IN THE UNITFD KINGDOM. 1 589 BOOK 1. Chapter II. reference to this question. It examined many witnesses-both authors and booksellers-almost all of Copy-Tax. whom were unfavourable to the exaction, but it finally reported "that the substance of those laws is proper to be retained; and, in particular that the continuing the delivery of all new works, and in certain cases, of subsequent editions, to the Libraries now entitled to receive them, will tend to the advancement of learning, and to the diffusion of knowledge, without imposing any considerable burden on the authors, printers or publishers of such works; but that it will be expedient to modify some of the existing provisions.. as to the quality of the paper and the substituting delivery on demand.. to distribution in the first instance," etc., except in the case of the British Museum, which national establishment ought, in the opinion of the Committee, "to be furnished with every publication that issues from the press in its most splendid form." In the year following the presentation of this Report, the Act 54 George III., c. 156 was passed, by which a written demand in writing within twelve months of publication for every book required was made the condition of a legal claim on the part of the Libraries. In 1818, the question was revived and a new Committee appointed by the House of Commons to investigate it, but it does not appear that the inquiry had any immediate results. In 1832, Lord Grey's government brought in a Bill to authorize the purchase of the privilege enjoyed by the + Report of Select Committee on Copyright of Printed Books, Session 1813, No. 292. BOOK 1. Chapter II. University of Aberdeen for the purpose of transmitting the exacted books to France, which Bill was prefaced by a recital that the interchange of literary property between the United Kingdom and France would promote the interests of literature and science, and a cordial intercourse between the two countries. The government proposed to grant to the University a sum of £460 a year, but the Bill did not pass. Three years later, however, a measure for reducing the number of privileged Libraries from eleven to five became law, and the six Libraries which thus lost their privilege received in lieu of it a yearly grant charged on the Consolidated Fund, the amount of which was based on a computation of the value of the books which each of them had respectively received, on a average of a certain number of years prior to the passing of this Act (5 and 6 William IV., c. 110). The several amounts thus yearly receivable are as follows: The only further modification which this portion of the Copyright law has undergone, consists in that clause of Talfourd's Act (5 and 6 Victoria, c. 15) by which every publisher is bound to deliver a copy of every book to the British Museum within one month after publication, if in the Metropolis; within three months, if in the provinces of Great Britain and Ireland; or within twelve months, if in other parts of the British dominions and dependencies. At all periods and under all forms of this exaction, the last two or three years excepted-it has been largely and systematically evaded. We have seen what Bentley said on this head a century and a half ago. Mr. Baber, formerly Keeper of the Printed Books in the British Museum, stated in evidence, in 1818, that the Museum Library was "by no means" regularly supplied with the books due under the Act; and again, 18 years later, that "taking the year 1835, there were "935 articles [or separate works and parts of works] "entered at the Hall, and 2263 which they would have "cheated us of, if we had not had a collector to ob"tain them;" and elsewhere, "we lose, I conjecture, "about one fifth; there is every dirty trick resorted "to, .... to evade the Act." On a subsequent enquiry into the same subject-in 1850 Mr. Forshall, then Secretary of the Museum, expressed his opinion that, as regards books published in London, "forty-nine fiftieths are supplied sooner or later." But Mr. Panizzi, Keeper of Printed Books, thinks that opinion to be 2 1 Minutes of Evidence on Copyright Acts (1818), 125. 2 Minutes of Evidence before Select Committee on British Museum (1836), 370; Questions 4644, 4630. 3 Evidence before Commission of Inquiry on British Museum (1850), 103. BOOK I. Chapter II. Extensive eva sion of this en actment up to a recent period. BOOK I. Chapter II. Copy-Tax. Measures, taken to enforce it as respects the British Museum, since 1850. founded on "a very great mistake," and he adds, "Of the works published in the provinces I believe we get a certain number. Of the works printed in Scotland and Ireland we get almost none at all; and of the works published in the Colonies we get none at all..... As things are at present, we lose the books, because they do not come by Copyright, and I do not feel justified in purchasing them." In the year 1850, the control of this department of the business of the British Museum was transferred from the Secretary to the Keeper of the Printed Books, and, within a year or two after the transfer, much more energetic proceedings were taken to enforce on publishers the due observance of the enactment. In 1851, the year preceding that in which such proceedings were adopted, the total number of articles-i. e. of individual books, parts of books, pamphlets, maps, and pieces of music-was 9871; during the year which ended on the 31st Dec. 1854, the total number of such articles was 19,578, a result which certainly proves both the need and the justice of the course which has been pursued "to obtain books which had been withheld, and to secure regularity in the delivery of current publications." So long as the law on this point subsists in its present form, there can be no sort of doubt, either that it is the plain duty of the officers of the privileged Libraries to enforce the right, with uniform and unremitting strictness, or that when their vigilance, from 1 Evidence before Commission of Inquiry (1850), 599. Accounts and Estimates of British Museum, 18 April, 1855, 10. BOOKS RECEIVED AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 593 whatever cause, may chance to be relaxed, the enactment will be largely and habitually evaded. The following table will shew the numbers of books and other articles which have been received at the British Museum in the several years specified: BOOK I. Chapter II. The experience of the University Libraries, with respect to the working of this enactment, will be found to confirm the remarks I have made as to the working of it at the British Museum. Act as respects Library. On this point the Oxford University Commissioners Operation of the thus cite the evidence of Mr. H. E. Strickland in their Report:-"By the present Copyright Act the Bodleian Library is entitled to a copy of every book published in the British dominions. As regards London, this privilege seems to be very fully acted upon, but not so in the case of the provinces. Many valuable and curious books are published in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dublin, Newcastle, Bristol, and other large towns, of which only a very small number ever find their way to the Bodleian. The Library might easily employ an agent, at a small salary or commission, in each of these towns, to collect the local literature, and forward it to Vol. II. 38 |