Untitled - Monoskop

DATING AND DURATION OF PRIVILEGES
Parlement gave him his two years simply 'jusques a deux ans prochainement
venans', thus tacitly rejecting the request for the deferred privilege.
The practice of the provincial Parlements seems to have been to reckon the
duration of the privilege from the date of the grant, to judge by the few
examples of book-privileges given by them of which the text is printed in the
books in question. The only specimen available for the Echiquier or Par-
lement of Rouen specifies 'deux ans du jour et date de ces presentes'
(PA 1516, 3). The Parlement of Toulouse gave privileges 'durant le terme de
deux ans prochains venant' (PA 1517, 3), 'D'huy a trois ans' (PA 1517, 5), 'a
compter du jour de la date de ces presentes' (PA 1522, 7), 'durant le terme de
cinq ans prochainement venant' (PA 1523, 2), and -just after the period here
under consideration -
'Troys ans a compter de la date de ces presentes'
(PA 1527, i).
The courts of the Prevot of Paris, and of the Baillis in the provinces, were
also wary of granting deferred privileges. A grant issued on behalfof the Bailli
of Rouen in 1514 was to run for one year, from the date of the grant ('d'un an
du jour d'uy', PR 1514, 5). Twelve grants issued by the Prevot of Paris in
1516-20 inclusive, of which the terms are known, all specify that they are to
be reckoned from the date on which they were given. In 1520 an application to
the Prevot by Pierre Le Brodeur requested three years 'a compter du jour que
ledit livre sera acheve de imprimer' but he received 'trois ans prochainement
venans' (PR 1520, 12). Thereafter, of the privileges issued by the Prevot
which are known in detail, up to 1526, only four were to be reckoned from the
date of completion (PR 1521, 2; 1521,5; 1524, i; 1525, i).
A deferred privilege, valid from whenever the book in question should be
printed and published, was not subject to any restriction during this period in
France. The authorities could have stipulated that publication should take
place by some particular date, as Charles V's Privy Council did in 1517 in
giving a four-year privilege
for the 'Divisiekronieck'. 1
They
did not do so.
PRIVILEGES FOR TWO OR MORE BOOKS, AND PACKAGE
PRIVILEGES
Most of the privileges in the period up to 1526 inclusive were given for one
particular book. An author or publisher who had two books ready or nearly
ready at the same time was free to ask that both should be included in the
same privilege. This was evidently regarded as a reasonable request. The
royal chancery gave at least thirteen such privileges, and even the Parlement
of Paris gave eight.
Requests for the privilege to include more than two books were probably
rare. Few publishers had three or more first editions ready at the same time.
1 See above, pp. 18-19.
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