TO all Christian People to whom these Presents shall come, We the Right Honourable, Sir Francis North Knight, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England, Sir Ed­mund Saunders Knight, Lord Chief Justice of His Majesties Court of Kings Bench, and Sir Francis Pemberton Knight, Lord Chief Justice of His Majesties Court of Common Pleas at Westminster, send Greeting. Whereas in a Statute made in the Parliament holden at Westminster in the Nineteenth Year of the Reign of the late King of Famous Memory, Henry the Seventh, for the Weal and Profit of his Subjects, It was (amongst other things) Ordained, Established, and Enacted, That no Master, Wardens and Fellowships of Crafts or Mysteries, or any of them, or any Rulers of Guilds and Fraternities, should take upon them to make any Acts or Ordi­nances, nor to execute any Acts or Ordinances then aforemade, in Disinheritance or Diminution of the Prerogative of the King, nor of any other, nor a­gainst the Common Profit of the People, Except the same Acts or Ordinances be Examined and [Page 2] Approved by the Chancellor or Treasurer of Eng­land, or Chief Justices of either Benches, or Three of them, or before both the Justices of Assize in their Circuit or Progress in the Shire where such Acts or Ordinances be made, upon pain of Forfeiture of Forty Pounds for every time that they do contrary, (as by the said Sta­tute more plainly doth and may appear.) Now know ye, That the Master, and Keepers or Wardens, and Commonalty of the Mystery or Art of Stationers of the City of London, Wil­ling and desiring that the said Act of Parlia­ment be in all things duly observed and kept, The Tenth day of February, in the Five and Thirtieth Year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord CHARLES the Second, by the Grace of God, of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c. Anno (que) Dom. One Thousand Six Hundred Eighty Two, for the better Regulating and Or­dering of the Corporation of them the said Master, and Keepers or Wardens, and Commo­nalty of the Mystery or Art of Stationers of the City of London, and for the preventing of Abuses and Misdemeanours in and about Printing, Have Presented unto us this under­written Ordinance by them Ordained, Devised, [Page 3] and Made for the well-governing of their Cor­poration and Society, and every Member there­of, and have made their Humble Suit and Re­quest to us to Examine, Correct, Amend, and to Approve thereof in such manner and form, as by the said Act of Parliament made in the said Nineteenth Year of King Henry the Seventh, is required. We therefore well considering and approving the said Supplication to be good and reasonable, according to their desire, and by the Authority of the said Act of Parliament to us given, the same Ordinance under-written, so to us exhibited, have seen, read, and ex­amined; The Tenor whereof hereafter follow­eth in these Words, (Viz.)

WHereas, It hath been the Ancient Usage of the Members of this Com­pany, for the Printer or Printers, Publisher or Publishers of all Books, Pamphlets, Bal­lads, and Papers (except what are granted by Letters Pattents under the Great Seal of England) to Enter into the Publick Register-Book of this Company, remaining with the Clerk of this Company for the time being, in his or their own Name or Names, All Books, Pamphlets, Ballads, and Papers what­soever, by him or them to be Printed or Pub­lished, before the same Book, Pamphlet, Bal­lad, or Paper is begun to be Printed, To the end that the Printer or Publisher thereof may [Page 5] be known, to justifie whatsoever shall be there­in contained, and have no Excuse for the Printing or Publishing thereof; which Usage this Company now taking into their Consi­sideration, do think that the due Observation thereof may be a means to prevent the Print­ing and Publishing of Treasonable, Seditious, and Scandalous Books, Pamphlets, Libels, and Papers, or Discover the Printers or Pub­lishers thereof.

IT is therefore Ordained, That all and every Member or Members of this Company shall before the Printing or re­printing of any Book, Pamphlet, Ballad, or Paper (except what are granted under the Great Seal of England as aforesaid) in his own Person cause to be Entred into the Re­gister-Book of this Company (remaining in the Custody of the Clerk of this Company, paying the usual Fees for the Entring there­of) in his and their own Name and Names in words at length, the Title of all & every Book, Pamphlet, and Paper, that he or they shall hereafter Print or Publish, or cause to be Printed or Published. And to which Entry he or they shall set and subscribe his and their respective Name and Names, upon pain of [Page 6] forfeiting to the Master and Keepers or War­dens, and Commonalty of the Mystery or Art of Stationers of the City of London, Twenty pounds; to be by them Recovered by Action of Debt, to their own Use.

Which said Ordinance in manner and form aforesaid, made at the Request of the said Master and Keepers or Wardens, and Commonalty of the Mystery or Art of Stationers of the City of London, by the Authority and Vertue of the said Act of Parliament made in the Nine­teenth Year of the said King Henry the Seventh, and for the preventing of the Penalty inflicted by the aforesaid Statute upon the Execution of Ordinances not approved, as by the said Act is directed (as far forth as by Law we may) We the said Lord Keeper, and Lords Chief Justices of either Benches, do Approve, Ratifie, and Confirm. In Witness whereof, We the said Lord Keeper, and Lords Chief Justices of either Benches, have hereunto subscribed our Names, and set our Seals the said Tenth day of February, in the Five and Thir­tieth Year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord Charles the Second, by the Grace of God of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c. Anno (que) Dom. 1682.