“New discoveries were generally published in limited editions of at most 750 copies and sold at a price that often exceeded the weekly salary of an educated worker.”
Britain had copyright from 1710 and published about 1,000 new works a year. Germany barely enforced it and put out around 14,000 in 1843. British publishers sold science to the rich. German publishers sold it to everyone. The country without the protection caught up and industrialized.