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'Pezzana e Consorti' case: supporting documents, Venice (1780)
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'Pezzana e Consorti' case: supporting documents, Venice (1780), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org
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Chapter 1 Page 1
[...]
Petition by Manfré & Co.
May 1780
Most Illustrious and Excellent Gentlemen Commissioners of the
University of Padua.
In view of the almost general disorder which has penetrated the Guild
of Booksellers and Printers in Venice – a disorder which destroys all good
faith and proper work in the Art of printing, and undermines the usefulness
and business of the printing workshops and bookshops of this
Chapter 1 Page 2
Dominante [Venice] – we, Marcantonio Manfré, Prior of the Guild, and
his partners from the Banca,* the most humble servants of Your Excellencies,
find ourselves compelled to have recourse to the providence of this Most
Excellent Magistracy, so that with your authority you might recall to an
obedience of the Laws those who neglect to observe them and also those
who maliciously bring confusion into them by means of wilful misinter-
pretations or offend against then in downright disobedience. It is our most
humble intention to report, in the present respectful petition, the disorders
which have emerged and are ever growing from day to day, so that once
these have been confronted by the Wisdom of Your Excellencies, the
measures which you may deign to enact, in your clemency and authority,
are able to put an end to their course.
Firstly: To start off with printing, we have first of all become aware
of an abuse which must of necessity result in work of the lowest possible
quality – for it is this which almost universally passes through the hands
of the apprentices who are illegally working as compositors.
Secondly: Two other things which are in themselves fatal for the
business have emerged: one of them is the not being able to have faith in
the prints which are produced from books that purport to have been printed
for wholesale or for retail sale, in which it isn't just copies that were bartered
and exchanged with Venetian booksellers that are used, but others too
which are partly copies distributed to booksellers by foreign states and
partly copies given to people who do not belong to the Guild and who
then sell these as cheaply as possible, thereby reducing sales for those
booksellers who, acting in good faith, did not provide themselves with
such copies.
Thirdly: From this proliferation of prints there arises the second of
these disorders – namely, that many vendors have appeared in the public
squares and in the workshops who have nothing whatsoever to do with
our Guild, and who offer at cheap prices almost the whole left-over stock
of those very same books which came into the shops as retail goods,
______
*) The presidency of the Venetian Guild of Printers and Booksellers.
Chapter 1 Page 3
and which because of the taxes [aggravi] cannot be sold by the shops
at prices comparable to those that are sold furtively and under hand, as it were.
Fourthly: In order to reduce this abundance of books in circulation, we
submit to the wise consideration of the Excellent Magistracy to decided whether
it would be appropriate to issue a prohibition, whereby books which have been
rendered common property upon expiry of their privileges may not be reprinted
other than by two matriculated members of the Guild at most, namely by the
first one who undertakes this task and by only one more apart from him, since
it has become habitual that in such a case three or four printers take possession
of it, which leads to a quadruple number of copies of a book coming out and is
then the reason why they have to be exchanged with people who do not
belong to our Guild and with foreign booksellers.
Fifthly: Another disorder which emerged but a few years ago is that now
some printers, now some booksellers print books containing few sheets, and,
being endowed with privileges, assign a very high price to them, so that in their
bartering they can exchange them for books of great value, thanks to the
excessive price they have set for their books (which actually cost very little),
and so they can sell very cheaply the books they have received, to the detriment
and dishonour of shops which cannot offer their books to sellers at such prices.
Sixthly: We are finally compelled to inform Your Excellencies of the
utmost difficulty which our poor Guild is confronted with in having to cover
the expenses to which it is obliged by the public laws; a difficulty which would
cease if all colleagues were, and this is something which is quite easy for
them, to contribute to the Tanse, Taglioni, and Luminarie* eight
grossi per bale, these contributions being currently demanded, according
to the Decree of 1603, of printers who publish books at the authors' expense,
and also if all colleagues had to provide the free copy of every book which
is due to the Guild.
_____
*) Special contributions which had to be paid by the members of Venetian
guilds for public festivities, such as fireworks (luminarie).
Chapter 1 Page 4
These which we have briefly reported are the disorders which are
destroying our profession, and they are those for whose reason we have
appeared before you to humbly ask for the succour of this Most Excellent
Magistracy, in whose competence it lies to offer assistance against the
shared misfortunes of our Guild, and of whose clemency we devoutly
implore this help. Thanks &c.
Marcantonio Manfré.
Simone Occhi, Syndic.
Antonio Zatta, Counsellor.
Niccolò Bettinelli, Counsellor.
_________________________________________________________
Ruling of the Most Excellent Commissioners.
1780. 30th July.
The Most Serene Prince hereby makes known, and it is by
order of the Most Illustrious and Excellent Commissioners
of the University of Padua.
The utmost concern, the constant zeal, and the effective solicitude
of our Magistracy, demonstrated at all times through numerous regulations,
and the necessary providence for the Art of Printing in Venice, always
confirmed by authoritative judgements from above, have led us also in
this present matter to a clear understanding of the various disorders
which are exposed in the above report by the Prior of the same Guild
and the members of its presidency; which disorders are capable, with
the utmost harm, to cause this Art to degenerate even more, if we should
fail to quickly provide new effective remedies and useful supports
Chapter 1 Page 5
in order to cause it to spring up again from its present state of decadence.
Serious and poised reflection having therefore been given to the
matter, not that thorough examinations have been carried out regarding
the nature of its current ills, and regarding the consequences thereof,
which we are now lamenting, we have also managed to distinguish the
force of the various measures that are suitable and appropriate for the
case in hand, in order to understand what has to be decreed.
Wherefore the Most Illustrious and Excellent Gentlemen the
Commissioners of the University of Padua have ruled, and in ruling
do so ordain that:
Omission.
VI. But because Our Magistracy is no less intent upon, and concerned
for, the happiness of Venetian printing and the good orderliness of this
Guild of Printers and Booksellers, it recognises that similar harmful
disorders arise for individual members of the latter from the obstacle
of whole printed Collected works lying unsold on the shelves because
of the excessive amounts of copies of books whose privileges have expired,
upon which, since they are common property, many people hurl them-
selves all at once in order to reprint them, so that it is difficult to sell off
so many identical copies of a single work; from which it can only follow
that recourse is had to, and a custom made of, those odious strategies for
taking advantage of others which derive from the deterioration of printing,
that is, such things as illicit sales, and illegal profit-sharing arrangements
with persons who do not belong to the Guild and even with foreigners –
all these being the true causes of the general decadence of the said Art:
for which reason it is resolutely laid down by us that in future only the
first respective privilege-holder, and no one else apart from him, will
be able to obtain a new licence, following the usual formalities, for the
re-impression of books whose
Chapter 1 Page 6
privilege has expired and which for that reason have become common property,
and this for as long as he should want; it being understood, furthermore, that the
same liberty is to be had, in precedence to the first owner [posseditore] of the
privilege, by whosoever should happen to be the author of a work: and if by
chance both of them should renounce to this advantage of being able to reprint
their book which had hitherto been privileged, only in this particular case, but
not in any other, may the book be reprinted exclusively by the first person who
obtains a mandate for it, whereby no one else may then obtain such a mandate,
neither before nor after that person's edition.
