Untitled - Monoskop

8 THE RANGE OF INTERESTS
REFLECTED IN PRIVILEGED BOOKS:
ANALYSIS BY SUBJECT
AT LEAST 463 books are known to have been published under privilege in
France up to 1526 inclusive. What were they?
Analysis of our Register shows that religion, with 1 13 items, is the largest
category, closely followed by law, with 105 items. History and current events
account for 78 items, philosophy for 48, education and commentaries on
classical texts for 48, literature of entertainment (poetry, fiction, drama etc.),
chiefly in French, for 45, medicine and surgery for 14, geography and travel
for 8 and mathematics for 4.
RELIGION
A known 1 13 books, almost 24 per cent of all books published under privilege
in France up to 1526 inclusive, can be classed under the heading Religion.
This is the more remarkable because no privileges were granted for editions
of the Bible. The principle, that the Bible had been and should remain free to
all to print, was indeed explicitly recognised by 1528. In that year a privilege
was granted by Francis I to Robert Estienne for his pioneer critical edition of
the Vulgate, but only forjiis textual apparatus, improved glossary of proper
names, tables and indices, which he could reasonably claim to be his own
work: 'N'entendons toutesfoys que la Bible ne puisse estre imprimee par les
libraires et ainsi qu'il a este par cy devant, sans toutesfoys la dicte table,
conferance [collation] et interpretation par ledict suppliant pretenduz avoir
faict rediger et mettre en ordre' (CH 1528, i ). Books of Hours required by the
pious laity, and liturgical books needed by the clergy, also lay outside the
privilege system, with very few exceptions. Antoine Verard, fresh from
obtaining a personal privilege which seems to have applied to any book which
he should be the first person to publish, invoked this privilege in his 1508 Les
Heures Nostre Dame a I'usaige de Romme nouvellement translates (CH 1507, i (5)),
but in none of his subsequent editions of the Hours. No other Book of Hours,
among the scores published in France during the ensuing years, appears to
have received a privilege until that of Geofroy Tory, which offered a
completely novel design in typography, decoration and illustration
(CH 1524, 2). Of the innumerable liturgical books required in cathedrals and
parish churches, monastic houses and colleges, royal, episcopal and private
. 165