Dominion and Agency: Copyright and the Structuring of the Canadian Book Trade, 1867-1918

243 Pages·2011·2.2 MB·English

by  Eli MacLaren

DOMINION AND AGENCY:
COPYRIGHT AND THE STRUCTURING OF THE
CANADIAN BOOK TRADE, 1867–1918
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ELI MACLAREN
Dominion and Agency
Copyright and the Structuring of the
Canadian Book Trade, 1867–1918
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS
Toronto Buff alo London
© University of Toronto Press 2011
 Toronto Buff alo London
 www.utppublishing.com
 Printed in Canada
ISBN 978-1-4426-4321-5 (cloth)

Printed on acid-free paper
_________________________________________________________________
 Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
MacLaren, E. (Eli)
Dominion and agency : copyright and the structuring of the Canadian book
trade, 1867–1918 / Eli MacLaren.
(Studies in book and print culture)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4426-4321-5
1. Copyright – Canada – History. 2. Book industries and trade – Canada –
History. 3. Publishers and publishing – Canada – History. 4. Canadian
literature – History and criticism. I. Title. II. Series: Studies in book and
print Culture.
KE2799.M345 2011  346.7104’8209  C2011-904003-4  
KF2995.M345 2011
_____________________________________________________________
The University of Toronto Press acknowledges the fi nancial assistance to
its publishing program of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario
Arts Council.
This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian
Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, through the Aid to
Scholarly Publications Program, using funds provided by the Social Sciences
and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
University of Toronto Press acknowledges the fi nancial support of the
Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for its publishing
activities.
For my family
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 3
1 Conceiving the 1875 Act, 1868–72: The Principles of Copyright 15
2 Achieving the 1875 Act, 1872–5: The London Publishers Prevail 44
3 Clarifying the 1875 Act, 1876–7: The Stunting of Belford Brothers 69
4  Living with the 1875 Act: William Briggs, Printer, Binder, and
Distributor 102
5  The 1900 Amendment, the Agency System, and the Macmillan
Company of Canada 122
6  The North American Copyright Divide: Black Rock and the
Magnifi cation of ‘Ralph Connor’ 141
Conclusion 164
Notes 171
Bibliography 193
Index 203
Illustrations follow page 86
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Acknowledgments
It takes a community to make a book.
My research would not have been possible without fi nancial support
from various quarters. I gratefully acknowledge funding received from
the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the
Advisory Research Council of Queen’s University. I am equally grateful
for the support of the Department of English at Carleton University.
The New Scholars Prize of the Bibliographical Society of America al-
lowed me to present my work to a meeting of that august institution
in New York, and the Bibliographical Society of Canada not only sup-
ported my participation in a number of key conferences but also served
as an intellectual home.
Many librarians, archivists, and rare book dealers were of indispens-
able assistance. I wish especially to thank the staff of the Thomas Fisher
Rare Book Library at the University of Toronto; the United Church /
Victoria University Archives; the Wilson Library at the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Library and Archives Canada; the W.D.
Jordan Special Collections and the Archives at Queen’s University;
the National Archives of the United Kingdom; the Elizabeth Dafoe
Library at the University of Manitoba; the William Ready Division of
Archives and Special Collections at McMaster University; the Archives
and Special Collections at the University of Guelph; and David Mason
Books of Toronto. The history of publishing depends on the outstand-
ing work of collecting and preserving rare books in their original form
and the various papers associated with them.
Many people infl uenced the writing of the manuscript. I am indebted
to all those who read and commented on it in whole or in part at various
stages of its development: Heather Murray, Nick Mount, Pat Fleming,