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8 translated pages

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DECREE

OF THE KING’S COUNCIL OF STATE,

regulating the duration
of booksellers’ privileges.

Of 30 August 1777.

Extract from the Registers of the Council
of State.
      Having been made acquainted in Council with memoranda
from a number of booksellers, both in Paris and in the
provinces, concerning the duration of privileges and the
property in published works, His Majesty the King has
acknowledged: that the privilege in bookselling is a favour
which is founded in justice, and whose object it is, when
accorded to an author, to reward his labour, and when
accorded to a bookseller, to guarantee the reimbursement
of any advance and to indemnify him against costs incurred:
that the differing purposes of these privileges ought to be
reflected in their duration: that the author clearly has a
greater right to a more enduring favour, while the bookseller

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may only expect the favour granted to him to be proportional
to his total expenditure and to the significance of his enterprise:
that the continuing improvement of a work, however, makes
it necessary that the bookseller should have the benefit of
the privilege during the lifetime of the author whose work
he has agreed to publish, but that to grant the privilege
for a longer period would be to make a rightful property of
a benefit granted at the King’s pleasure to prolong a favour
contrary to the very entitlement which determines its duration;
it would be tantamount to the enshrining of a monopoly, since
a single bookseller would then determine in perpetuity the
price of a particular book; finally, it would perpetuate the
causes of abuse and forgery, by denying provincial printers a
legitimate use for their presses. His Majesty has determined
that a regulation restricting the duration of the exclusive
rights of publishers to the period stipulated by the privilege
would be to their advantage, since a benefit which is limited
but certain, is preferable to one which is indefinite

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but illusory: that such a regulation would be to the advantage of
the public, who may expect the cost of books to fall in
consequence to a level determined by the means of the buyers:
that it would be of benefit to men of letters, who will, after
a certain period has elapsed, be able to produce annotated
versions and commentaries of an author, without their right to
publish such texts being contested: that, finally, this regulation
will be all the more useful, since it may encourage commercial
activity, and stimulate such competition among booksellers as
may favour the progress and perfection of their art. To this
effect, THE KING IN COUNCIL, on the advice of his Honour the
Keeper of the Seal, commands the following:

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      ART. I                  No bookseller or
printer shall print or cause to be
printed any new book, without having
first obtained the privilege, or
letters patent bearing the impression
of the Great Seal.
      II.                  His Majesty forbids
those booksellers, printers and others
who have obtained letters patent for
the printing of a new book to apply for
any continuation of this privilege,
unless the book is to be augmented by
at least a quarter; other booksellers
wishing to print existing editions
without augmentation shall not,
however, be refused permission to
do so on these grounds.
      III.                  Privileges granted
for the future printing of new books
shall last no less than ten years.
      IV.                  Those who have
obtained privileges shall retain them
not only for the period indicated
therein, but also for the remainder
of the author’s life, where

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the latter lives beyond the expiration
of the privilege.
      V.                  Any author who
obtains in his own name the privilege
to his own work, shall have the right
to sell that work in his own home, but
may not under any pretext sell or
negotiate the sale of any other book;
he shall retain the privilege for himself
and his heirs in perpetuity, so long as
he does not transfer it to a bookseller;
in which case the duration of the
privilege shall be reduced, as a
consequence of that transfer, to the
life of the author.


      VI.                  All booksellers
and printers, after the expiration of
the privilege to a work and the death
of the author, may obtain a permit to
produce a new edition of that work; the
same permit accorded to one or several
individuals shall not prevent any other
individual from obtaining that permit.
      VII.                  The permits
provided for in the preceding article
shall be delivered simply on the
signature of whomever

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the Chancellor or Keeper of the Seal
shall appoint as general director of
booksellers; and in order to stimulate
commercial speculation, those who request
such a permit shall also be made aware of
all similar permits, obtained by others,
concerning the same work, and of the
number of copies they have been allowed
to print off.
      VIII.                  Since he does not
wish to allow these permits to be
obtained in an illusory manner, nor
that they be obtained by those
whose do not intend to use them,
His Majesty orders that permits
shall only be granted upon payment
of the relevant fee, according to
a tariff to be fixed by the Keeper
of the Seal.


      IX.                  The total of these fees
shall be received by the Syndics &
Deputies of the Chamber of Syndicates
of Paris, or by the person appointed
by them for the purpose;

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they may only relinquish such fees
at the order of the Chancellor or
Keeper of the Seal, in order to
provide emoluments for the inspectors
and other individuals dedicated
to the handling of books.

      X.                  Within two months of
their being granted, these permits
shall be entered upon the register
of the Chamber of Syndics in the
quarter of residence of the indivi-
duals who obtain them, on pain of
being held null and void.
      XI.                  Since it is his wish
to treat favourably those who have
obtained privileges or their con-
tinuation prior to this ruling, His
Majesty requires that such individuals
present the titles which establish
their rights to the honourable le
Camus de Néville, Master of Requests;
this must be done within a maximum
interval of two months, in the case
of booksellers and printers located
in Paris, or of three months, in
the case of the provinces. His
Majesty gives

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M. le Camus de Néville the task of
reporting to the Chancellor or Keeper
of the Seal, who will, where neces-
sary, issue a final and definitive
privilege.
      XII.                  After the expiration
of the said interval of two months
for the booksellers and printers
of Paris, and three months for
those in the provinces, those who
have not presented their titles
should expect no continuation of
their privilege.
      XIII.                  The present ruling
does not affect the traditional dio-
cesan privileges or similar privi-
leges. His Majesty commands that the
present ruling be recorded by all
Chambers of Syndicates, printed,
published and posted wherever neces-
sary. Made in the King’s Council of
State, in the presence of his Majesty,
at Versailles this 30 August 1777.
Signed AMELOT.


Translation by: Andrew Counter