Two complicating comments.

(1) The categorization of these things is highly dependent
on time and place and legal regime. To me (and I guess therefore
to the TCP 'us'), the ecclesiastical categories are quite specific and
based in canon law: the nihil obstat, imprimi potest, approbatio,
and imprimatur are things unto themselves. Secular statements of copyright
and equivalent monopolies (copyright, stationer's register
declarations, royal privileges) are quite different; and different
also are appointments and orders to publish (typically Parliamentary).
The gamut runs from a finding of fact (appropbation or nihil 
obstat), to statement of fact ('entered in the register') to
permission (license proper) to obligation (order to print) to granted 
monopoly (privilege, copyright).

So I would be open to an open-ended scheme of some sort that
allows one to type and subtype the various kinds of licenses.

(2) But licenses also differ in their form. One reason that we did not 
adopt the TEI <imprimatur> tag, aside from the fact that it is confined to 
title pages, is that its low-level content model supports only
the most primitive sorts of license ('printed by license') and
does not allow it to capture some of the commonest features of licenses, 
especially the ones that are actual imprimaturs (as opposed to the simpler 
'cum privilegio' type), namely the fact that they are often dated, 
localized by reference to a place or governing body, and are usually 
signed. Sometimes these are most readily treated as divs, but often,
especially those that appear on title pages, though they act as divs,
they cannot readily be treated as such (which is why we resort to
exporting these as floating texts):


  <p>Imprimatur</p>
  <closer><signed>THO: WYKES.</signed>
  <date>Iuly 30. 1640.</date></closer>


  <p>Recensui tractatum hunc, cui titulus <hi>Schismatis
  speculum,</hi> <hi>in quo nihil reperio quo minus cum
  utilitate publica imprimatur.</p>
  <closer><signed>THOMAS WEEKES, Episcopo Lond.
  <hi>Cap.domest.</hi></signed></closer>

  <p>Perlegi librum hunc, in quo nihil reperio
  quo minus cum utilitate imprimatur,</p>
  <closer><dateline>Ex aedibus Londin.
  <date>Feb. ult. <hi>1634.</hi></date></dateline>
  <signed>SA. BAKER.</signed></closer>

  <p>LIber iste aliquas exhortationes ad Paenitentiam continens,
  &amp; ad obseruationem Regulae tertij ordinis S. Francisci,
  necnon aliquam eiusdem explicationem, nihil habet quod fidei
  Catholicae, aut bonis moribus, sit contrarium</p>
  <closer><dateline><date>4. Februarij. 1617.</date>
  <signed>Ioannes Redman, Sacrae Theologiae Doctor, &amp;
  in Diocesi Audomarensi librorum Censor.</signed></closer>

  <p>MAndato Reuerendissime Patris nostri Fratris Andreae
  a Soto Commissarius Generalis Seraphici nostri ordinis
  super prouincias Belgicas &amp; adiacentes &amp; legi
  diligenter librum Anglico sermone scriptum, a Reuerendo Patre Fratre 
Gulielmo Staney, Predicti Ordinis predicatore &amp; confessore cui
  titulus est, <hi>A Treatise of Penance,</hi> in quo nihil
  inueni contrarium Cathelice fidei, aut bonis moribus:</p>
  <closer><dateline>in cuius rei testimonium his subscripsi, Louani
  <date>26. Septembris. 1616.</date></dateline>
  <signed><hi>Fr. Robertus Chamberlinus</hi> S. Theologiae
  Lector.</signed></closer>

  <opener><signed>F. ANDREAS a SOTO, Ordinis Minorum, Regulae
  Obseruantiae, Serenissimae Dominae Infantis Hispaniarum
  confessarius &amp; super prouincias Belgicas, Coloniae,
  Argentinae, atque Hyberniae, cum plenitudine potestatis,
  in vtroque foro comissarius.</signed>
  <salute>Reuerendo P. Fratri Gulielmo Staneo, eiusdem
  instituti predicatori &amp; confessori salutem.</salute>
  </opener>
<p> Cum (sicut  nobis significasti) librum quendam composueris Anglico
  ydiomate, cui Titulus est, <hi>A Treatise of Penance,</hi> quem viri
  docti eius linguae periti iudicant ad deuotionem fidelium
  excitandam fore vtilem, quemque ex nostra comissione legit &amp;
  approbauit, P. Fr. Robertus Chamberlinus sacrae Theologiae
  lector. Nos pro zelo animarum laborantes omni fauore prosoqui
  cupientes licentiam tibi impertimur, vt dictum librum imprimi
  cures, quamprimum conuenienter poteris, seruatis alias
  circa librorum impressionem seruandis.</p>
  <closer>
  <salute>Vale pro me Deum precaturus,</salute>
  <dateline>in Conuentu nostro Bruxellensi,
  <date>10. Nouember. 1616.</date></dateline>
  <closer><signed><hi>Seruus</hi> Andreas a Soto, <hi>Commissarius
  Generalis.</hi> </signed></closer>


pfs

On Fri, 6 Jul 2012, Lou Burnard wrote:

> On 05/07/12 16:51, jorge fins wrote:
>
>> A privilege is a declaration determining who has the exclusive right to
>> print a book, and the limits of this right (no one else in the
>> determined period and area can print the same edition) whereas an
>> imprimatur is a declaration authorizing the publication of a book.
>> Right now, it is like using <black> to tag the color white.
>
> Well, I think the distinction is probably not quite so black and white to 
> many people, and certainly I think that when the tag name "imprimatur" was 
> chosen it was with its modern sense of "any kind of 
> permission/licence/approval" rather than to imply a distinction from other 
> kinds of licensing phrase.

> Assuming that this rather careless use of the term is to be rectified, I see 
> three possible solutions :
>
> (a) add <imprimatur> to the att.typed class, and introduce some further 
> discussion/exemplification of different types of "imprimatur"
>
> (b) make the new <licence> element more generally available (at present it's 
> only permitted within the <availability> part of the TEI header) and 
> recommend it for all kinds of licensing text, including imprimaturs and 
> privileges, eventually removing <imprimatur>
>
> (c) add a new <privilegio> element, providing documentation and examples for 
> it, as an alternative to <imprimatur>
>
> How do people feel about these three possibilities? If we have a clear 
> consensus, maybe someone would like to make a feature request?
>
>
>

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