brary without any accessions of copyright books until
1865, when, at the instance of the present writer, the Library Committee
recommended, and Congress passed an act restoring the privilege to the
Library of Congress. But it was found to require, in order to its
enforcement, frequent visits to the records of the clerks of United
States District Courts in many cities, with costly transcripts of records
in more than thirty other offices, in order to ascertain what books had
actually been copyrighted. To this was added the necessity of issuing
demands upon delinquent authors or publishers for books not sent to the
Library; no residence of the delinquents, however, being found in any of
the records, which simply recorded those claiming copyright as "of the
said District."

It resulted that no complete, nor even approximate compliance with the
law was secured, and after five years' trial, the Librarian was obliged
to bring before the committees of Congress the plan of a copyright
registry at the seat of government, as had been the requirement in the
case of Patents from the beginning.

The law of copyright, as codified by act of July 8, 1870, made an epoch
in the copyright system of the United States. It transferred the entire
registry of books and other publications, under copyright law, to the
city of Washington, and made the Librarian of Congress sole register of
copyrights, instead of the clerks of the District Courts of the United
States. Manifold reasons existed for this radical change, and those which
were most influential with Congress in making it were the following:

1. The transfer of the copyright records to Washington it was foreseen
would concentrate and simplify the business, and this was a cardinal
point. Prior to 1870 there were between forty and fifty separate and
distinct authorities for issuing copyrights. The American people were put
to much trouble to find out where to apply, in the complicated system of
District Courts, several of them frequently in a single State, to enter
titles for publication. They were required to make entry in the district
where the applicant resided, and this was frequently a matter of doubt.
Moreover, they were required to go to the expense and trouble of
transmitting a copy of the work, after publication, to the District
clerk, and another copy to the Library of Congress. Were both copies
mailed to Washington (post-free by law) this duty would be diminished by
one-half.