The author's due: printing and the prehistory of copyright

This study offers an institutional and cultural history of books, the book trade, and the bibliographic ego.

The author traces the emergence of possessive authorship from the establishment of a printing industry in England to the passage of the 1710 Statute of Anne, which provided the legal underpinnings for modern copyright.

Along the way he demonstrates that the culture of books, including the idea of the author, is intimately tied to the practical trade of publishing those books.