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Balzac's letter to authors, Paris (1834)
Source: Association pour la conservation et la reproduction photographique de la presse (ACRPP) : Revue de Paris, Nouvelle Série - Année 1834, tome XI
Citation:
Balzac's letter to authors, Paris (1834), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org
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[REVUE DE PARIS 81]
would surely dissolve itself after having caused the ills of counterfeit and stamp duties to cease and
obtained new laws on literary property. Then it would have achieved enough both for the present and
for the future.
We are waiting for some colleagues to join us, so that we can take up this just enterprise
which we shall never abandon. A preparatory meeting will be necessary in order to take some
precautions as to how we should organize ourselves. In these circumstances one glorious name* will be
floating in everyone’s mind – a name which for us will be like a lodestar, a name which will cause our
rivalries to fall silent, a name which I will not say, and which without doubt will be an aegis under
which we will all eagerly gather. Like the merchants of the Middle Ages, who left their differences
behind at the door of their guild’s assembly hall, we, too, will leave behind our opinions, our dislikes,
our vanities outdoors, in order to devote ourselves exclusively to our public cause, and it is possible
that we will not always pick all that up again when leaving these assemblies.
Before concluding, we must observe that this is not a cry of insurrection, nor an appeal to the
passions of people – rather, it is a cry of poverty, a cry coming from a nation which has been placed
outside of the law, which is the victim of a denial of justice. May this cry find echoes, awaken
sympathies, cause these injustices to be avenged, and reinvigorate the sentiments of a patriotism
which is in agony for the time being! We raise our voice on behalf of those who stay up at night, of
those who suffer, of those whose ambition it is to contribute a mite to the treasury of the French
language. We demand that by one word of authority the horrible, abysmal paths are closed where the
finest spirits fall to their death, where great thoughts and sciences are irretrievably lost. We do not ask
for assistance or protection, we are not stretching out our hand for alms: the aim of our entreaties is to
have the same rights secured for the mind as for the bale of goods. We are not threatening anyone, we
are humbly asking not to be stripped of our property any more. As things are at present, France,
together with all of Europe, is losing 15 million francs. If you let us do what we have said, we will
ensure that she recovers them again. We are asking the deputies of our country to spare just a few
hours in order to perpetuate the talents which emerge on French soil. Italy, my good gentlemen
legislators, Italy is indebted to her splendid geniuses for two thirds of the guineas which she receives
from England.** Protect, therefore, our arts and language, for when your |
_______
*) Probably Lamartine.
**) i.e. from English tourists.
No Transcription available.
Source: Association pour la conservation et la reproduction photographique de la presse (ACRPP) : Revue de Paris, Nouvelle Série - Année 1834, tome XI
Citation:
Balzac's letter to authors, Paris (1834), 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
would surely dissolve itself after having caused the ills of counterfeit and stamp duties to cease and
obtained new laws on literary property. Then it would have achieved enough both for the present and
for the future.
We are waiting for some colleagues to join us, so that we can take up this just enterprise
which we shall never abandon. A preparatory meeting will be necessary in order to take some
precautions as to how we should organize ourselves. In these circumstances one glorious name* will be
floating in everyone’s mind – a name which for us will be like a lodestar, a name which will cause our
rivalries to fall silent, a name which I will not say, and which without doubt will be an aegis under
which we will all eagerly gather. Like the merchants of the Middle Ages, who left their differences
behind at the door of their guild’s assembly hall, we, too, will leave behind our opinions, our dislikes,
our vanities outdoors, in order to devote ourselves exclusively to our public cause, and it is possible
that we will not always pick all that up again when leaving these assemblies.
Before concluding, we must observe that this is not a cry of insurrection, nor an appeal to the
passions of people – rather, it is a cry of poverty, a cry coming from a nation which has been placed
outside of the law, which is the victim of a denial of justice. May this cry find echoes, awaken
sympathies, cause these injustices to be avenged, and reinvigorate the sentiments of a patriotism
which is in agony for the time being! We raise our voice on behalf of those who stay up at night, of
those who suffer, of those whose ambition it is to contribute a mite to the treasury of the French
language. We demand that by one word of authority the horrible, abysmal paths are closed where the
finest spirits fall to their death, where great thoughts and sciences are irretrievably lost. We do not ask
for assistance or protection, we are not stretching out our hand for alms: the aim of our entreaties is to
have the same rights secured for the mind as for the bale of goods. We are not threatening anyone, we
are humbly asking not to be stripped of our property any more. As things are at present, France,
together with all of Europe, is losing 15 million francs. If you let us do what we have said, we will
ensure that she recovers them again. We are asking the deputies of our country to spare just a few
hours in order to perpetuate the talents which emerge on French soil. Italy, my good gentlemen
legislators, Italy is indebted to her splendid geniuses for two thirds of the guineas which she receives
from England.** Protect, therefore, our arts and language, for when your |
_______
*) Probably Lamartine.
**) i.e. from English tourists.
No Transcription available.