Act of Anne: Punish the Pirates!!!!

"And that if any other Bookseller,Printer, or other Person whatsoever, from and after the TenthDay of April, One thousand seven hundred and ten, within thetimes Granted and Limited by this Act, as aforesaid, shall Print,Reprint, or Import, or cause to be Printed, Reprinted, or Importedany such Book or Books, without the Consent of the Proprietor orProprietors thereof first had and obtained in Writing, Signedin the Presence of Two or more Credible Witnesses; or knowingthe same to be so Printed or Reprinted, without the Consent ofthe Proprietors, shall Sell, Publish, or Expose to Sale, or causeto be Sold, Published, or Exposed to Sale, any such Book orBooks, without such Consent first had and obtained, as afore-said, Then such Offender or Offenders shall Forfeit such Book orBooks, and all and every Sheet or Sheets, being part of suchBook or Books, to the Proprietor or Proprietors of the Copythereof, who shall forthwith Damask and make Waste-Paper ofthem: And further, That every such Offender or Offenders, shallForfeit One Peny [sic] for every sheet which shall be found in his,her, or their Custody"

This was one of the most outstanding paragraphs of the essay. It's so bold and to the point that you can't misunderstand it if you're an author of the time. It shows the frustration of the writers of the time, as well as their seriousness about making their money. This paragraph clearly shows how we form the copyright laws of today. Don't sell my books if I didn't give you my consent, you can't sell my ideas without paying me, simple and plain.

This was a law to be set for the booksellers and printers. Someone had to come up with a way of controlling who has the authority to print and reprint books for profit. Monitoring who gets the permission to make the profit from the book was also in dire need. I can only imagine that if I had written a book, and I go to another part of town and I see a book station selling my book and they're holding all the profits without contacting me, there's going to be some sort of confrontation or possibly an altercation. This portion of the essay almost seems as if it grew out of anger of lack of control of who profits from an author's creations. It's almost a threat but more so a warning.

"And further, That every such Offender or Offenders, shallForfeit One Peny [sic] for every sheet which shall be found in his,her, or their Custody."

This sentence is pure genius! It reminds me of today's DVD bootlegging law that states after being found with so many bootlegged copies, you can receive two years per DVD (I think it's two years). It also favors the weapons law that states if a felon is caught with a loaded weapon, If there's over ten loaded bullets, he or she can receive up to ten years per bullet. Such a harsh punishment should deter most copiers and sellers. A penny per page, I'm sure can be quite expensive. If each book has three hundred pages and he or she is caught with twenty books you do the math, and back then a penny was worth a lot more than it is today.

"Then such Offender or Offenders shall Forfeit such Book orBooks, and all and every Sheet or Sheets, being part of suchBook or Books, to the Proprietor or Proprietors of the Copythereof, who shall forthwith Damask and make Waste-Paper ofthem."

LOL! On top of the penny per page penalty, you have your whole collection torn up and trashed. So in the end an offender would pay a penny per page, then have to watch his books be torn up and thrown into the garbage. I'm positive illegal copying of books declined after this harsh proposition. I totally agree and understand the motive that would bring about such an proposal, people should be in control of their art, and if there's profit to be made, the author of that art should be first to collect, as well as decide who and who can't sell that art.

The Tatler

These series of papers show the opinions and views of and in the coffeehouses of the time. I was often confused because of the different points of views expressed from page to page. The Tatler seems much like today's magazines. They covered broad topics and shed light on occurring events of the time.

However I did find the Female Tatler paper Interesting. Although men were supposed to be the dominant writers of the time, I found it interesting that a woman could create a somewhat successful paper aimed at, but not only for women. Women's perspectives are expressed in the female version of The Tatler. Although the Female Tatler had a short run (1709-1710) it was satirical, witty, and creative. It once again shows women's ability to enter what may be considered a masculine art and proving to be more than capable of matching or even exceeding the men's talent. I found the idea of creating Mrs. Crackenthorpe very intelligent as far as marketing and promotion. It gave the paper character. The phrase "A lady who knows everything" only added to the creativity of the paper. The phrase actually would give it more of an edge on the alternate paper The Tatler. I'm assuming The Female Tatler was in some competition with The Tatler considering The Female Tatler released publications on the days that The Tatler didn't. It would've snatched a few fans of The Tatler who wanted to read more news throughout the week, as well as the female audience that The Tatler most likely excluded or ignored in it's sexist practices.