Created from various public domain versions.
Repetition of last words on pages eliminated,
Latin intro and extro translated into English.
End of line hyphenations removed for searching.
Typo of "peny" for "penny" has been corrected,
with the elimination of the accompanying sic.
Also "seasonable" replaced by "reasonable" with
the removal of that sic, as well. "Queens" is
replaced with "queen's", and "majesties" would
become "majesty's", "entred" becomes "entered"
and these typos were often in multiple places.
"Vice-Chancellors" and "Vice Chancellors" both
appeared so I chose "Vice Chancellors" just to
make searches more simple.
I have not changed any of the apparently quite
random capitalizations [random in comparisons,
I should say to German, etc.], nor changed any
of the more different spellings, as inhaunced.
I would like to comment just how obvious it is
that the rights of the authors was an "add on"
to this document, taking place only on a sixth
sheet containing only two small paragraphs, as
this makes it even more obvious just how every
right was originally for "The Stationers," who
are now descended as by The World Intellectual
Property Organization through various means.
This law was proposed and defeated 250 years--
from its first draft by The Stationers just as
The Gutenberg Press got going to this period.
All monarchs, and Oliver Cromwell, refused it,
on grounds it gave too much to The Stationers,
and left too little to the public, as per:
Henry VI 1 Sep 1422 4 Mar 1461
Edward IV 4 Mar 1461 9 Apr 1483
[Henry VI - restored 9 Oct 1470 to c. Apr 1471]
Edward V 9 Apr 1483 25 Jun 1483
Richard III 26 Jun 1483 22 Aug 1485
Henry VII 22 Aug 1485 21 Apr 1509
Henry VIII 22 Apr 1509 28 Jan 1547
Edward VI 28 Jan 1547 6 Jul 1553
Mary 6 Jul 1553 24 Jul 1554
Philip & Mary 25 Jul 1554 17 Nov 1558
Elizabeth I 17 Nov 1558 24 Mar 1603
James I 24 Mar 1603 27 Mar 1625
Charles I 27 Mar 1625 30 Jan 1649
Commonwealth 30 Jan 1649 29 May 1660
Charles II [30 Jan 1649] 6 Feb 1685
James II 6 Feb 1685 11 Dec 1688
William & Mary 13 Feb 1689 8 Mar 1702
[Mary died 27 Dec 1694]
William III 27 Dec 1694 8 Mar 1702
Anne 8 Mar 1702 1 Aug 1714
Please note that this 250 year span included reigns
from the son of Henry V of Shakespearian fame and a
greater Shakespearian epic of Richard III, to those
six wives of Henry VIII, Mary Queen of Scots, and a
host of the most turbulent reigns of UK history and
in all this time not one of these rulers would give
The Stationers such great power that has now passed
down, not only unchecked, but greatly enhanced over
the next 300 years. The average copyright moved to
about 100 years in length in that time from 15 year
average original terms [nearly none were renewed].
My own words are mine alone, though I appreciate it
when people offer corrections, advice, etc., though
I don't always take it. However, I do always offer
to publish their own version along with mine.
Michael S. Hart
Founder
Project Gutenberg,
Inventor of eBooks