VII. And since in this part of the ruling we are dealing with re-impressions,
let there be fixed beforehand a term of two months within which printers have to
start this re-impression, and that they must then continue producing the reprint at a
rate of at least half a printer's sheet per day, failing which another may apply, with
the customary licences, for the possession of the book whose reprinting has either
not been commenced or which has been discontinued, and the new printer must
take over the re-impression in the time limits and manner that have been decreed.
VIII. Nevertheless, in the one case where some Printer or Bookseller undertakes
to produce a reprint of singular excellence, both because of the beauty of the paper
to be used and also in view of the exquisiteness of the types, the perfection of the
proof-reading and of the ornaments to be added to the work – since we know
that it is above all such editions which by virtue of their scope and magnificence
secure a high esteem and praise for the Art of Printing, as well as for the nations
in which the latter is exercised – may it be firmly resolved that this may be done
by the person who undertakes to carry out a re-impression of this kind, even if
the book in question should happen to still be privileged in some way or other.
However, it is then that person's obligation to submit both the first sheet of the
privileged publication and the first sheets of all the improvements made in the
Chapter 1 Page 7
reprint edition, to the appointed Examiner, who will then forward both the one
and the other, through the Supervisor of Prints [Sopraintendente alle stampe], to
Our Magistracy with a declaration of the differences between the two editions,
so that a comparison can be made between the completed work and the proposed
model, whereby those who fail to provide the precision [pontualità] which they
had promised shall be punished with forfeit of the copies they have printed and
severer penalties at our discretion, in particular that of being struck off the
Guild's register.
IX. Since, however, there are many books which cannot be regarded as being
subject to any first privilege-holder whatsoever, such as all those which were printed
and reprinted without any privilege, all those [with privileges] whose publication was
abandoned either due to the incapacity of the persons who owned them, or due
to the death of the chief businessmen or printers who were in charge of their
publication, or due to any other irreparable human accidents, following our Decree
of 11th May 1603, which assigned a privilege to anyone who by means of
reprinting undertook to bring out again works belonging to the public domain
[opere comuni] of high esteem, we grant solely to those Booksellers and Printers
who have no more than six privileged books, but to no one else apart from
them, that they may register in the Guild Book [Libro dell' Arte], with a
ten-year privilege, any work of such a kind, for which they have obtained
a reprinting mandate, so that such a printer or bookseller, or whosoever
may have been commissioned by the latter, can reprint the work during
that time, with the express obligation of submitting the first sheet to the
appointed Examiner, and of starting and carrying out the publication in
the manner specified in Article VII.
X. Furthermore, since the aforesaid category of works belonging
to the public domain [operi comuni] includes all school texts without
commentaries and other short works [operette] of little importance which
are used for the common folk – works that can be the sustenance of
some printing offices of limited means, which tend to take on
Chapter 1 Page 8
commissions, and which are not always prompt in dispatching them; in order
that they might be able to maintain their workers during the intervals when
they don't have any such commissions, we enjoin the present Prior of the
Guild and his Adjuncts in the governing council, that, exactly as was already
executed by them on 6th August 1669, with their spontaneous ruling of that
date, they are to draw up a catalogue for this category of books belonging to
the public domain [libri comuni] and then to publish this catalogue, so that
each one of the aforesaid Printers may request for himself some or other of
the items in the catalogue, whereby the edition which he brings out of the
latter, provided that he has complied beforehand with our instructions of
submitting the first sheet to the appointed Examiner, is understood to be
privileged, and all others are forbidden to reprint it, on pain of the penalties
threatened against those who reprint privileged books, and others to be
set at our discretion.
Omission.
And once the present ruling has been approved by the Most Excellent
Senate, it is to be printed and sent in various copies to the Prior of the
Guild, who is entrusted with the task of having it distributed, by means of
the Beadle, to all the individual members of the same, who are ordered to
keep it posted up, for all to see, in their shop or printing office; it being
desired that in everything which falls within the responsibility of each such
member of the Guild he should without fail demand complete and perfect
compliance with, and execution of this ruling.
Issued by the aforesaid Most Excellent Magistracy on 30th July 1780.
( Alvise Vallaresso, Commissioner
( Andrea Tron, Cavaliere and Procurator of St Mark's, Commissioner
( Sebastian Foscarini, Cavaliere, Commissioner
Davidde Marchesini, Secretary
Chapter 1 Page 9
Decree of the Most Excellent Senate, approving
the preceding ruling.
1780. 9th August. In the Senate.
The Magistracy of the Commissioners of the University of Padua always
being conscientious and so very much like itself in the exactness of its
examinations, in the aptness of its thoughts, and in the maturity of its own
deliberations, it appears to the Senate from the worthily elaborated report
which it has just heard, and in which various facts concerning the Art of
Printing in questa Dominate [in Venice], collected there quite well and
thoroughly, have been brought to its attention, and which clearly displays
to this Assembly an intention that is in accordance with its public policies
and is useful for its objectives, these being always considered from the
perspective of public utility.
The serious applications and well considered examinations, which
on repeated occasions they have given to the matter in question, having
induced this same Magistracy to verify, in view of a petition lodged with
the aforesaid Magistracy by the Prior of the Guild and his Adjuncts, other
all too real disorders as a result of which not only is the state of decadence
of this Art in Venice maintained, but the also continues to grow, have
also led it to an understanding of the true and reliable remedies for causing
it to surge up again as much as possible in terms of the reputation of
printing and in the utility of a profitable business.
Therefore [it is] a praiseworthy assessment which has been given to
us [the Senate], with the opinion of the petitioners and other printers and
booksellers who belong to the most highly esteemed because of tradition
and experience, and which sheds a clear light on the true ills that this Art
is currently suffering, and suggests some radical measures and indemnities
that are suitable to the
Chapter 1 Page 10
circumstances of the present times, and are the most appropriate for breathing
new life into it and redeeming it from its actual state of degeneration.
