Introduction: A Copyright Revolution

In 1886 the Berne Convention started a copyright revolution in the European book trade. A Convention Concerning the Creation of an International Union for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, it was initially signed by a relatively small group of states—Belgium, Germany, Great Britain, France, Haiti, Liberia, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and Tunisia—as the first framework protecting the rights of authors on an international level. Furthermore, by granting protection to translations, the Convention kickstarted a new phase of internationalisation in the world of letters. Over the following decades, the rapidly expanding union led to a reconfiguration of the translation market: as authors and translators were given control over the use of their works, publishers started seeking, and paying for, the authorisation to publish translations, now protected from pirate editions.