Plagiarism, the act of passing on others" ideas or words as one"s own, has always been a debated issue in the writing practices of a given period. This book makes the case that our modern understanding of plagiarism is enhanced by a consideration of its pre-histories. In the early modern period (1400-1700), plagiarism and imitation were closely related practices. Stolen ideas appeared virtually as legitimate work, in sharp contrast to the later romantic ideal of originality. This book examines a wide variety of writing practices (literary, philosophical, historiographical, technical writings, and Bible translations) at different moments of the early modern period, within the frame of the rise and fall of the early modern culture of imitation.

Gro Bjørnerud Mo er professor i fransk litteratur ved Universitetet i Oslo.