The matter having, therefore, been examined in all its aspects, [the
Senate] does not hesitate to assert with good reason that two are the
infallible sources of all the defects which are leaving such a profound
impression on this very Art and which are capable of leading it to its complete
ruin. One of them is the present state of the retailers [fondachi] of books,
and the other is the greed of many people who, being incapable of producing
useful prints on their own account, found their fortunes on the basis of
reprints and at the cost of the destruction of others.
So, these being the true origins of the present ills which afflict the above-
mentioned Art, leading to a crippling of the presses, a deterioration in the
quality of prints, great harm to the Guild's work and curtailments of its
business, they appeal to the wisdom of the government [la Pubblica Sapienza],
as the aforementioned Magistracy has quite rightly suggested, in view of
the course things have taken and the findings which have emerged, to confront
the situation again with other more solid and robust remedies, in order to
cut short the progress of so many ills, for the sake of this Art's prosperity, and
for the honour of Venetian editions.
The Senate, therefore, which takes great delight in, and is most grateful
for, the assessments which have been carried out and the suggestions of the
conscientious Magistracy, remains fully determined to ratify, with the penalties
imposed by the laws, as well as others to be set at the discretion of the same
Magistracy, all the measures which have been set down and described very
well in the Ruling it referred to us, concerning the fixed number of apprentices,
publications that are undertaken in collaboration [stampe a Partito] with the
relevant regulations, the renewal and continuation of privileges for reprinting
books whose original privilege has expired and which belong therefore to the
public domain, with the
Chapter 1 Page 11
proposed declarations, the appointment which is to be made by the Guild itself
of an honest and intelligent Curator of Printing [Proto Stampatore] with the
duties pertaining to such a post, the proof-readers, and also the responsibility of
booksellers and printers, but not anyone else who does not belong to the Guild,
for the printing of any new book, for the setting up of businesses, the carrying out
of exchanges, and the retail sale of books on stalls and in the streets, and regarding
the quality of the books offered on the said stalls by vendors who must be
matriculated persons, and likewise, too, regarding the solvency [?] of debtors
who owe anything to the afore-named Guild, and everything else that is on the
whole contained and accurately set down in the praiseworthy capitulary ruling,
which is hereby fully approved and which is to be printed and published in the
indicated fashion.
Since this Council [i.e. the Senate] resolutely desires that all this should be
executed without fail and, given that the worthy Magistracy will not cease to
continue to make its own observations about the new approved measures, that
the latter should always be vigorously maintained in force as far as compliance
with them is concerned, in order to improve the situation of this same Art through
their consequences, and, should the case arise, so that any persons who disobey
them may meet with the indicated punishments and penalties, the following
reward is established for those who denounce such persons: namely, that their
identity will be kept secret if the offences reported by them should prove to be
true upon examination of the facts.
And as the Magistracy promises at the end [of its ruling], so this Council
will await the subsequent praiseworthy fruits of its applications regarding the
discovery of new things which the aforesaid Art may be found to be lacking,
in order to make sure that already this decree is provided with suitable provisions
for giving all the more succour to it and helping it to flourish again, as is the
aim of the present public declaration.
Davidde Marchesini, Secretary.
Chapter 1 Page 12
Ruling of the Most Excellent Commissioners
with regard to the preceding.
1780, 28th September.
The Most Serene Prince hereby makes known, and it is by
order of the Most Illustrious and Excellent Gentlemen the
Commissioners of the University of Padua.
Given that the Most Excellent Senate, with its Decree of 9th August,
has authorised the ruling of this Magistracy issued on 30th July past, for
the relief of the Art of Printing in Venice, the Most Illustrious and
Excellent Gentlemen the Commissioners of the University of Padua
have resolved, in order to prevent any misinterpretations which may
be maliciously attempted by individual members of the same Guild
with regard to one or other of the articles of the aforesaid ruling, to
explain it with greater precision and clarification, so that these articles
can be executed without fail, in accordance with, and in fulfilment of,
the intentions of the Government [la pubblica intenzione].
Omission.
III.
The obligations of this Prior regarding compliance with Articles
IX. and X.
The clemency of the government has, in Articles IX and X, shown
consideration with a paternal eye for all the individual members of the
aforesaid Guild, but, in order to be able to distribute its beneficial effects
with greater ease, two registers [fogli] are to be drawn up on our instructions
by the Prior of the Guild.
Chapter 1 Page 13
The first of these is to list the members of the Guild of Printers and
Booksellers, divided into two categories – one containing matriculated members
who run bookshops and printing offices, those who just have shops without
printing offices, or printing offices without shops, or printing offices of the
kind that are designated as [da Bagaglie ?]; the other category being made up
of matriculated members who do not exercise their profession because they
are employed in the service of some bookshop or are manual workers in
someone else's printing office, or because they are working as pedlars on the
streets or on behalf of stall-owners.
The second register contains a catalogue of all those books which cannot
be regarded as subject to any privilege, as well as of those whose privileges have
been relinquished.
In order, though, to proceed with the guidance of these two registers without
any partiality or rivalry at the expense of the books contained in this catalogue,
these will be distributed by lot using the following method.
By our order the Chapter of the Guild is to be summoned and only the names
of those booksellers and printers who do not have more than six privileges, and who
belong to the first category described above, are to be included in the ballot. These
names will then be extracted at random in public, called out in the order that they
come out of the ballot box, and recorded on a piece of paper, so that each one of
these, still following the order in which their names were drawn, can one by one,
one after the other, request for himself two books from those which are listed in the
catalogue included with the register.
And since according to Article X those printing offices which print works on
commission are exclusively assigned all school texts without notes and other short
works of little importance, that is those which are referred to as of popular usage, it
is considered appropriate to order, according to the disposal of books explained in
Article IX, the current Prior to get together with a few of the most sensible and
Chapter 1 Page 14
prudent members of the same Guild, and to draw up an inventory of the afore-
mentioned school-books and the indicated popular short works; and then to carry
out a fair distribution of these into so many groups, each marked with a number,
beginning with 1 and going up to the number equal to that of the names of the
applicants, which names will then be drawn out from a ballot box, so that each
one is allotted the group of books whose marked number corresponds to his rank
in the sequence of names drawn out in the ballot.
Once these two allotments have been carried out, that of the matriculated
members belonging to the second category will take place, using the method
prescribed for the implementation of Article IX.
