This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1774.
Events
February 22 – The English legal case of Donaldson v Beckett is decided in the House of Lords, denying the continued existence of a perpetual common law copyright and holding that copyright is a creation of statute and can be limited in its duration.[1] This does permit authors to claim copyright on their own works.
Antoine-Simon Le Page du Pratz – The History of Louisiana, or of the Western Parts of Virginia and Carolina (English translation of Histoire de la Louisiane (1758) in 1 vol.)
Joseph Priestley – Experiments and Observations on Different Kinds of Air
William Richardson – A Philosophical Analysis and Illustration of Some of Shakespeare's Remarkable Characters