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LITER A/RY INTELLIGENCE 442—453 NOTES AN...
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St. Dunstan's House, E.C.
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May 1, 1888. HAT Mr. Justice Stirling ma...
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Cassell & Co.'s Publications.—With the c...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
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442 The Publishers' Circular May 1 , 1888 ———_^—— _ j , _ . — - ¦
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Liter A/Ry Intelligence 442—453 Notes An...
LITER A / RY INTELLIGENCE 442—453 NOTES AND NEWS 444 CONTINENTAL NOTES 444 , 445
AMERICAN NEWS AND NOTES 445 , 446 HYMNOLO ( JY 446 , 447 OBITUARY h « v WVVV 447448 b
^^ ^^ ^^* ^^ ^^ v ^ v vm VVWVVWV ^ VVVVVVVVVV VVVV * V * VVVVVVV ^^ ^^ w , V ^ ^^ k ^ TRADE CHANGES 448 THE NEW AMERICAN COPYRIGHT BILL 448 , 449 THE INCORPORATED SOCIETY OF AUTHORS
AND ITS EXECUTIVE SECRETARY 449 , 450 LOUISA M . ALCOTT 450 REVIEWS , & c 450—453
INDEX TO BOOKS PUBLISHED IN GREAT BRITAIN BETWEEN APRIL 17 AND 30 453—455
BOOKS PUBLISHED IN GBBAT BRITAIN FROM APRIL 17 TO 30 455—460 AMERICAN NEW BOOKS 460—462
RECENT FOREIGN WORKS 462 NEW BOOKS AND BOOKS LATELY PUBLISHED LJSHED 463 463— —480 480 . 500 fiOft
^ , MISCELLANEOUS 481—493 BTTSINES 3 CARDS 482 , 488 , 489
BUSINESSES FOR SALE 491 ASSISTANTS WANTED 492 WANT SITUATIONS 492
BOOKS FOR SALE 493 BOOKS WANTED TO PURCHASE 493—499
St. Dunstan's House, E.C.
St . Dunstan ' s House , E . C .
May 1, 1888. Hat Mr. Justice Stirling Ma...
May 1 , 1888 . HAT Mr . Justice Stirling may say regard-& - ^ K ^ k ^ M ^^^^^^ n - I I ^ J ~~ ' ^ m . ^ K
* " ing the case of Warne & Co . v . Seebohm ^ . is very problematical . He still reserves his
judgment . Sooner or later , however , the question of the relative positions of the true
author and the * dramatic author' must come to the front in some legislative shape , and this
case cannot fail to "be looked upon as a powerful example of the state of affairs as it should
7 iot be . The letters of the parties concerned are so significant that they may be of more
than passing interest to our readers . On February 4 Mr . Seebohm wrote to Mrs .
Burnett , who was then staying at Florence , the following letter :
' Dear Madam , —I write to tell you I have taken the liberty of writing a little comedy in
three acts , the motive of which has been suggested to me by your most charming story
" Little Lord Fauntleroy . " I have , however , retained most of the characters , and have let
them remain just as you have so beautifully sketched them , with the exception of the boy
Cedric , whom I have had to make a little older . I have naturally had to invent a large amount of
fresh plot and action in order to develop the dramatic intensity of the theme , but I assure you
that in doing so I have striven my utmost to handle the material at my command as delicately
as possible , and sincerely trust I have written nothing that could cast a slur on one of the most
beautiful stories it has ever been my pleasure to read . The comedy , which I intend playing at an
experimental performance at an early date , has been most highly spoken of by those critics who
have read it , and I trust , my dear Madam , that in its production I shall receive your complete
sanction . ' To this Mrs . Burnett replied , first by
telegram , as follows : —* The dramatic right to u Fauntleroy" is legally reserved . It must not
be infringed . Have dramatised myself . ' And then by the following letter : —
' Dear Sir , —Your letter to which I have just telegraphed reply was a gTeat surprise to me .
On the title-page of each copy of * ' Lord
Fauntleroy " is printed ' All rights reserved . " This I
May 1, 1888. Hat Mr. Justice Stirling Ma...
have been informed by authority legally secures to me the dramatic right and enables me to
protect myself if it is infringed . My object in taking this precaution was to dramatise the story
myself . This I have already begun to do . You will see that it would be out of question to expect
my consent to the production of a play founded upon my work without the slightest reference to
my rights or consultation with me . ... It is my wish to do the work myself , and it certainly
would seem my right to do it , even in these days , when the work of one's brain , the power that
cannot be bought and the professional skill that cannot be taught , are the things which seem least
one's own . ' In reply to the telegram Mr . Seebohm
wrote as follows : — Dear Madam , — Your telegram to hand .
You appear to be labouring under some delusion as regards the reservation of the dramatic rights
of your story . By the English law anyone may adapt for stage representation any novel , story ,
or tale published either by itself or in a magazine or journal v . The author of the story can prevent a .
the play from being printed and sold as a book , but he or she cannot prevent it being acted . The
only way in which the author of a story can reserve for himself the stage rights is by
dramatising it and publicly representing it before its publication as a book . As there is no record of
your story having been produced as a play previous to its publication as a book , I am afraid , my dear
Madam , you cannot reserve for yourself the sole ri ¦ »¦¦ g" ht of dramatising it . Moreover , the comedy
I have written is not a dramatic version of your story ; it is only suggested by it ; the best part of
the plot and dialogue and nearly all the situations are quite original . I am exceedingly sorrymy
, dear Madam , that I should have to do anything that is opposed to your wishes , but when you
come to consider the matter not only from a legal , but from a practical point of view , I trust
that you will see the matter in a different light . ' i » O «
Cassell & Co.'S Publications.—With The C...
Cassell & Co . ' s Publications . —With the current month this enterpri ¦— sing fi ¦¦ r ¦ m ¦ ' ¦ ¦ ¦ c »* o - * -r mmence MA » juk
— ^^ y " ^ - ^^ ** ^^ ^^ what promises to be an extremely valuable and interesting work . This is entitled * Picturesque
r ^ m ~ — ~ — — — — - »—^ ^ ~—™ - ^^ - ^ rvm « m m * ^^ ^^ ^^^ fe « W ^^^ p ^^ ^ m ^^ d ^^^ America , ' and consists of a aeries of beautiful and highly artistic engravings of the land
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Citation
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Publishers’ Circular (1880-1890), May 1, 1888, page 442, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/pc/issues/tec_01051888/page/4/
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