The order is likewise given to each one of the beneficiaries of the second
Category that they are not allowed to transfer the books they have acquired to
a colleague who has more than six privileges; rather, they must publish these books
under their own name, and on their own account, or at least with a capital invest-
ment in the publication on their part; and if it nevertheless comes to the notice of
the Most Excellent Magistracy that this or that person is abusing of the favour
[beneficenza] he has received, they shall consequently have the awarded mandate
taken away from them, and the latter will immediately be passed on to another
colleague who, because of his category, would not be able to claim it by law; and
the person who had secretly acquired that privilege will have all copies confiscated
from him if he should have actually happened to print the work.
Furthermore, each one of the beneficiaries of either kind is understood to be
subject to the general laws concerning inspection of the first sheet, and the time during
which printing of the edition is to be started and continued.
And because among the books which since time immemorial have been referred
to as of general use for the common folk – always excepting school-books, though –
there are a few which are not actually of little significance, and which as a rule are
printed by poor booksellers from the Terraferma,* it will be incumbent
_______
*) The Domini di Terraferma were the mainland territories of the Republic of Venice.
Chapter 1 Page 15
upon the Prior of the Guild to make a record of which books these are, and to
submit the inventory to the Most Excellent Magistracy, so that printing offices
which do not belong to Venice are not deprived of these, it being understood
that they are always to be common to the presses of the Terraferma and those
of the City of Venice itself.
Omission.
And the present ruling, having been confirmed by the authority of the
Most Excellent Senate, is to be printed and forwarded to the Prior of the
aforesaid Guild, so that it may be distributed, by the standard procedures,
to all individual members of the same Guild, and immediately and
unalterably complied with by them.
Issued by the aforesaid Most Excellent Magistracy on 28th September
1780.
( Alvisse Vallaresso, Commissioner.
( Andrea Tron, Cavaliere and Procurator of St Mark's, Commissioner.
( Sebastian Foscarini, Cavaliere and Commissioner.
Davidde Marchesini, Secretary.
On 5th October 1780.
Approved by Decree of the Most Excellent Senate.
Chapter 1 Page 16
Our Petition Submitted for Your Attention.
1781, 28th March.
MOST SERENE PRINCE.
The Art of Printing, which constitutes in the Venetian domains a profitable
branch of commerce, and which provides employment and nourishment to so many
subjects, interested ever since its beginnings the vigilant cares of Your Serenity.
The experience of past times allows us to appreciate the harmful effects of
exclusive privileges granted for the printing of a particular book; and by numerous
Sovereign Decrees of the Most Excellent Senate, issued on 1st August 1517, 3rd
January 1533, 4th June 1537, and other successive decrees right up to our present
times, it has always been laid down by statute that only new books which have never
been printed before can obtain a temporary privilege.
Thanks to the liberty which all the individual matriculated members of the
Guild have to print books whose privileges have expired and which are therefore
common property [comuni], it has been possible, in the course of almost three
centuries now, for this trade to flourish, for the price of books to be maintained at
a reasonably low level in comparison with foreign nations, and for the barter book
trade amongst these same individual members to be facilitated, which is precisely
what is necessary to ensure a wide assortment and for the fulfilment of the
unfortunately all too insidious commissions of the foreign presses – a principle
which has been constantly upheld, most recently by the Sovereign Law of 1767.
By the recently issued ruling of the Most Excellent Gentlemen the
Commissioners of the University of Padua, of 30th July 1780, subsequently
approved by the Most Excellent Senate on 9th August, it has been laid down,
in addition to the assignment to
Chapter 1 Page 17
the first discoverers and printers of books whose privileges have expired, and with
the prescribed sharing out of books for popular and school usage, that all the books
which until then anyone had been free to reprint, are to pass into the exclusive
perpetual privilege of a single person; as a result of which the greater part of those
books which are the most successful with readers, and which are therefore the
most essential for the trade, would be concentrated in the hands of a few individuals.
For what motives the current Prior of the Guild has been induced to lobby,
with his report on so essential a point, for an amendment to the numerous ancient and
more recent government measures, thanks to which the profitable business of the
Venetian book trade has been able to subsist for so many centuries, it is not for the
individual members of this Guild, who are all used to trading with foreign markets, to
enquire – for which members the way to being able to maintain their commercial
activities must necessarily remain closed as a result of such an amendment – even
though these same individuals, full of confidence in Your Serenity, their Prince and
Father, present themselves in the number of signatures included below, and as they
revere the other most wise measures and regulations, as well as the utmost virtue
and zeal which are laid down by the aforesaid ruling; and likewise under the guidance
of the public maxims which have been so clearly explained in the Sovereign
Legislation of the last three centuries, they respectfully implore the Most Clement
Attention of the Most Excellent Magistracy of the Gentlemen the Commissioners
of the University of Padua with regard to the aforesaid Decree of 9th August which
was passed in approval of the aforementioned ruling of 30th July, and, in particular,
to that section alone which approves those statutes of the ruling which pertain to
the aforesaid unity [?] and perpetual privilege for the reprinting of each such book
that had hitherto been open to all; whence [they implore you] to submit to public
consideration the fatal consequences which would flow from the execution of
these same statutes, to the grave detriment, and
Chapter 1 Page 18
with an ensuing disturbance of this profitable sphere of Venetian commerce,
and which are no less ruinous for the interests and family situations of the
supplicants, something that cannot be separated from the ruin of yet another
considerable part of the households which are subjects of Your Serenity,
namely those who draw the means for their own sustenance from being
employed by our Guild as hired labourers. Thanks &c.
Heirs of Niccolò Pezzana.
Giuseppe Remondini.
Francesco Pitteri.
Giovanni Antonio Pezzana, son of the late Lorenzo.
Francesco di Niccolò Pezzana, formerly Prior and now Syndic of the Guild.
Giambattista Pasquali, formerly Prior and now Syndic of the Guild.
Giovanni Battista Novelli, formerly Prior and now Syndic of the Guild.
Antonio Zatta, Counsellor, retired.
Pietro Savioni, son of the late Girolamo, formerly Prior and now Syndic of the Guild.
Giuseppe Fenzo, son of the late Modesto, currently a Counsellor of the Guild.
Angelo Albrizzi, son of the late Giovanni Battista.
Giacomo Caroboli, formerly a Syndic and now Counsellor of the Guild.
1781, 28th March. In the Council of the Guild.
May this be forwarded to the Wise
Counsellors.
Sen. Carlo Zino.
Sen. Bortolo Gradenigo II, Cavaliere.
