Copyright and Cartography

This open access book explores the intertwined histories of mapmaking and copyright law in Britain from the early modern period up to World War 1, focusing chiefly on the 18th and 19th centuries.

Taking a multidisciplinary approach and making extensive use of the archival record, this is the first detailed, historical account of the relationship between maps and copyright. It examines how the emergence and development of copyright law affected mapmakers and the map trade, and how the application of copyright law to the field of mapmaking influenced the development of copyright doctrine. These explorations shed new light on the circulation of geographical knowledge, different cultures of authorship and creativity, and connections between copyright law, print culture, technology, and society.

The book will interest legal historians, intellectual property scholars, and historians of map and print culture, as well as those intrigued by the history of knowledge and the exercise of legal control over data over time. It takes the reader back to the earliest attempts to establish control over geographical information and its graphic representation in the form of a map, highlighting a long history of tension between private enterprise, government, and public interests. Though the book’s investigations conclude in the early 20th century, the tensions it identifies continue into the 21st century, despite paper maps largely being replaced by web-based mapping platforms and digital geospatial data.

The ebook editions of Copyright and Cartography are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by the Australian Research Council.