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Dissertation Information for Joyce Helene Brodowski

NAME:
- Joyce Helene Brodowski

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science

SCHOOL:
- Columbia University (USA) (1973)

ADVISORS:
- Oliver L. Lilley
- Allen T. Hazen

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Susan Otis Thompson
- Terry Belanger
- Richard L. Darling

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: LITERARY PIRACY IN ENGLAND FROM THE RESTORATION TO THE EARLY EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

Abstract: The years from 1660 to 1710, the date of the first Copyright Act, can be regarded as a transition period in the book trade in England, a time when both writers and Stationers were beginning to acknowledge the fact that changes were crucial.

The restlessness and dissatisfaction with existing conditions that had been so prominent at the ends of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries again evidenced themselves. In the earlier years many problems had been solved by the banding together of the men of the Trade and by strengthening the economic basis of the Stationers' Company.. By the end of the seventeenth century, these simple solutions were no longer feasible. The men of the publishing world had become more and more discontented with both the unreasonable censorship of the government and the contemptuous attitude of the officers of the Stationer's Company. It was inevitable that they would challenge this oppression and piracy seemed to be the easiest and most effective way of accomplishing this.

The reasons for piracy in the fifty years after the Restoration are obvious and clearly documented. The law, the King's Printer, and the English Stock patents favored a limited few. The majority of printers and booksellers were outlawed from this influential circle and had no way of changing the situation. The rules of the Company, the Acts of the government, the attitudes of the Licensers of the Press and the Surveyor of the Press, Roger L'Estrange, all fostered the status quo. There was no sincere interest in reforming the Company. The only concern was the protection of the monopolies to insure the highest dividends for the patentees or their assigns.

The pirates in their answers to the numerous court cases identified the causes of the piracies. The patents were monopolies, oppressive and stifling both to individuals and to the entire Trade. They gave no freedom to anyone because they restricted profitable printing. The monopolists were contemptuous of other printers and of the public. The books printed by the patentees were often of poor quality. The type was bad, the texts inaccurate, the prices unreasonably high, and the supplies limited. By controlling the printing and the sales, the Company and the King's Printers controlled the prices and raised them without consideration for the readers.

The growing ineffectiveness of the Stationers' Company was both the cause and the result of the piracies and the factors here are closely interwoven. Because the Company was so concerned with protecting its own financial interests, it ignored the other problems of the trade. Because it disregarded the concerns of its members, it lost their support and their assistance in trying to rebuild its former powers. Ultimately, it was almost completely ignored by both printers and booksellers. The times also militated against the reestablishment of power within the Company. The men of the Trade no longer needed or wanted that kind of control.

In the early seventeenth century, the Stationers' Company had been victorious over rival craftsmen because it had the support of the government. It had been somewhat successful in stamping out piracies within the trade and had been able to resolve some of its problems. In the early eighteenth century, this was not possible. The Company lacked internal strength and external support. Continued piracies were inevitable.

MPACT Scores for Joyce Helene Brodowski

A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-01-31 06:01:46

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Students under Joyce Helene Brodowski

ADVISEES:
- None

COMMITTEESHIPS:
- None