Sen. Diodato Bembo.
Sen. Venceslao Martinengo.
Sen. Tomà Mocenigo Soranzo.
Sen. Anzolo Memo V.
Translation by: Luis Sundkvist
Source: N/A
Citation:
'Pezzana e Consorti' case: supporting documents, Venice (1780), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org
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18 translated pages
Chapter 1 Page 1
[...]
May 1780
Most Illustrious and Excellent Gentlemen Commissioners of the
University of Padua.
In view of the almost general disorder which has penetrated the Guild
of Booksellers and Printers in Venice – a disorder which destroys all good
faith and proper work in the Art of printing, and undermines the usefulness
and business of the printing workshops and bookshops of this
Chapter 1 Page 2
Dominante [Venice] – we, Marcantonio Manfré, Prior of the Guild, and
his partners from the Banca,* the most humble servants of Your Excellencies,
find ourselves compelled to have recourse to the providence of this Most
Excellent Magistracy, so that with your authority you might recall to an
obedience of the Laws those who neglect to observe them and also those
who maliciously bring confusion into them by means of wilful misinter-
pretations or offend against then in downright disobedience. It is our most
humble intention to report, in the present respectful petition, the disorders
which have emerged and are ever growing from day to day, so that once
these have been confronted by the Wisdom of Your Excellencies, the
measures which you may deign to enact, in your clemency and authority,
are able to put an end to their course.
Firstly: To start off with printing, we have first of all become aware
of an abuse which must of necessity result in work of the lowest possible
quality – for it is this which almost universally passes through the hands
of the apprentices who are illegally working as compositors.
Secondly: Two other things which are in themselves fatal for the
business have emerged: one of them is the not being able to have faith in
the prints which are produced from books that purport to have been printed
for wholesale or for retail sale, in which it isn't just copies that were bartered
and exchanged with Venetian booksellers that are used, but others too
which are partly copies distributed to booksellers by foreign states and
partly copies given to people who do not belong to the Guild and who
then sell these as cheaply as possible, thereby reducing sales for those
booksellers who, acting in good faith, did not provide themselves with
such copies.
Thirdly: From this proliferation of prints there arises the second of
these disorders – namely, that many vendors have appeared in the public
squares and in the workshops who have nothing whatsoever to do with
our Guild, and who offer at cheap prices almost the whole left-over stock
of those very same books which came into the shops as retail goods,
______
*) The presidency of the Venetian Guild of Printers and Booksellers.
Chapter 1 Page 3
and which because of the taxes [aggravi] cannot be sold by the shops
at prices comparable to those that are sold furtively and under hand, as it were.
Fourthly: In order to reduce this abundance of books in circulation, we
submit to the wise consideration of the Excellent Magistracy to decided whether
it would be appropriate to issue a prohibition, whereby books which have been
rendered common property upon expiry of their privileges may not be reprinted
other than by two matriculated members of the Guild at most, namely by the
first one who undertakes this task and by only one more apart from him, since
it has become habitual that in such a case three or four printers take possession
of it, which leads to a quadruple number of copies of a book coming out and is
then the reason why they have to be exchanged with people who do not
belong to our Guild and with foreign booksellers.
Fifthly: Another disorder which emerged but a few years ago is that now
some printers, now some booksellers print books containing few sheets, and,
being endowed with privileges, assign a very high price to them, so that in their
bartering they can exchange them for books of great value, thanks to the
excessive price they have set for their books (which actually cost very little),
and so they can sell very cheaply the books they have received, to the detriment
and dishonour of shops which cannot offer their books to sellers at such prices.
Sixthly: We are finally compelled to inform Your Excellencies of the
utmost difficulty which our poor Guild is confronted with in having to cover
the expenses to which it is obliged by the public laws; a difficulty which would
cease if all colleagues were, and this is something which is quite easy for
them, to contribute to the Tanse, Taglioni, and Luminarie* eight
grossi per bale, these contributions being currently demanded, according
to the Decree of 1603, of printers who publish books at the authors' expense,
and also if all colleagues had to provide the free copy of every book which
is due to the Guild.
_____
*) Special contributions which had to be paid by the members of Venetian
guilds for public festivities, such as fireworks (luminarie).
Chapter 1 Page 4
These which we have briefly reported are the disorders which are
destroying our profession, and they are those for whose reason we have
appeared before you to humbly ask for the succour of this Most Excellent
Magistracy, in whose competence it lies to offer assistance against the
shared misfortunes of our Guild, and of whose clemency we devoutly
implore this help. Thanks &c.
Marcantonio Manfré.
Simone Occhi, Syndic.
Antonio Zatta, Counsellor.
Niccolò Bettinelli, Counsellor.
_________________________________________________________
1780. 30th July.
The Most Serene Prince hereby makes known, and it is by
order of the Most Illustrious and Excellent Commissioners
of the University of Padua.
The utmost concern, the constant zeal, and the effective solicitude
of our Magistracy, demonstrated at all times through numerous regulations,
and the necessary providence for the Art of Printing in Venice, always
confirmed by authoritative judgements from above, have led us also in
this present matter to a clear understanding of the various disorders
which are exposed in the above report by the Prior of the same Guild
and the members of its presidency; which disorders are capable, with
the utmost harm, to cause this Art to degenerate even more, if we should
fail to quickly provide new effective remedies and useful supports
Chapter 1 Page 5
in order to cause it to spring up again from its present state of decadence.
Serious and poised reflection having therefore been given to the
matter, not that thorough examinations have been carried out regarding
the nature of its current ills, and regarding the consequences thereof,
which we are now lamenting, we have also managed to distinguish the
force of the various measures that are suitable and appropriate for the
case in hand, in order to understand what has to be decreed.
Wherefore the Most Illustrious and Excellent Gentlemen the
Commissioners of the University of Padua have ruled, and in ruling
do so ordain that:
VI. But because Our Magistracy is no less intent upon, and concerned
for, the happiness of Venetian printing and the good orderliness of this
Guild of Printers and Booksellers, it recognises that similar harmful
disorders arise for individual members of the latter from the obstacle
of whole printed Collected works lying unsold on the shelves because
of the excessive amounts of copies of books whose privileges have expired,
upon which, since they are common property, many people hurl them-
selves all at once in order to reprint them, so that it is difficult to sell off
so many identical copies of a single work; from which it can only follow
that recourse is had to, and a custom made of, those odious strategies for
taking advantage of others which derive from the deterioration of printing,
that is, such things as illicit sales, and illegal profit-sharing arrangements
with persons who do not belong to the Guild and even with foreigners –
all these being the true causes of the general decadence of the said Art:
for which reason it is resolutely laid down by us that in future only the
first respective privilege-holder, and no one else apart from him, will
be able to obtain a new licence, following the usual formalities, for the
re-impression of books whose
Chapter 1 Page 6
privilege has expired and which for that reason have become common property,
and this for as long as he should want; it being understood, furthermore, that the
same liberty is to be had, in precedence to the first owner [posseditore] of the
privilege, by whosoever should happen to be the author of a work: and if by
chance both of them should renounce to this advantage of being able to reprint
their book which had hitherto been privileged, only in this particular case, but
not in any other, may the book be reprinted exclusively by the first person who
obtains a mandate for it, whereby no one else may then obtain such a mandate,
neither before nor after that person's edition.
