The Sun.
London, England, 1860-04-07 00:00:00

THE BIBLE PRINTING _PATENT.

The decision of the conirni!,tee against the continuance of
this patent was stated at the time. The report published
on Saturday states that the Select Committee on the Queen's
Printers' Patent, appointed on the motion of Mr. dlaines,
have agreed to the following resolutions :

1. That exclusive privileges of printing or publishing the
Holy Scriptures are wrong in principle, and are shown by
experience to be opposed to the public interest.

2. That until the abolition of the Scptch Bible printing
monopoly, the price of Bibles in Scotland and England was,
through the operation of the monopolies is both coun-
tries very high ; and that, in consequence of that abolition
the price was suddenly reduced about one-half, and the cir-
culation of Bibles immensely increased.

3. That the patents does not appear to have been granted
fur the purpose of ensuring the accurate printing of the
Bible; that it contains no injunction to accuracy, and pro-
vides no penalty for inaccuracy; and that, in point of fact,
the Bibles printed by the Queen's Printers and the Uni-
versities contained many errors, until public discussion, and
the inquiries of the Select Committee of 1831, led to in-
creased care in the printing.
4. That whilst the Bible is now published at a remark-
ably low price, and with-great accuracy, the cheapness and
accuracy have not been the effects of the restrictions on
printing, but of the competition between the Queen's
Printers and the Universities, and of the free competition,
in Scotland in printing the Bible, combined with the great
public attention given to the subject for the last 30 years.
5. That perfect freedom of competition would be likely to
produce and maintain the greatest attainable cheapness, as
well as the utmost beauty and attractiveness of typography
and binding.
6. That, under the free printing, there would be the fol-
lowing guarantees for the accuracy of the sacred text,
namely : lit. The vigilance of the Christian public. 2d.
The watchful care of the clergy and ministers of all Chris-
ion bodies. 3d. The special attention of religious societies
stablished for the purpose of circulating the Bible. 4th.
The continual criticism of the press. sth. The knowledge
which booksellers must acquire of the merits of different
editions. 6th. The interest of the printers and publishers
of the Bible, who would suffer a heavy penalty for inaccu-
racy by finding their editions unsaleable. 7th. The efforts
of the present patentees and the Universities to sustain their
reputation, together with the stereotype plates and other
advantages which they possess.
7. That the patent is unjust, in prohibiting the importa-
tion of Scotch Bibles into England, while English Bibles
are perinirted to be imported into Scotland.
8. That the patent creates a monopoly much more ex-
tensive and stringent than the patentees have ventured to
enforce ;it gives an exclusive right to print " all and sin- '
gular Bibles and New Testaments whatsoever in the
English tongue, or in any other tongue whatsoever, and
any translation, with notes or without notes, and also to
prevent the introduction of Bibles printed in any other
part of the kingdom into Englr.nd and 'Vales; but the
patentees have not exercised their legal right of preventing
the introduction of Bibles from Scotland, nor of interfering
with the publication of the Bible in other languages or
translations, or accompanied with notes or references, but
have practically restricted themselves to the issue of the
Bible, without note or comment, and in the authoriscd
version.
9. That the committee recommend that the patent of the
Queen's Printers, so far as relates to the printing of Bibles
and NOW Testaments, be not renewed, and that no exclusive
privilege of printing the sacred volume be allowed hence-
forth to exist,