The Publishers' Weekly. F. LEYPOLDT, Bibliographical Editor. R. R. BOWKER, General Editor. JANUARY 25, 1879. PUBLISHERS are requested to furnish title-page proofs and advance information of books forthcoming, both for entry in the lists and for descriptive mention. An early copy of each book published should be forwarded, to insure correctness in the final entry. The trade are invited to send "Communications" to the editor on any topic of interest to the trade, and as to which an interchange of opinion is desirable. Also, matter for "Notes and Queries." Notes from librarians will also be gratefully received. In case of business changes, notification or card should be immediately sent to this office for entry under "Business Notes." New catalogues issued will also be mentioned when forwarded. "Every man is a debtor to his profession, from the which, as men do of course seek to receive countenance and profit, so ought they of duty to endeavor themselves by way of amends to be a help thereunto."-LORD BACON. THE undersigned beg leave to inform the trade and those interested that they have effected an arrangement for the separate administration of the two divisions of the business heretofore carried on under the sole name and proprietorship of F. Leypoldt, to their mutual satisfaction and advantage, and, they believe, to the benefit of the respective publications and of the trade. The important and increasing demands of the "American Catalogue" and of other purely or chiefly bibliographical enterprises, including the new Index Medicus, upon Mr. Leypoldt's time and force, have made it desirable for him to separate from himself the editorial and business detail of the journalistic portion of the business. The publication of THE PUBLISHERS' WEEKLY will therefore be continued by Mr. Bowker, hitherto associate editor, who has purchased the rights and goodwill of the same, and who will hereafter be solely responsible for it. Mr. Leypoldt, however, continues his present relations with the journal as Bibliographical Editor, and this department will in fact be more directly under his oversight and control than has been possible for some time past. The new arrangement takes effect as from January 1st, 1879; all moneys due for advertising, etc., previous to that date are payable as before to F. Leypoldt. The business of this journal, including that of the Title-slip Registry, will be conducted hereafter under the style of "THE PUBLISHERS' WEEKLY;" checks, etc., requiring personal indorsement, should be made payable in the name of R. R. Bowker, and to him all moneys for advertising, subscriptions, etc., since January 1st are due. Mr. Leypoldt retains as heretofore the sole control of the "American Catalogue," the "Trade List Annual," the Literary News and the Monthly Book List, and the new Index Medicus. The offices will remain as heretofore, together, at 37 Park Row, and it may be added that the personnel of the editorial and business departments remain unchanged. In making this announcement, the parties thereto desire to add a few words personal to their friends of the WEEKLY and throughout the trade. They wish it to be thoroughly understood that the new arrangement signifies no difference of opinion or conflict of interest, but has been arranged at the desire and in the interests of both, in the belief that a concentration of their time and force on their respective departments, under such conditions as only a separation of pecuniary responsibility permits, would by better organization and more direct administration increase the value and returns of both the WEEKLY and the other publications, and be to the benefit of each. It may be stated that their agreement contemplates and provides a basis for the reunion of interests, after such a period as shall allow for the thorough organization of the WEEKLY on the one side and the completion of the "American Catalogue" on the other, so that the ultimate aim of both parties may be fulfilled in the final establishment of a fully systematized central office, covering every desirable field of American bibliography, so organized as to be under Mr. Leypoldt's business control and Mr. Bowker's editorial relations, without requiring from either the harassing attention to detail which has hitherto prevented the full development of either division of the business. Neither the editorial nor the business policy of the WEEKLY will in any wise be altered, since both parties can say, and with much satisfaction, that there has never been between them any difference of opinion as to its conduct hitherto; and it is believed that no change will be evident to the trade, except in the direction of the development of desirable features previously planned but hitherto impracticable because of existing limitations. They bespeak, both for each, a continuation of the good-will hitherto so generously accorded by the trade. F. LEYPOLDt. COPYRIGHT, HOME AND TIONAL.