PRIMARY SOURCES

ON COPYRIGHT

(1450-1900)

Johannes of Speyer's Printing Monopoly, Venice (1469)

Source: scanned from the manuscript held in the Venetian State Archives: ASV, NC, reg. 11, c. 55r

Citation:
Johannes of Speyer's Printing Monopoly, Venice (1469), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org

Back | Record | Images | Commentaries: [1]
Translation only | Transcription only | Show all | Bundled images as pdf

1 transcripted page

Chapter 1 Page 1


[...]

Mcccclxviij, die xviij septembris

      INDucta est in hanc nostram inclytam ciuitatem ars imprimendi libros: in diesque magis celebrior et
frequentior fiet per operam, studium et ingenium magistri Ioannis de Spira, qui caeteris
aliis urbibus hanc n[os]tram praeelegit, ubi cum coniuge,liberis et familia tota sua inhabitaret
exerceretq[ue] dictam artem librorum imprimendorum; iamque summa omnium commendatione impressit
epistolas Ciceronis, et nobile opus Plinii De naturali historia, in maximo numero et pulcherima
litterarum forma, pergitque quottidie alia preclara volumina imprimere, adeo ut,
industria et virtute huius hominis, multis praeclarisque voluminibus, et quidem peruilli
pretio locupletabitu: Etquoniam tale inventum, aetatis nostrae peculiare et proprium, priscis
illis omnino incognitum, omni fauore et ope augendum atque fovendum est, eidemque ma-
gistro Ioanni, qui mango urgetur sumptu familiae et artificum mercede, praestanda
sit materia ut alacrius perseveret, artemque suam imprimendi potius celebriorem red-
dere, quam desinere habeat, Quemadmodum in aliis exercitiis sustentandis, et multo quidem in-
ferioribus, fieri solitum est: infrascripti domini Consiliarii, ad humilem et devotam supplica-
tionem praedicti magistri Ioannis, terminarunt, terminandoque decreverunt, ut, per annos
quinque proxime futuros, nemo omnino sit qui velit, posit, valeat, audeatve {no} exercere
dictam artem imprimendorum librorum in hac inclyta civitate Venetiarum et districtu
suo, nisi ipse magister Ioannes. Et totiens, quotiens aliquis inventus fuerit, qui contra
hanc terminationem et decretum ausus fuerit exercere ipsam artem et imprimere
libros, multari condemnarique debeat, et amittere instrumenta et libros impressos. Et
sub hac eadem poena nemo debeat aut posit tales libros, in aliis terris et locis impressos,
vendendi causa huc portare.

Nullius est vigoris quia obiit
magister et auctor.


                                                Consiliarii

                                          Ser Angelus Gradenico
                                          Ser Bertuccius Contareno
                                          Ser Angelus Venerio
                                          Ser Iacobus Mauroceno
                                          Ser Franciscus Dandulo


Transcription by: Joanna Kostylo

    


Copyright History resource developed in partnership with:


Our Partners


Copyright statement

You may copy and distribute the translations and commentaries in this resource, or parts of such translations and commentaries, in any medium, for non-commercial purposes as long as the authorship of the commentaries and translations is acknowledged, and you indicate the source as Bently & Kretschmer (eds), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900) (www.copyrighthistory.org).

With the exception of commentaries that are available under a CC-BY licence (compliant with UKRI policy) you may not publish individual documents or parts of the database for any commercial purposes, including charging a fee for providing access to these documents via a network. This licence does not affect your statutory rights of fair dealing.

Although the original documents in this database are in the public domain, we are unable to grant you the right to reproduce or duplicate some of these documents in so far as the images or scans are protected by copyright or we have only been able to reproduce them here by giving contractual undertakings. For the status of any particular images, please consult the information relating to copyright in the bibliographic records.


Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900) is co-published by Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge, 10 West Road, Cambridge CB3 9DZ, UK and CREATe, School of Law, University of Glasgow, 10 The Square, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK