QUESTION: Censorship Fees in Vormärz

Hugo Lane Discussion

Dear Colleagues,

I have been working on Galicia in Vormärz for a while now, and having returned to the Ruthenian Triad's efforts to publish a manuscript in 1834 called Zoria, I realize that for all the times I have read and reread the primary and secondary source material about this episode, the rather practical matter of the cost is never discussed. Presumably, there was some sort of processing fee that had to be paid when one submitted a manuscript, but I have no idea what it might have been. In these COVID-19 times, where here in NY libraries remain closed, I must regrettably report that beyond books about Galicia, and have had no opportunity to explore any histories of book publishing that might provide information. So I turn to you my fellow scholars. Do any of you have a clue about what the fee to have a book be reviewed by censors might have been in the 1830s or 1940s?

Hugo Lane

York College, Queens

2 Replies

Post Reply

I don't remember ever running across this information when studying the periodical press in Bohemia, but the following books, when books again become available to you, might be helpful:

Heindl, Waltraud. Gehorsame Rebellen: Bürokratie und Beamte in österreich. Wien: Böhlau Verlag, 1991.

Lechner, Silvester. Gelehrte Kritik und Restauration: Metternichs Wissenschaft und
Pressepolitik und die Wiener "Jahrbucher der Literatur" (1818-1849). Tubingen: Niemeyer, 1977.

Marx, Julius. Die Österreichische Zensur im Vormärz. Vienna: Verlag für Geschichte und
Politik, 1959.

Best of luck,
Jeff Leigh
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point