VII. And since in this part of the ruling we are dealing with re-impressions,
let there be fixed beforehand a term of two months within which printers have to
start this re-impression, and that they must then continue producing the reprint at a
rate of at least half a printer's sheet per day, failing which another may apply, with
the customary licences, for the possession of the book whose reprinting has either
not been commenced or which has been discontinued, and the new printer must
take over the re-impression in the time limits and manner that have been decreed.
VIII. Nevertheless, in the one case where some Printer or Bookseller undertakes
to produce a reprint of singular excellence, both because of the beauty of the paper
to be used and also in view of the exquisiteness of the types, the perfection of the
proof-reading and of the ornaments to be added to the work – since we know
that it is above all such editions which by virtue of their scope and magnificence
secure a high esteem and praise for the Art of Printing, as well as for the nations
in which the latter is exercised – may it be firmly resolved that this may be done
by the person who undertakes to carry out a re-impression of this kind, even if
the book in question should happen to still be privileged in some way or other.
However, it is then that person's obligation to submit both the first sheet of the
privileged publication and the first sheets of all the improvements made in the
Chapter 1 Page 7
reprint edition, to the appointed Examiner, who will then forward both the one
and the other, through the Supervisor of Prints [Sopraintendente alle stampe], to
Our Magistracy with a declaration of the differences between the two editions,
so that a comparison can be made between the completed work and the proposed
model, whereby those who fail to provide the precision [pontualità] which they
had promised shall be punished with forfeit of the copies they have printed and
severer penalties at our discretion, in particular that of being struck off the
Guild's register.
IX. Since, however, there are many books which cannot be regarded as being
subject to any first privilege-holder whatsoever, such as all those which were printed
and reprinted without any privilege, all those [with privileges] whose publication was
abandoned either due to the incapacity of the persons who owned them, or due
to the death of the chief businessmen or printers who were in charge of their
publication, or due to any other irreparable human accidents, following our Decree
of 11th May 1603, which assigned a privilege to anyone who by means of
reprinting undertook to bring out again works belonging to the public domain
[opere comuni] of high esteem, we grant solely to those Booksellers and Printers
who have no more than six privileged books, but to no one else apart from
them, that they may register in the Guild Book [Libro dell' Arte], with a
ten-year privilege, any work of such a kind, for which they have obtained
a reprinting mandate, so that such a printer or bookseller, or whosoever
may have been commissioned by the latter, can reprint the work during
that time, with the express obligation of submitting the first sheet to the
appointed Examiner, and of starting and carrying out the publication in
the manner specified in Article VII.
X. Furthermore, since the aforesaid category of works belonging
to the public domain [operi comuni] includes all school texts without
commentaries and other short works [operette] of little importance which
are used for the common folk – works that can be the sustenance of
some printing offices of limited means, which tend to take on
Chapter 1 Page 8
commissions, and which are not always prompt in dispatching them; in order
that they might be able to maintain their workers during the intervals when
they don't have any such commissions, we enjoin the present Prior of the
Guild and his Adjuncts in the governing council, that, exactly as was already
executed by them on 6th August 1669, with their spontaneous ruling of that
date, they are to draw up a catalogue for this category of books belonging to
the public domain [libri comuni] and then to publish this catalogue, so that
each one of the aforesaid Printers may request for himself some or other of
the items in the catalogue, whereby the edition which he brings out of the
latter, provided that he has complied beforehand with our instructions of
submitting the first sheet to the appointed Examiner, is understood to be
privileged, and all others are forbidden to reprint it, on pain of the penalties
threatened against those who reprint privileged books, and others to be
set at our discretion.
And once the present ruling has been approved by the Most Excellent
Senate, it is to be printed and sent in various copies to the Prior of the
Guild, who is entrusted with the task of having it distributed, by means of
the Beadle, to all the individual members of the same, who are ordered to
keep it posted up, for all to see, in their shop or printing office; it being
desired that in everything which falls within the responsibility of each such
member of the Guild he should without fail demand complete and perfect
compliance with, and execution of this ruling.
Issued by the aforesaid Most Excellent Magistracy on 30th July 1780.
( Alvise Vallaresso, Commissioner
( Andrea Tron, Cavaliere and Procurator of St Mark's, Commissioner
( Sebastian Foscarini, Cavaliere, Commissioner
Davidde Marchesini, Secretary
Chapter 1 Page 9
the preceding ruling.
1780. 9th August. In the Senate.
The Magistracy of the Commissioners of the University of Padua always
being conscientious and so very much like itself in the exactness of its
examinations, in the aptness of its thoughts, and in the maturity of its own
deliberations, it appears to the Senate from the worthily elaborated report
which it has just heard, and in which various facts concerning the Art of
Printing in questa Dominate [in Venice], collected there quite well and
thoroughly, have been brought to its attention, and which clearly displays
to this Assembly an intention that is in accordance with its public policies
and is useful for its objectives, these being always considered from the
perspective of public utility.
The serious applications and well considered examinations, which
on repeated occasions they have given to the matter in question, having
induced this same Magistracy to verify, in view of a petition lodged with
the aforesaid Magistracy by the Prior of the Guild and his Adjuncts, other
all too real disorders as a result of which not only is the state of decadence
of this Art in Venice maintained, but the also continues to grow, have
also led it to an understanding of the true and reliable remedies for causing
it to surge up again as much as possible in terms of the reputation of
printing and in the utility of a profitable business.
Therefore [it is] a praiseworthy assessment which has been given to
us [the Senate], with the opinion of the petitioners and other printers and
booksellers who belong to the most highly esteemed because of tradition
and experience, and which sheds a clear light on the true ills that this Art
is currently suffering, and suggests some radical measures and indemnities
that are suitable to the
Chapter 1 Page 10
circumstances of the present times, and are the most appropriate for breathing
new life into it and redeeming it from its actual state of degeneration.
