Royal printing privilege

Meaning

The privilege is a royal authorization to print and circulate the book, coupled with an exclusive term. It is not an account of the philosophical secret’s possession. The grant permits Jérémie Périer, identified as a Paris university bookseller, to have the treatise printed, sold and distributed, while forbidding rival booksellers, printers and binders to circulate copies not produced under his authority.

The full six-year term and the fine of eight hundred livres define this historical monopoly. The fine is divided between the king and the petitioner, here the same Périer who receives the grant; livres here denotes money, not a weight of material. The subscription “Par le Conseil” and Bergeron’s name belong to the grant’s documentary authority. Its date, 6 November 1620, is distinct from the volume’s 1621 imprint. The annotation explains the grant as a historical printing restriction rather than a restriction upon the present edition.