Submission + - Pimps and Ferrets: Copyright & the 19th centur (ohiolink.edu)
Eric Anderson writes: "This link is to my dissertation manuscript about popular ideas about copyright during the nineteenth century US.
Although generally forgotten today, the nineteenth century US was absolutely rife with copyright-related controversy and excitement, including international squabbling, celebrity grandstanding, new technology, corporate exploitation, and ferocious arguments about piracy, reprinting, and the effects of copyright law.
Then, as now, copyright was very important to a small group of people (e.g. authors and publishers), and slightly important to larger groups (e.g. consumers and readers). However, these various larger groups did have definite ideas about copyright, its function, and its purpose. Many of these ideas are relevant today.
A book (if there is one) is probably years away. In the meantime, the dissertation itself is freely distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 license.
Pimps and Ferrets: Copyright and Culture in the United States, 1831-1891 (page has link to 1.8M, 231-page PDF) http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1193529137"
Although generally forgotten today, the nineteenth century US was absolutely rife with copyright-related controversy and excitement, including international squabbling, celebrity grandstanding, new technology, corporate exploitation, and ferocious arguments about piracy, reprinting, and the effects of copyright law.
Then, as now, copyright was very important to a small group of people (e.g. authors and publishers), and slightly important to larger groups (e.g. consumers and readers). However, these various larger groups did have definite ideas about copyright, its function, and its purpose. Many of these ideas are relevant today.
A book (if there is one) is probably years away. In the meantime, the dissertation itself is freely distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 license.
Pimps and Ferrets: Copyright and Culture in the United States, 1831-1891 (page has link to 1.8M, 231-page PDF) http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1193529137"
