PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference -
C.O.885
18
upon the foreign author, a variety of questions of labour, art, skill, and the like enter into the practical question, and force upon consideration the chances of ruinous monopolies at the world's great book-centres, when competition and a provident share in opportunities would seem to be our necessity.
The question before us is not national copyright, but whether the monopoly of the foreigner in bis work enjoyed in his land, can, in the interests of science, fairly be claimed for tim u every land where his work may be printed. The English author has the exclusive privilege secured to him as an incentive to his genius. Does it And, if so, can such privilege be need the further stimulus of privilege in other lands? considered as demanded in the interests of literature, or, would the fruits of such encouragement compensate for the natural repression of the diffusion of knowledge ? Assuming now that the measure cannot be commended or rightfully demanded in the interests of authors alone, nor in that of authors and publishers combined, it remains to be seen whether the facts justify the conclusion that the measure can be granted in the interests of science.
It will doubtless be conceded that international copyright would have the effect to enhance the price of books of foreign authorship in the American market, and a tendency and the probable effect to increase the price of the American copyrighted book in our own
market
While it may be conceded that the tendency of the law of copyright is to stimulate the production of literary and scientific works, it is believed to be equally true that one of Such, it is apparent, must its effects is to repress the popular circulation of such works.
be its natural tendency, and such is understood to be the fact in this country and in England, especially the latter. As a general proposition, during the existence of copy- right, the interests of both publisher and author are best consulted by a small edition and larger profit may be realized from a small edition at consequent limited circulation, us a high rates than the reverse. Notable instances may be given in proof of this general proposition in England and our own country. The average price of seventy-five English books, as given below, is 5 dol. 60 c., and the average price of the American reprints of the same books is only 2 dol. 40 c.
The lowest prices of some English books reprinted in America. (The American prices are generally taken from Bibliotheca Americana, 1820 to 1866, or American Catalogue, Kelly, 1866 to 1871.)
Name of Author and Title of Work.
Hughes, Tom Brown's School Days at Rugby Harveis, Music and Morals.. Jowett's Plato Kingslake's Crimen
--
Kingsley's At Last
Ravenshoo
*
G. Hamlyn Layard's Nineveh.. Lever, Lord Kilgubbin Lockhart, Fair to See Mulock, Hannah..
Girls' Buck
Morley's Voltaire.
Reclus. The Earth
Speke's Afrien
19
English Price.
Price of
In Sterling.
In Gold,
d.
D. P.
American Reprint.
D. C.
1
75
0 75
120
Macgregor, Rob Roy on the Jordan
Oliphant's China ..
Pressense. Early Years of Christianity
Russell's American Diary
Robinson's Diary..
Schelleris, Spectrum Analysis
The Speaker's Commentary..
Vamber's Asia
White's St. Bartholomew
Wilfred Cumbermede (George Macdonald)
+
Wallace's Malay Archipelago
Wood's Homes without Hands
Bible Animals
"Whymper's Aluska
Warren's Ten Thousand a Year Spencer's Psychology
E-says..
Biology..
བྲཱཧྨཚོཊ་ཏཿརཿསྒ ཿསླ༠སྲསྐྱུ 2༠༠%པཚ་ྒཎྜ
12 0
3 00
1
75
0
30 00
12 00
32 0
8 00
2 00
20
0
5 00
1 50
81 6
8 00
1 75
I 50
1 25
0
0 00
I 75
31
6
8 00
0 75
31 6
8 00
0 75
21 0
5 25
50 0
4 6
1 25 3 50
0 90
12 0
3 00
2 50
21
0
5 25
3 50
12 0
3 00
1 75
21 0
36 0
5 25 9 00
1 00
4 00
24
0
6 50
5 00
28 0
7 00
6 00
21 0
5 25
4 00
0
1 50
0
34
0
6 00
5 00
12 0
3 00
2 50
14 0
3 50
2 50
9 0
2 25
0 50
1270
3 00
1 50
12 0
8 00
1
7
0
1 75
0 50
to 0 75
10 8
62
2 00
9 1
2 25
2
0
2 25
0 75.
90 0
7 50
6 00
21 0
5 25
450
16 0
4 00
2 50
31 6
8 00
1 75
0
5 25
4
21 0
5 25
4
16 0
4 00
24 0
6 00
3 00
9
2 25
1 50
18
4 50
1 50
16 0
4 00
2
34 0
8 60
5 50
*PR888**RR288 8888888*88=====*88*sesko8 88.8%
76
60
00
50
50
50
Total
421 22
184
80
Sacristan's Househol
Stanley's Jewish Church
Eastern Church
Sinni and Palestine
Trollope, Harry Hotspur
זי
Can You Forgive Her? Orley Farm Thackeray's novels
Tyndall, Heat
Sound
Tennyson's works, incomplete
|||
English Price.
Name of Author and Title of Work.
In Sterling.
In ld.
Price of American Keprint.
d.
D C.
1). C.
Aytonn, Scottish Cavaliers ....
--
Novels
Alison, Life of Marlboro
Ballis and Fermilian
Browning, Mrs., Poems
Belcher's Mutineers of the Bounty Burton's Lake Regions of Africa
Bulwer, Athens-its Rise and Fall
易价
Caxtoninoa
+
Lady Budget, &c. ..
Brandon, Miss, Girl's Book..
Lavers of Arden
Conybe are audiowson, Life of St. Paul (complete)
Cullis, Por Miss Finch
Darwin, Variation of Plants, &e.
Dixon, Frey Russia
Fair France
Dickens' works
Dilke's Greater Britain
Desert of the Exodus
Foster's Life of Laudon
Life of Dickens
Guizot's Mediations
Grote's fire ce, per volume.
Gould's Orgin of Religious Belief
Goulbonn's Sermons
Buxley's Lay Sermons
Holland's Recollections
Herman Poems
Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford
30
13
30
31
1.
⪜ནྡྲ ཤྩ ལ ཀླིīཎྜ $ཨྰཿགླུ སྥ སྱཱ ཤྲ གྲཱ ཋ རྞ ཡ
6
50
1 75
7
6
1 N7
1 60
6
3 37
1 50
U
7 50
1 50
3 00
1 50
H 00
8 30
R 00
1 30
21 0
5 25
1 75
0 62
0 50
31 6
8 00
2 50
G
1 25
0 90
8 00
0 75
48 0
12 00
3 00
31
8 00
0 50
to 1 00
28
7 00
6 00
32 f
B 00
2 00
16 0
1 00
1 50
132 0
33 00
10 50
28 0
7 00
1 00
28 0
7 00
3 00
28 0
7 00
8 50
12
0
3 00
2
10 0
2 50
B 1)
2 00
2 00
15
0
8 76
2 00
6
62
1 00
7
6
1 ୫୫
1 75
10
6
2 62
2 00
12
6
A 12
0 75
1 75
0 60
*88888888888*88**ERS
00
75
• Complete.
The same general fact may be further illustrated by comparing the prices of English books reprinted here with the prices here of American copyrighted books of a similar character.
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
3 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE. LONDON
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