Untitled - Monoskop

GRANT OF PRIVILEGE AND PERMISSION TO PRINT
The first was Nicole Bohier or Boyer, licentiate in canon and civil law, who
was a member of the Grand Conseil (CH 1509, i). The second was to Jean
Lemaire de Beiges, the most famous French-language author of the period,
who was about to enter the service of the queen of France as her historiogra-
pher (CH 1509, 2). The privilege obtained by the Paris publisher Jean Petit
for a group of scholarly books, notably sources for the history of France
(CH 1512, i), could have been readily given in consideration of the active
part taken in promoting the series by Guillaume Petit, bishop of Senlis, the
king's confessor and Inquisitor of France: a magnificent copy of one of them,
presented to the king, is extant in the Bibliotheque Nationale (BN Velins
2725) with Guillaume Petit's inscription recording that he had caused it
and other volumes to be printed. About such applications there can have
been little heart-searching in the chancery.
Nevertheless the majority of Letters Patent of which we possess the com-
plete text reflect applications which sought permission in some form or other.
It is true that, while petitions for royal privileges tended to begin by asking
for permission to print a particular book, the emphasis is often on per-
mission to be the only person to print it for a space of time, e.g.
'II feroit
voulentiers imprimer ledit livre, luy seul et non autre, jusques a tel temps
qu'il nous plaira, si nostre plaisir estoit luy donner conge et licence de ce
faire' (CH 1508, i); 'nous a humblement requis permettre audit Vincent
que luy seul et non aultre puisse imprimer et reimprimer lesdictz livres'
(CH 1509, i); 'luy permettre que luy seul et non aultre puisse imprimer ou
reimprimer ledit euvre jusques a tel temps qu'il nous plaira' (CH 1514, 4).
Doubt or fear whether the new work should be published at all without royal
permission is however frequently expressed by applicants, e.g. '[Mais] il
double qu'il ne peust ou osast ce faire sans noz conge et licence' (CH 1509,
2); 'ne 1'oseroit faire imprimer sans noz conge, licence et permission'
(CH 1513, 3); 'il double qu'il ne peult ou osast faire imprimer sans nostre
'il n'oser-
congie ou licence . . . une translation par luy faicte' (CH 1522, 5);
oit ce faire sans noz conge et vouloir et aussi pour double que, apres qu'il les
auroit faicl imprimer, aucuns libraires voulsissenl faire le semblable'
(CH 1519, 5). Many applicants did not explicilly ask for permission: ihey
preferred lo sel oul iheir case and ihen requesl ihe royal proleclion and
grace, e.g. 'II double perdre les grans fraiz el mises qu'il convienl a les faire
parachever se quelque autre les faisoit semblablemenl imprimer s'il n'avoil
sur ce noz lellres et provisions a ce necessaires' (CH 1514, 3); 'il double que
apres que yceluy livre sera public que aucun marchanl ou libraire le vousisl
faire imprimer, qui serail a son tresgrant prejudice el dommaige, si par nous
ne luy esloil sur ce pourveu de remede convenable' (CH 1515, i);
que apres qu'il les aura faicl imprimer aullres les voulsissenl semblablemenl
'il double
imprimer . . . nous humblemenl requeranl sur ce luy pourveoir el imparlir
noslre grace' (CH 1516, 2), 'requeranl sur ce noslre provision' (CH 1517,
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