Fine Art Copyright Act, 1862. British law extending copyright protection to photographs as well as works of art. This was done, despite arguments that photography was merely a ‘mechanical process’, partly to encourage foreign participation in the imminent 1862 International Exhibition. (In the event, photographs were excluded from the fine-art section.) To obtain protection, photographers had to register images at Stationers' Hall, London, and pay a fee. Over 250, 000 items were registered during the Act's lifetime (1862-1912). Most were commercial pictures, including royal and celebrity portraits, views and genre scenes, advertising images, and photos of floods, shipwrecks, and other newsworthy events. Some were by amateurs, and sometimes it is unclear why they were registered at all. A fascinating selection of the pictures, held at the National Archives, London, was published by Michael Hiley in Seeing through Photographs (1983).
— Robin Lenman