The matter having, therefore, been examined in all its aspects, [the
Senate] does not hesitate to assert with good reason that two are the
infallible sources of all the defects which are leaving such a profound
impression on this very Art and which are capable of leading it to its complete
ruin. One of them is the present state of the retailers [fondachi] of books,
and the other is the greed of many people who, being incapable of producing
useful prints on their own account, found their fortunes on the basis of
reprints and at the cost of the destruction of others.
So, these being the true origins of the present ills which afflict the above-
mentioned Art, leading to a crippling of the presses, a deterioration in the
quality of prints, great harm to the Guild's work and curtailments of its
business, they appeal to the wisdom of the government [la Pubblica Sapienza],
as the aforementioned Magistracy has quite rightly suggested, in view of
the course things have taken and the findings which have emerged, to confront
the situation again with other more solid and robust remedies, in order to
cut short the progress of so many ills, for the sake of this Art's prosperity, and
for the honour of Venetian editions.
The Senate, therefore, which takes great delight in, and is most grateful
for, the assessments which have been carried out and the suggestions of the
conscientious Magistracy, remains fully determined to ratify, with the penalties
imposed by the laws, as well as others to be set at the discretion of the same
Magistracy, all the measures which have been set down and described very
well in the Ruling it referred to us, concerning the fixed number of apprentices,
publications that are undertaken in collaboration [stampe a Partito] with the
relevant regulations, the renewal and continuation of privileges for reprinting
books whose original privilege has expired and which belong therefore to the
public domain, with the
Chapter 1 Page 11
proposed declarations, the appointment which is to be made by the Guild itself
of an honest and intelligent Curator of Printing [Proto Stampatore] with the
duties pertaining to such a post, the proof-readers, and also the responsibility of
booksellers and printers, but not anyone else who does not belong to the Guild,
for the printing of any new book, for the setting up of businesses, the carrying out
of exchanges, and the retail sale of books on stalls and in the streets, and regarding
the quality of the books offered on the said stalls by vendors who must be
matriculated persons, and likewise, too, regarding the solvency [?] of debtors
who owe anything to the afore-named Guild, and everything else that is on the
whole contained and accurately set down in the praiseworthy capitulary ruling,
which is hereby fully approved and which is to be printed and published in the
indicated fashion.
Since this Council [i.e. the Senate] resolutely desires that all this should be
executed without fail and, given that the worthy Magistracy will not cease to
continue to make its own observations about the new approved measures, that
the latter should always be vigorously maintained in force as far as compliance
with them is concerned, in order to improve the situation of this same Art through
their consequences, and, should the case arise, so that any persons who disobey
them may meet with the indicated punishments and penalties, the following
reward is established for those who denounce such persons: namely, that their
identity will be kept secret if the offences reported by them should prove to be
true upon examination of the facts.
And as the Magistracy promises at the end [of its ruling], so this Council
will await the subsequent praiseworthy fruits of its applications regarding the
discovery of new things which the aforesaid Art may be found to be lacking,
in order to make sure that already this decree is provided with suitable provisions
for giving all the more succour to it and helping it to flourish again, as is the
aim of the present public declaration.
Davidde Marchesini, Secretary.
Chapter 1 Page 12
with regard to the preceding.
1780, 28th September.
The Most Serene Prince hereby makes known, and it is by
order of the Most Illustrious and Excellent Gentlemen the
Commissioners of the University of Padua.
Given that the Most Excellent Senate, with its Decree of 9th August,
has authorised the ruling of this Magistracy issued on 30th July past, for
the relief of the Art of Printing in Venice, the Most Illustrious and
Excellent Gentlemen the Commissioners of the University of Padua
have resolved, in order to prevent any misinterpretations which may
be maliciously attempted by individual members of the same Guild
with regard to one or other of the articles of the aforesaid ruling, to
explain it with greater precision and clarification, so that these articles
can be executed without fail, in accordance with, and in fulfilment of,
the intentions of the Government [la pubblica intenzione].
III.
The obligations of this Prior regarding compliance with Articles
IX. and X.
The clemency of the government has, in Articles IX and X, shown
consideration with a paternal eye for all the individual members of the
aforesaid Guild, but, in order to be able to distribute its beneficial effects
with greater ease, two registers [fogli] are to be drawn up on our instructions
by the Prior of the Guild.
Chapter 1 Page 13
The first of these is to list the members of the Guild of Printers and
Booksellers, divided into two categories – one containing matriculated members
who run bookshops and printing offices, those who just have shops without
printing offices, or printing offices without shops, or printing offices of the
kind that are designated as [da Bagaglie ?]; the other category being made up
of matriculated members who do not exercise their profession because they
are employed in the service of some bookshop or are manual workers in
someone else's printing office, or because they are working as pedlars on the
streets or on behalf of stall-owners.
The second register contains a catalogue of all those books which cannot
be regarded as subject to any privilege, as well as of those whose privileges have
been relinquished.
In order, though, to proceed with the guidance of these two registers without
any partiality or rivalry at the expense of the books contained in this catalogue,
these will be distributed by lot using the following method.
By our order the Chapter of the Guild is to be summoned and only the names
of those booksellers and printers who do not have more than six privileges, and who
belong to the first category described above, are to be included in the ballot. These
names will then be extracted at random in public, called out in the order that they
come out of the ballot box, and recorded on a piece of paper, so that each one of
these, still following the order in which their names were drawn, can one by one,
one after the other, request for himself two books from those which are listed in the
catalogue included with the register.
And since according to Article X those printing offices which print works on
commission are exclusively assigned all school texts without notes and other short
works of little importance, that is those which are referred to as of popular usage, it
is considered appropriate to order, according to the disposal of books explained in
Article IX, the current Prior to get together with a few of the most sensible and
Chapter 1 Page 14
prudent members of the same Guild, and to draw up an inventory of the afore-
mentioned school-books and the indicated popular short works; and then to carry
out a fair distribution of these into so many groups, each marked with a number,
beginning with 1 and going up to the number equal to that of the names of the
applicants, which names will then be drawn out from a ballot box, so that each
one is allotted the group of books whose marked number corresponds to his rank
in the sequence of names drawn out in the ballot.
Once these two allotments have been carried out, that of the matriculated
members belonging to the second category will take place, using the method
prescribed for the implementation of Article IX.
