Dominion and Agency: Copyright and the Structuring of the Canadian Book Trade 1867–1918 by Eli MacLaren (review)

The more than often dry and tedious history of copyright legislation and litigation in Canada is brought to life in Eli MacLaren’s examination of Canadian literature and print culture in Dominion and Agency. Using Board of Trade Papers that had been hidden away in archives, MacLaren creates an interesting and dynamic examination of Canada’s struggles for copyright reform during early confederation. With the Confederation of 1867 there was the hope of reforming the British Copyright Act of 1842 and the new beginnings of a national Canadian literature industry. Concentrating on the Canadian Copyright Act of 1875, MacLaren examines various Canadian publishing companies, such as the Belford Brothers, during early confederation and their fights against copyrights that greatly limited their roles as publishers. Reforming the copyright act, however, proved impossible and caused Canada to become exclusively a publisher-importer. Yet British copyright laws were not the only laws that restricted the Canadian publishing industry. American protectionism also proved a formidable barrier for publishing in Canada. Hemmed in by British and American copyright laws, the expansion and development of an independent publishing industry became nearly impossible. The lack of Canadian publishers forced many Canadian writers to seek residency and contracts in the United States. The outcome of stringent copyright laws, as MacLaren concludes, proved detrimental to Canadian culture as the laws ‘pre-empted and exacerbated nationalism.’

MacLaren’s study of the print industry explores the legal and fiscal structures that create the foundation of Canada’s literary culture. Using a range of case studies, MacLaren closely traces Canada’s historical emergence as a country struggling to publish and endorse its writers under stringent copyright regulations. His work includes examinations of early-published Canadian writers, showing that there was a thriving Canadian literary community that reflected regional and cultural settings. As MacLaren notes, even with stringent copyright laws in place some Canadians – such as Nellie McClung, L.M. Montgomery, Marshal Sanders, and A.J.M. Smith, to name but a few – were able to overcome the ‘international legal divide.’ Other Canadian writers encountered great difficulty within the international publishing terrain. One such writer MacLaren identifies is Archibald Lampman. Lampman’s contract with the American publisher Copeland and Day resulted in delays and errors, which led to his disappointment. Subsequently, Lampman recognized the need for a Canadian publishing industry where Canadian writers could publish their works without going outside of their borders. MacLaren reasserts Lampman’s observation that Canadian authors ‘needed local publishers in order to realize the regionally reflective works of which they dreamed; instead what they had were national publisher-agents at some remove and international publishers still farther away.’ The constraints within Canada’s print industry caused Canadian literature to suffer because without ‘specialist publishing,’ local authors were unable to connect with a local readership.

Dominion and Agency provides a persuasive examination of Canada’s print industry and the struggle to overcome international copyright laws. MacLaren’s work breathes new life into the scholarship of Canadian print culture. His arguments are compelling; his prose is elegant and easily followed. He not only opens up the field of study in regard to the publishing industry, but he also contributes to scholarship in early confederation Canadian literature. MacLaren’s work would appeal to scholar, student, and anyone interested in the print industry.