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COPYRIGHT

Mollis bills, 18S&-60

International Copyright Association,^ 1868

Baldwin bill and re- port, 1868

In the Thirty-fifth Congress in 1858, Edward J. Morris, of Pennsylvania, introduced into the House of Representatives a bill on the basis of remanufac- ture by an American publisher within thirty days of publication abroad, but it does not seem to have been considered, though it was reintroduced by him in i860.

The matter slumbered until 1868 — after Dick- ens's second visit in 1867 — when a committee con- sisting of George P. Putnam, S. Irenaeus Prime, Henry Ivison, James Parton, and Egbert Hazard issued an appeal for "justice to authors and art- ists," calling a meeting, which was held under the presidency of William CuUen Bryant, April 9, 1868. An International Copyright Association was then or- ganized, with Mr. Bryant as president, George Wil- liam Curtis as vice-president and E. C. Stedman as secretary, whose primary object was "to promote the enactment of a just and suitable international copy- right law for the benefit of authors and artists in all parts of the world." A memorial to Congress, asking early attention for a bill " to secure in all parts of the world the right of authors," but making no recom- mendations in dptjul, was signed by one hundred and fifty-three persons, including one hundred and one authors and nineteen publishers.

In the Fortieth Congress, in accordance with in- structions to the Committee on the Library, moved by Samuel M. Amell of Tennessee, January 16, 1868, to report on international copyright "and the best means for the encouragement and advancement of cheap literature and the better protection of au- thors," — a bill was introduced in the House, Febru- ary 21, by J. D. Baldwin of Massachusetts, which provided for copyright on foreign books wholly manufactured here and published by an American