Rights Information

In the late-18th century, a group of publishers in what Darnton calls the ‘Fertile Crescent’ — countries located along the French border, stretching from Holland to Switzerland — pirated the works of prominent (and often banned) French writers and distributed them in France, where laws governing piracy were in flux and any notion of ‘copyright’ was very much in its infancy. Piracy was entirely legal and everyone acknowledged that these pirated editions of works by Rousseau, Voltaire, and Diderot, among other luminaries, supplied a growing readership within France.

• Offers a sweeping view of the world of writing, publishing and bookselling in preRevolutionary France, providing a vibrantly detailed look at a cut-throat industry that was struggling to keep up with the times.

• Examines how book piracy helped to expand literary culture.

• Focuses on one of the largest publishers in Switzerland, whose archives are the most complete.