If we take this to be certain, can we doubt for a moment that the slightest
infringement of this custom, which is founded in the Common Law of the Realm, or
of the Statutes which represent the Law of this Community, in going against their
express provision to make the Texts of Books common property after the expiration
of Privileges, would strip their Trade of all its security? Then, the barrier which
served to keep Booksellers in check among themselves being broken; waiting for the
expiry of each Privilege, they will not fail to print at will each other's best
Books, whose Manuscripts their Brethren will have paid dearly for, which they will
have had printed at great cost, the risks of which they will have run, and whose
first Edition will have been far from sufficient to recoup the cost of the Manuscript
and the expense of the printing, and in consequence they will ruin their colleagues
and themselves, since the infinite increase in the number of copies of each sort of
Book brings about a fall in its price, and it will eventually fall totally; and
rightly so, since in order to reduce their cost, they will be hastily and poorly
printed on low-quality paper, so as to distribute them more rapidly.
In these circumstances, what would become of Booksellers' Stocks, which
represent for them considerable sums, and which are their families' sole fortune?
They will be nothing more than useless heaps of paper, fit only to burn or pulp,
and this would reduce the Booksellers to the worst indigence; Bookselling would
thus be destroyed in Paris, and at the same time in the Provinces, who find great
advantage in their correspondence with the Booksellers of Paris.
This then would be the fate of Bookselling in France, and of the Booksellers
of Paris, whom our Kings have hitherto honoured with special protection as a part
of the most famous University in the world, to whom they have accorded such generous
Privileges, whom they have always singled out among other Artisans, especially
Louis XII in his letters patent of April 1513. Who have exempted them from the
octroi, the ayde and the gabelle etc [tolls, taxes, duties], in recognition of the
discovery of the precious Art of Printing which they have offered to France, and by
means if which, as that Prince declares, the Catholic Religion has been advanced in
the Realm, justice better administered, and the divine Service celebrated with more
dignity and majesty.
And yet it is this Community, to whom France owes such a debt of gratitude,
that the Booksellers of the Provinces wish to destroy, in the hope of clothing
themselves in the skinned hides of their Brethren, under the specious pretext of
the Public Good, which, as we have just shown, would be done a serious disservice
by the decline of the most important of the Crafts. The Public interest being thus
totally opposed
Chapter 1 Page 11
to the proposals of our Adversaries, their only remaining support is their
own interests, to which they would sacrifice not only their Brethren,
but also Knowledge, which would not fail to fall.
These Booksellers will perhaps contend that, in order to allay
our grievances, they would be content with only little everyday Books,
from which we have benefited for a long time, and which must consequently
have recouped the price of the Manuscript and the printing costs, and more;
and thus that they could be given these sorts of Privileges without causing
us any loss, or disturbing out Trade, whose real object is only those great
Works to which we have always been attached; and thus that the Booksellers
of Paris would get by perfectly well while sharing with those in the
Provinces these kinds of little Books.
The response to this objection, specious as it is, is very simple;
to strike it down, it is only necessary to recall the principles established
at the beginning of this Memorandum, according to which it is undeniable that
the Works under discussion constitute part of the wealth of the Booksellers
of Paris, which it is no more legitimate to take from them, than it would be
a hectare of land from a man who owned two hundred more, since both of these
possessions are of the same nature.
But to this first observation we must join a second, in order to force
our Adversaries to abandon this last outpost; and to do this, we need only
recognize that it is the everyday income of these little works which allows
the Booksellers of Paris to live, and which puts them in a position to make
larger undertakings, since they sell two hundred copies of these little Books,
whose prices are very modest, for every two copies of those books which cost
considerably more, and which are moreover of use only to a small number of
people; while the others are suited to and within the grasp of everyone. Thus
it is impossible to deprive the Booksellers of Paris of these little Works,
without rendering them unable to support themselves, in addition to the fact
that the slightest infringement of their Statutes and their Property of Texts,
whatever its nature, would destroy the certainty of their Trade and cause its
downfall, as well as that of Bookselling and Knowledge, as we shall
definitively prove in concluding.
Bookselling has such an intimate relationship with the domain of Letters,
that the destruction of the former would simultaneously bring about that of the
latter. A cursory consideration of what motivates Learned Men to work, and of
the use to which Booksellers put their Works, is sufficient to prove the truth
of this proposition.
It would require a total ignorance of human nature, and of the multitude
of human needs, to convince oneself that it is not partly the hope of a
legitimate profit that persuades men to undertake the different kinds of work
to which they apply their talents.
Since Learned Men are hardly exempt from this, their actions
Chapter 1 Page 12
have the same motivations, and they essentially only work to meet their
needs, although they may nevertheless hope to find glory in their work
as well. Following this principle, which reason alone makes clear, it is
essential that Authors be able to sell their Works; and to this end, it
is essential that Booksellers be able to acquire them securely, without
fear that they will be stripped of them, in which case they will not wish
to take them on.
Now, if after the expiration of the Privilege granted to a Bookseller
for the printing of a Work, it were to become common property, he would
certainly refrain from purchasing a Manuscript for a considerable sum,
which he could not compel the Author to reimburse any more than the printing
costs, if the Work were to prove not to the Public's liking, or if at the
expiration of the Privilege the print-run were not sold entirely; or if the
product had not been sufficient to recoup the Bookseller's expenditure or to
raise a profit proportionate to his labour, which almost never happens with
the first Edition; thus, able neither to be certain of his ongoing property
of a Text, nor to compel the Author to cover any loss he might incur, it
would be unwise and imprudent of him to employ for such an acquisition funds
which he could employ more usefully and with greater peace of mind for the
purchase of a house, or of anything else, the property of which he could
count on; and to expose himself thus to a loss which he could only reimburse
by means of a perpetual ownership and an exclusive right which would be taken
from him.
In these circumstances, it is easy to see that Authors, no longer able to
sell their Works or to find in their labours the support they require, will be
discouraged and will cease to work; which will lead to the downfall of Knowledge,
and the rebirth of the centuries of darkness which preceded the birth of Printing.
Having proved, as the Booksellers of Paris are confident they have, that
their property of the Texts of the Books they have acquired may not be even
slightly infringed, without causing injury to the most respectable Laws of
Society, the pure lights of Reason, the Common Law of the Realm; and having
proved that the proposal they fight against tends directly to destroy the harmony
of the Realm; they are confident, MY LORD, that, far from granting to their
prejudice Permissions to print the Books which belong to them, YOUR LORDSHIP
will on the contrary use his Authority to reprimand the schemes that the
Booksellers of the Provinces continually make against them; in so doing, he will
unite in his person the glorious titles of Chief of Justice, and Protector of
Letters.
Translation by: Andrew Counter