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were increasingly seen as monopolists of the worst kind—tools of the
Crown’s repression, selling the liberty of England to guarantee themselves
a monopoly profit. The attacks against these monopolists were
harsh: Milton described them as “old patentees and monopolizers in
the trade of book-selling”; they were “men who do not therefore labour
in an honest profession to which learning is indetted.” 4
Many believed the power the booksellers exercised over the spread
of knowledge was harming that spread, just at the time the Enlightenment
was teaching the importance of education and knowledge spread
generally.The idea that knowledge should be free was a hallmark of the
time, and these powerful commercial interests were interfering with
that idea.
To balance this power, Parliament decided to increase competition
among booksellers, and the simplest way to do that was to spread the
wealth of valuable books. Parliament therefore limited the term of
copyrights, and thereby guaranteed that valuable books would become
open to any publisher to publish after a limited time. Thus the setting
of the term for existing works to just twenty-one years was a compromise
to fight the power of the booksellers. The limitation on terms was
an indirect way to assure competition among publishers, and thus the
construction and spread of culture.
When 1731 (1710 + 21) came along, however, the booksellers were
getting anxious. They saw the consequences of more competition, and
like every competitor, they didn’t like them. At first booksellers simply
ignored the Statute of Anne, continuing to insist on the perpetual right
to control publication. But in 1735 and 1737, they tried to persuade
Parliament to extend their terms. Twenty-one years was not enough,
they said; they needed more time.
Parliament rejected their requests. As one pamphleteer put it, in
words that echo today,
I see no Reason for granting a further Term now, which will not
hold as well for granting it again and again, as often as the Old
“PROPERTY” 89