Toward the end of the seventeenth century, with the passing away of the mediæval conditions which had previously prevailed, the Company’s control of the situation broke down. When the printing acts finally went into disuse in 1594, as has already been described, nobody had any protection. Everything in the way of copyright was entirely abolished. This condition was soon felt to be intolerable and in 1709 an Act of Parliament provided a system of copyright and recognized the author’s right to his work. By this act the owners of old books and unpublished manuscripts, whether they were the authors or not, had proprietary right in them for twenty-one years, beginning April 10, 1710. This part of the act, of course, was a temporary provision for existing conditions. New books were to be controlled by the author for fourteen years. If at the end of that time the author was still living his copyright might be renewed for fourteen years more. Within the limits during which the copyright was valid it could be transferred. Such transference did not act as an extension. The copyright was secured by registration with the Stationers’ Company as before. This was really a booksellers’ act, as at that time they held nearly all of the copyrights and doubtless expected to be able to secure all the new ones of any value. That was what happened at first. The protection given to the authors by the new act greatly altered the terms upon which the booksellers or publishers could obtain the manuscripts. It was some years before the authors came to a full realization of their rights under the new law. When they did arrive at this knowledge authorship as a profession became possible. For a long time authors sold their manuscripts outright to the publishers. The royalty system, under which the author shares the profits of the work, was a later development. From this time on new work was controlled by the authors and the use of their manuscripts could be obtained only by some sort of bargain. All old work not covered by copyrights existing in 1709, and after 1731 all work upon which copyrights had expired, might be freely printed by any one. From that time on the publication of such works became, as it is now, purely a manufacturing proposition. Whether or not such books shall be published and whether or not the publication is a commercial success depend entirely upon the soundness of the publisher’s judgment and the accuracy with which he gauges the popular demand for standard literature at a given price.