I do not mean in this article to give a complete catalogue of all
the books printed under a privilege in the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries, for such a list would be attended with very little utility.
All I wish is to contribute something towards answering the question,
What are the oldest privileges granted to books?
The oldest known at present is that granted in the year 1490, by Henry
bishop of Bamberg, to the following book: Liber Missalis secundum
ordinem ecclesiæ Bambergensis--Anno incarnationis dominice MCCCCXC.
nono vero kal. April.--In civitate Babenbergn. per magistrum Johannem
Sensenschmidt, prefate civitatis incolam, et Heinr. Petzensteiner. This
privilege was first noticed by Panzer, in his History of the Nuremberg
editions of the Bible, and afterwards by Mr. Am Ende, in Meusel’s
Collection for enlarging Historical Knowledge. The latter says, “One
may readily believe that this bishop was not the inventor of such
privileges, and that they are consequently of much greater antiquity
than has hitherto been supposed.” Mr. Am Ende mentions also a privilege
of the year 1491, to a work called Hortus Sanitatis, typis Iacobi
Meydenbach.... Impressum autem est hoc ipsum in incl. civ. Moguntina
... sub Archipraesulatu rever. et benigniss. principis et D. D.
Bertholdi, archiep. Moguntinensis ac princ. elector. cujus felicissimo
auspicio graditur, recipitur et auctorisatur. This, says Mr. Am Ende,
may allude to a privilege, and perhaps not. For my part, I conjecture
that it refers only to a permission to print, granted in consequence of
the institution of book-censors by the archbishop Berthold, in the year
1486.
The oldest Venetian privilege at present known, is of the year 1491,
found by M. Pütter to the following work: Foenix Magistri Petri
memoriae Ravennatis. The Colophon is Bernardinus de Choris de Cremona
impressor delectus impressit. Venetias die X Ianuarii MCCCCXCI. The
book is in quarto, and has the privilege on both the last pages. There
is a Venetian privilege also of the year 1492, to Senecæ Tragediæ cum
commento.... Cum privilegio ne quis audeat hoc opus cum hoc commento
imprimere, sub pena in eo contenta, Venetiis per Lazarum Issarda de
Saliviano 1492, die XII. Decembris.
The oldest Papal privilege hitherto known is of the year 1505, to
Hervei Britonis in IV Petri Lombardi Sententiarum volumina, scripta
subtilissima.
In the year 1495, Aldus published the works of Aristotle, at the end
of the first part of which we find the following notice: “Concessum
est eidem Aldo inventori ab illustrissimo senatu Veneto, ne quis queat
imprimere neque hunc librum, neque caeteros quos is ipse impresserit;
neque ejus uti invento.” The last words allude to the Greek types which
were employed in printing the Aldine editions of the Greek classics.
The following among other early privileges are quoted by Pütter[1278]
and Hoffmann[1279]--
1495. A Milanese, by duke Louis Sforza, to Michael Ferner and
Eustachius Silber for I. A. Campani Opera.
1501. Privilegium sodalitatis Celticæ a senatu Romani imperii
impetratum, to Conrade Celtes’ edition of the works of Hroswitha.
1506. A papal, of pope Julius II., to Evangelista Tosino the
bookseller, for Ptolomaei Geographia.
1507. A French, of Louis XII. to Antoine Verard.
1510. The first Imperial, to Lectura aurea semper Domini abbatis
antiqui.
1512. An Imperial, to Rosslin’s Swangere Frauwen Rosegarten.
1527. A privilege from the duke of Saxony to the edition of the New
Testament by Emser.
Anderson remarks on the year 1590, that the first exclusive patent,
for printing a book in England, which occurs in Rymer’s Fœdera[1280],
was granted in the above year by queen Elizabeth, to Richard Weight
of Oxford, for a Translation of Tacitus. I am much astonished that
Anderson, who was so often obliged to use Rymer’s Fœdera, and who seems
indeed to have consulted it with attention, should have overlooked
the oldest patents which are to be found in that collection. In that
laborious work, so important to those who wish to be acquainted with
the history of British literature, Ames’ Typographical Antiquities,
there are privileges of still greater antiquity. The oldest which I
observed in this work are the following:--
1510. The history of king Boccus ... printed at London by Thomas
Godfry. Cum privilegio regali.
1518. Oratio Richardi Pacei ... Impressa per Richardum Pynson,
regium impressorem, cum privilegio a rege indulto, ne quis hanc
orationem intra biennium in regno Angliæ imprimat, aut alibi
impressam et importatam in eodem regno Angliæ vendat.
Other works printed _cum gratia et privilegio_ occur 1520, 1521, 1525,
1528, 1530, &c.
In the year 1483, when the well-known act was made against foreign
merchants, foreigners however were permitted to import books and
manuscripts, and also to print them in the kingdom; but this liberty
was afterwards revoked by Henry VIII., in the year 1533, by an order
which may be found in Ames. In 1538, Henry issued an order respecting
the printing of bibles; and in 1542, he gave a bookseller an exclusive
privilege during four years for that purpose[1281].
With a view of finding the oldest Spanish privilege, I consulted
a variety of works, and among others Specimen Bibliothecae
Hispano-Majansianae, but I met with none older than that to the
following book: Aelii Antonii Nebrissensis Introductiones in Latinam
Grammaticen. Logronii Cantabrorum Vasconum urbe nobilissima; anno
salutis millesimo quingentesimo decimo. fol. That privileges to
books were usual in Poland, has been shown by Am Ende, in Meusel’s
Collections before-mentioned.