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    Mr Serjeant Talfourd's Copyright Bill JS

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    Mr Serjeant Talfourd's Copyright Bill.*

    fible fraction of that body receive any emolumeut from the use of the pen ; but by far the major part , by education and personal experience , are enabled to judge of the abstract claims of authors to the gratitude and protection of the nation . The House of

    Commons agreed with the learned Serjeant that authors should no longer be deprived so suddenly of the fruits of their labours , of the fruits of things which they create a & much as nature creates

    the trees and the flowers , the seed and richness whereof returns to herself , endowing her with added vigour for an increased fertility . The protection is the more needed , since

    authors , by education and habits , are rarely fitted to cope with booksellers in the dealings of trade , which they do not comprehend . To the House of Commons , to the educated intellect of the

    country , Mr Talfourd uttered what was just and wise ; " to the Teggs it is foolishness ?" No ; the Teggs fear lest some fraction of the horn of plenty

    may be broken offiri the change . There is little fear , however , we hope , of the booksellers losing anything even of their superfluities . The increasing demand for books will probably make up for anv additional exnense to lor any additional expense to which they may be put . Mr Tegg endeavours to shew

    • " Now _Barabbaa was a robber /'

    Mr Serjeant Talfourd's Copyright Bill.*

    that authors are already abundantly paid , and for a period of even of unnecessary duration , and he instances Sir Walter Scott . Out of one , however , in spite of the saying , we cannot

    always judge of all . Mr Tegg , we believe , has made a considerable fortune by the sale of books ; will he inform us how many of the writers of those books have made equal fortunes ; and will he tell us which is

    chiefly instrumental to the existence of a book , the bookseller or the writer ? Mr Tegg considers that the effectof Mr Talfourd ' s bill would be to force secondary writers upon the public , since he assumes that the best writers already receive a maximum . But

    he forgets that some of the best authors are not known by the slow public to be such till , perhaps , twenty-eight years after they commence writing . And so Mr Tegg concludes this part of his argument with what is unintelligible , if not meant for a sneer at Wordsworth

    But there are many exhibitions of taste on the part of Mr Tegg , which prove him of doubtful worthiness to be even a seller of books : for we cannot altogether agree with Lord Byron , that Barabbas was a type of the craft . *

    i he bill , Mr Tegg fears , will raise the price of books . This is absurd . Booksellers must keep down the price of books

    Mr Serjeant Talfourd's Copyright Bill Js

    Mr Serjeant Talfourd ' s Copyright Bill JS

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 1, 1837, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/mrp_01071837/page/13/