Piracy; The Intellectual Property Wars from Gutenberg to Gate

Adrian Johns

ISBN 10: 0226401189 / ISBN 13: 9780226401188

Published by The University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 2009

About this Item

Piracy, The Intellectual Property Wars from Gutenberg to Gates, by Adrian Johns. Provenance; from the library of the late William St Clair (1937 - 2021), British historian, academic and author. No signatures or annotations included on the book. Please see our other listings for related works. Published by The University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 2009, 1st edition. Printed in USA. A fascinating account of the battle for intellectual property rights, spanning hundreds of years. A near fine black cloth hardback. Some thumb marks to edge of text block. Text otherwise clean and bright throughout. Soundly bound. Dustjacket is good - slightly soiled and shelf worn, with some discoloration at edges. 626pp. Weight approximately 1020g unpacked. Dimensions: Approximately 235mm high x 165mm wide x 44mm deep. Extra postage may be payable for overseas orders.

Seller Inventory # LAN7207

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Piracy; The Intellectual Property Wars from Gutenberg to Gate
• Publisher: The University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London
• Publication Date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0226401189
• ISBN 13: 9780226401188
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
• Seller catalogs:
  • History

About this title

Synopsis

Since the rise of Napster and other file-sharing services in its wake, most of us have assumed that intellectual piracy is a product of the digital age and that it threatens creative expression as never before. The Motion Picture Association of America, for instance, claimed that in 2005 the film industry lost $2.3 billion in revenue to piracy online. But here Adrian Johns shows that piracy has a much longer and more vital history than we have realized - one that has been largely forgotten and is little understood. "Piracy" explores the intellectual property wars from the advent of print culture in the fifteenth century to the reign of the Internet in the twenty-first. Brimming with broader implications for today's debates over open access, fair use, free culture, and the like, Johns' book ultimately argues that piracy has always stood at the center of our attempts to reconcile creativity and commerce - and that piracy has been an engine of social, technological, and intellectual innovations as often as it has been their adversary. From Cervantes to Sonny Bono, from Maria Callas to Microsoft, from Grub Street to Google, no chapter in the story of piracy evades Johns' graceful analysis in what will be the definitive history of the subject for years to come.

About the Author

Adrian Johns is professor of history and chair of the Committee on Conceptual and Historical Studies of Science at the University of Chicago. He is the author of The Nature of the Book: Print and Knowledge in the Making, also published by the University of Chicago Press.