Music Entries at Stationers’ Hall 1710‐1818

The Stationers is one of the City of London livery companies, originally formed in 1403 by the amalgamation of earlier bodies, and incorporated by royal charter in 1557. It had a wide measure of control over the printing and publishing trade of Britain, eventually leading to an act of 1710 which required those who sought to establish ownership of publications to deposit them at Stationers’ Hall. This was an early attempt to give copyright protection, although the term was not then in general use. As it happened, not all publications were deposited: there are many eighteenth and nineteenth century titles...