Some Aspects and Problems of London Publishing between 1550 and 1650. The Lyell Lectures, Oxford, Trinity Term, 1955

Clarendon Press, Oxford, first edition, 1956. Cloth, 8vo, 23 cm,. v[-viii], 131, [1] pp. From the blurb: "In six lectures the James P. R. Lyell Reader in Bibliography reviews the main conditions under which the Stationers' Company carried on its business during the first Century or so of its corporate existence, and discusses a few of the problems that are met with in studying the subject. The first lecture considers the Decrees and Ordinances that regulated publishing and other affairs of the Company, some imposed by outside authority, some drawn up by the Company itself for the guidance of its members; while the second deals with the series of Registers and other books in which the Company kept record of its doings. The third lecture deals with the system of Licensing for the Press, and tries to establish where in fact responsibility lay; showing incidentally that the fact of a copy being entered 'under the hand' of a particular person is no evidence that he had any official right of imprimatur. The fourth investigates the Elizabethan conception of Copyright, and argues that in practicc it was established by the act of registration. The last two lectures treat of several more particular topics: the Interpretation of Imprints and the question how far they can be trusted; the nature and history of Patents and Privileges; the position of the Master of the Revels in respect to licensing, and the question whether an acting licence was ever accepted as a licence to print; and lastly the problem of Blocking Entries, namely, whether registration was ever used as a device to prevent rather than to further publication." Contents: I. Decrees and Ordinances Affecting the Book Trade; II. The Stationers' Records; III.Licensing for the Press; IV.Entrance and Copyright; V. Imprints and Patents (the Interpretation of Imprints; Privileges and Patents); VI. Two Minor Problems (The Hand of the Master of the Revels; Blocking Entries); Index. Name, address and date on front pastedown endpaper, offsetting to endpapers, otherwise Good in used and slightly torn dustwrapper.