Beschreibung:

Autograph letter signed "N Webster" to the Hon. Samuel Hubbard regarding a suit for copyright infringement brought by his publisher Henry Hudson over his Spelling Book.
New Haven, 3 January 1830. 1 page, single 4to sheet (10 x 7 7/8 inches; 257 x 200mm.). Neatly written in brown ink; the verso inscribed by the recipient and further annotated that the letter was received and answered on "Jan. 4. 1830, wishing to know in what newspaper the record of his book was published.” Condition : creased where previously folded for mailing. "I suppose the papers to be used in the suit of Henry Hudson against the trespasses on his right in Lee, to be in the possession of his counsel in Boston, of whom I understand you are one. The publishers of my Spelling Book in Albany care about commencing a suit or two against trespasses in their district, & write to me for my affidavit on Two Points, viz - the newspaper in which the record of the book in the Clerks office in 1817 was published, & the date of my assignment of the right, in That Year, to Hudson & Goodwin …" a wonderful letter concerning the copyright infringement of webster’s school textbooks, coming from the man who, among other things, has been called the “father of american copyright” . Webster's role in the formation of copyright law has been well-documented (cf. Morgan, Noah Webster , pp. 62), and the first copyright laws in America, both state and federal, came about primarily as a result of Webster's efforts. Shortly after the time this letter was written, in fact, Webster was lobbying in Washington D.C. for a revision of the old copyright law, which was successfully revised, again thanks to Webster's efforts, on February 3, 1831.