Livre as money in the royal privilege

Meaning

The royal privilege authorises Périer’s printing and distribution for a six-year term and specifies a fine of eight hundred livres, divided between the king and the petitioner. In that sentence livres is money, a unit of account, not a weight and not a number of books. The new English retains the historical currency name rather than inventing a modern monetary equivalent.

The prohibition, term and penalty are provisions of the historical grant dated 6 November 1620. Reading them explains the document’s place in the book’s publication history; it is not a statement about present permissions for reproducing particular digital images. The 1620 grant must also be kept separate from the title page’s 1621 imprint.