A Game Map: Object of Copyright and Form of Authority in Eighteenth-Century Britain

This essay studies in detail-from a legal and aesthetic perspective-an eighteenth-century game map that became the object of a copyright dispute. Thomas Jefferys's Royal Geographical Pastime or the Complete Tour of Europe was only the second geographical game to be produced in Britain. The game...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Imago mundi (Lympne) 2020-07, Vol.72 (2), p.163-180
Main Authors:	Alexander, Isabella, Martinez, Cristina S.
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	18th century Age of Enlightenment Art history Authority Carington Bowles Copying Copyright engraving game Games History Hogarth, William International trade Jefferys, Thomas (?-1771) Law Legal arguments originality Politics Thomas Jefferys trade William Hogarth
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	This essay studies in detail-from a legal and aesthetic perspective-an eighteenth-century game map that became the object of a copyright dispute. Thomas Jefferys's Royal Geographical Pastime or the Complete Tour of Europe was only the second geographical game to be produced in Britain. The game was, however, more than a simple pastime for an educated public. The map fed notions of hegemony and carried political messages about the relationships between Britain and her continental neighbours, while at the same time informing attitudes towards education and the role of Enlightenment ideas. The present study is concerned with the historical associations between maps and copyright law against this background. It questions the impact of making incremental changes to, and copying, an existing map on the regular operations of mapmakers, which conferred legitimacy on the maps while also posing legal challenges. These challenges were in turn complicated by the status of the map as an object with diverse functions and meanings.
ISSN:	0308-5694 1479-7801