The order is likewise given to each one of the beneficiaries of the second
Category that they are not allowed to transfer the books they have acquired to
a colleague who has more than six privileges; rather, they must publish these books
under their own name, and on their own account, or at least with a capital invest-
ment in the publication on their part; and if it nevertheless comes to the notice of
the Most Excellent Magistracy that this or that person is abusing of the favour
[beneficenza] he has received, they shall consequently have the awarded mandate
taken away from them, and the latter will immediately be passed on to another
colleague who, because of his category, would not be able to claim it by law; and
the person who had secretly acquired that privilege will have all copies confiscated
from him if he should have actually happened to print the work.
Furthermore, each one of the beneficiaries of either kind is understood to be
subject to the general laws concerning inspection of the first sheet, and the time during
which printing of the edition is to be started and continued.
And because among the books which since time immemorial have been referred
to as of general use for the common folk – always excepting school-books, though –
there are a few which are not actually of little significance, and which as a rule are
printed by poor booksellers from the Terraferma,* it will be incumbent
_______
*) The Domini di Terraferma were the mainland territories of the Republic of Venice.
Chapter 1 Page 15
upon the Prior of the Guild to make a record of which books these are, and to
submit the inventory to the Most Excellent Magistracy, so that printing offices
which do not belong to Venice are not deprived of these, it being understood
that they are always to be common to the presses of the Terraferma and those
of the City of Venice itself.
And the present ruling, having been confirmed by the authority of the
Most Excellent Senate, is to be printed and forwarded to the Prior of the
aforesaid Guild, so that it may be distributed, by the standard procedures,
to all individual members of the same Guild, and immediately and
unalterably complied with by them.
Issued by the aforesaid Most Excellent Magistracy on 28th September
1780.
( Alvisse Vallaresso, Commissioner.
( Andrea Tron, Cavaliere and Procurator of St Mark's, Commissioner.
( Sebastian Foscarini, Cavaliere and Commissioner.
Davidde Marchesini, Secretary.
Approved by Decree of the Most Excellent Senate.
Chapter 1 Page 16
1781, 28th March.
MOST SERENE PRINCE.
The Art of Printing, which constitutes in the Venetian domains a profitable
branch of commerce, and which provides employment and nourishment to so many
subjects, interested ever since its beginnings the vigilant cares of Your Serenity.
The experience of past times allows us to appreciate the harmful effects of
exclusive privileges granted for the printing of a particular book; and by numerous
Sovereign Decrees of the Most Excellent Senate, issued on 1st August 1517, 3rd
January 1533, 4th June 1537, and other successive decrees right up to our present
times, it has always been laid down by statute that only new books which have never
been printed before can obtain a temporary privilege.
Thanks to the liberty which all the individual matriculated members of the
Guild have to print books whose privileges have expired and which are therefore
common property [comuni], it has been possible, in the course of almost three
centuries now, for this trade to flourish, for the price of books to be maintained at
a reasonably low level in comparison with foreign nations, and for the barter book
trade amongst these same individual members to be facilitated, which is precisely
what is necessary to ensure a wide assortment and for the fulfilment of the
unfortunately all too insidious commissions of the foreign presses – a principle
which has been constantly upheld, most recently by the Sovereign Law of 1767.
By the recently issued ruling of the Most Excellent Gentlemen the
Commissioners of the University of Padua, of 30th July 1780, subsequently
approved by the Most Excellent Senate on 9th August, it has been laid down,
in addition to the assignment to
Chapter 1 Page 17
the first discoverers and printers of books whose privileges have expired, and with
the prescribed sharing out of books for popular and school usage, that all the books
which until then anyone had been free to reprint, are to pass into the exclusive
perpetual privilege of a single person; as a result of which the greater part of those
books which are the most successful with readers, and which are therefore the
most essential for the trade, would be concentrated in the hands of a few individuals.
For what motives the current Prior of the Guild has been induced to lobby,
with his report on so essential a point, for an amendment to the numerous ancient and
more recent government measures, thanks to which the profitable business of the
Venetian book trade has been able to subsist for so many centuries, it is not for the
individual members of this Guild, who are all used to trading with foreign markets, to
enquire – for which members the way to being able to maintain their commercial
activities must necessarily remain closed as a result of such an amendment – even
though these same individuals, full of confidence in Your Serenity, their Prince and
Father, present themselves in the number of signatures included below, and as they
revere the other most wise measures and regulations, as well as the utmost virtue
and zeal which are laid down by the aforesaid ruling; and likewise under the guidance
of the public maxims which have been so clearly explained in the Sovereign
Legislation of the last three centuries, they respectfully implore the Most Clement
Attention of the Most Excellent Magistracy of the Gentlemen the Commissioners
of the University of Padua with regard to the aforesaid Decree of 9th August which
was passed in approval of the aforementioned ruling of 30th July, and, in particular,
to that section alone which approves those statutes of the ruling which pertain to
the aforesaid unity [?] and perpetual privilege for the reprinting of each such book
that had hitherto been open to all; whence [they implore you] to submit to public
consideration the fatal consequences which would flow from the execution of
these same statutes, to the grave detriment, and
Chapter 1 Page 18
with an ensuing disturbance of this profitable sphere of Venetian commerce,
and which are no less ruinous for the interests and family situations of the
supplicants, something that cannot be separated from the ruin of yet another
considerable part of the households which are subjects of Your Serenity,
namely those who draw the means for their own sustenance from being
employed by our Guild as hired labourers. Thanks &c.
Heirs of Niccolò Pezzana.
Giuseppe Remondini.
Francesco Pitteri.
Giovanni Antonio Pezzana, son of the late Lorenzo.
Francesco di Niccolò Pezzana, formerly Prior and now Syndic of the Guild.
Giambattista Pasquali, formerly Prior and now Syndic of the Guild.
Giovanni Battista Novelli, formerly Prior and now Syndic of the Guild.
Antonio Zatta, Counsellor, retired.
Pietro Savioni, son of the late Girolamo, formerly Prior and now Syndic of the Guild.
Giuseppe Fenzo, son of the late Modesto, currently a Counsellor of the Guild.
Angelo Albrizzi, son of the late Giovanni Battista.
Giacomo Caroboli, formerly a Syndic and now Counsellor of the Guild.
May this be forwarded to the Wise
Sen. Carlo Zino.
Sen. Bortolo Gradenigo II, Cavaliere.
Sen. Diodato Bembo.
Sen. Venceslao Martinengo.
Sen. Tomà Mocenigo Soranzo.
Sen. Anzolo Memo V.
Translation by: Luis Sundkvist