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

Author / Creator

MacLaren, Eli, author

Available as

Online

Summary

"The 1867 Canadian confederation brought with it expectations of a national literature, which a rising class of local printers hoped to supply. Reforming copyright law in the imperial context prove...

"The 1867 Canadian confederation brought with it expectations of a national literature, which a rising class of local printers hoped to supply. Reforming copyright law in the imperial context proved impossible, and Canada became a prime market for foreign publishers instead. The subsequent development of the agency system of exclusive publisher-importers became a defining feature of Canadian trade publishing for most of the twentieth century. In Dominion and Agency, Eli MacLaren analyses the struggle for copyright reform and the creation of a national literature. Using previously ignored archival sources such as the Board of Trade Papers at the National Archives of the United Kingdom and the MacMillan Company of Canada Fonds at McMaster University, MacLaren addresses the foundations of the Canadian publishing industry. A groundbreaking study, Dominion and Agency is an important exploration of the legal and economic structures that were instrumental in the formation of today's Canadian literary culture as it exists today"--Provided by publisher.

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