InfoD-Cafe: ReadHowYouWant.com paperback editions

[Deborah Taylor-Pearce]

Gunnar,

>> none of us benefited from
>> the British Library's
>> rigid adherence to
>> copyright formalities.
>
> Sorry for being pedantic

Don't be. It's fine with me. <bg>

In fact, I welcome it....

> but this seems to be
> something other than
> copyright.

Agreed. I figured it was wrong when I wrote it, but the
trouble is, I don't know what else we call this....

_The NewsHour_ piece on India's digital library used the
phrase "forced royalty payments," and that seems right.

How about "copyright extortion"?

IMHO, the holding institutions ought not to have any right
(let alone in perpetuity!) to charge "for permission" to
reissue images of artifacts (especially those artifacts
which some might consider "stolen" to begin with).

Charging people plenty for a high-resolution photographic
reproduction of an artifact in their possession is fine, but
once that photograph is printed and publicly disseminated, I
don't believe it's their product to control (or "license")
any longer.

In the case of Margaret Cavendish's texts, she made a point
of *giving* public libraries copies of her works, so that
her words would reach as many minds as possible. (MC wanted
fame above all else; and as she was one of the noble few
doling out patronage to starving artists, the idea of
profiting financially from her own publications would have
horrified her.) Joseph Glanvill (F.R.S., 1664), who was
appointed Rector of Bath in 1666, actually wrote to her
asking that she give a copy of her works to that city's
public library, "erected, chiefly for the diversion of
Gentlemen" who seek the baths:

	"I know, Madam, your Grace has always writ out of a
	Principle of Noble Generosity, and Charity towards
	Mankind; and are very ready to dispense your
	Influence to those that need your Informations: To
	this I understand most of the considerable Libraries
	of *England* can bear a Testimony...."

Therefore, he feels free to ask for another such donation on
behalf of Bath's library, which

	"will be very much ennobled by so glorious an
	Instance of your Grace's Favour, if you shall please
	to Honour it with those Ingenious Works, by which
	your Grace doth so much outshine your Sex, and many,
	that would be thought the greatest Wits, of ours."

So as I see it, MC's works have been in the "public domain"
since the 17th century, and no institution or modern-day
publisher has a just claim to copyrighting them now.

Deborah
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp at she-philosopher.com