• Acknowledgements Introduction
• * Conceiving the 1875 Act, 1868-72: The Principles of Copyright * Achieving the 1875 Act, 1872-75: The London Publishers Prevail * Clarifying the 1875 Act, 1876-77: The Stunting of Belford Brothers * Living With the 1875 Act: William Briggs: Printer, Binder, Distributor * The 1900 Amendment, the Agency System, and the Macmillan Company of Canada * The North American Copyright Divide: Black Rock and the Magnification of Ralph Connor Conclusion Notes
• Works Cited
• Index.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

The 1867 Canadian confederation brought with it expectations of a national literature, which a rising class of local printers hoped to supply. Reforming copyright law in the imperial context proved impossible, and Canada became a prime market for foreign publishers instead. The subsequent development of the agency system of exclusive publisher-importers became a defining feature of Canadian trade publishing for most of the twentieth century. In Dominion and Agency, Eli MacLaren analyses the struggle for copyright reform and the creation of a national literature using previously ignored archival sources such as the Board of Trade Papers at the National Archives of the United Kingdom. A groundbreaking study, Dominion and Agency is an important exploration of the legal and economic structures that were instrumental in the formation of today's Canadian literary culture.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)