* INTERNA- phase of the question, but we may say, and with knowledge, that American publishers, with no important exceptions-except it may be one or two elsewhere, of whose present opinions we are not at this writing fully in formed- —are now entirely united in their willingness and desire to extend to English authors and to obtain for themselves the protection of such an international copyright treaty as will interfere neither with vested rights nor with exIndeed those COPYRIGHT reform is a question which has been considered recently chiefly in its international bearing; it is nevertheless quite as necessary in the domestic as in the foreign phase. International copyright is certain to occupy much of the attention of the trade this year; the defects in our law of domestic copyright are so many that the Librarian of Congress himself will decline to venture an opinion as to what copy-isting commercial conditions. right really protects. In entering upon a discussion which we expect will occupy, during the year, much of our space, we desire therefore to submit a few fundamental considerations and suggestions. Theories of Copyright.-The theory at the bottom of the copyright confusion is a mooted question not satisfactorily settled either in America or England: Is the right of property in intellectual productions a real right, inherent under common law, in which case statutory law can only provide for the protection of the owner's right, or is it a creation by statute, voluntary on the part of the state? The uncertainty on this point runs through the whole copyright question, down to the smallest details; it is not distinctly determined, for instance, whether the act of entry is simply a form necessary only as precedent to a remedy in law, or is itself the act which makes a work private property on which nice point of theory hangs the important practical question whether a work once published can be protected against infringement by its subsequent entry. The English practice decides that it can; the American law looks the other way. Historically, a common-law ownership in literary property was recognized by English judges until statutes for the protection of the same resulted, curiously enough, against their apparent intention, in curtailing previous rights by the process of definition. The Publishers' Point of View.-Legislation, however, does not always or often approach broad subjects successfully from the theoretical point of view, and international copyright is likely to be reached in this country much sooner from the practical than from the theoretical side. Publishers, as well as economists, are widely divided on the theoretical * The blue-book (C. 2036) containing the Report of the British Royal Copyright Commission, London, printed by Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1878, (F. p. 90, price 1 s.) gives the most valuable discussion extant both of domestic and international copyright, together with a digest of the existing British law, by Sir James Stephens. The American statute and decisions are conveniently given in the Handy Law Series volume (The Law of Copyright, by Hugh M. Spald. ing. P. W. Ziegler & Co., Philadelphia. Brevier Edition. S. p. 102. 50 c.) These two volumes cite and thus incidentally index most of the leading cases. American houses which have been considered Material Basis.-The simple question of a So The Royalty Scheme.-It was proposed to the British Commission, that the true method of remuneration to an author was to permit any one to publish his book on condition of paying the author a royalty percentage, specified by law. This plan, from the publishing side, must be re jected at once. It would work ruinous competition and loss, and utter confusion; one book by a given author might be published in a dozen editions, at any price, all profitless to the publisher and at a cent a copy return to the author, and the next left severely alone by all. The author would lose, the publisher would lose, and the public would not, in the long-run, gain. We should have the "cheap library" business, which is ruinous to authors and to permanent and good editions, perpetuated and exaggerated. Matter of Copyright.-There is great confusion in this country as to what is protected by copyright entry-the matter of a work or its title, by which latter a book is entered and described. The copyright covers really what is original in the work, that is, properly, its contents and any distinctive title, but this needs to be made clear in the law. At present the matter is very obscure, and there is a general misconception in regard to it among publishers and authors. Term of Copyright.-The British Commission has pointed out the many difficulties inherent in dating the term of copyright from publication, as that an author's copyrights expire variously; it suggests life and thirty years from death-for anonymous books the latter period -a suggestion worth considering here. Registry and Protection.—The registry system in this country is in the main satisfactory in method, but there is great cloudiness as to what registration means and covers. The Librarian of Congress, as copyrighting officer, is really only a clerk, and can reject nothing, thongh he may know its title or its contents or both to be a plagiarism. The question must be fought out in the courts, and the methods of redress are very inadequate and faulty. It would seem that some method should be devised under which copyright entry should have the force of prima-facie evidence, as in England, and a direct penalty should if possible attach to violations, either by infringement or importation, of copyright ownership. The questions of extract (especially in regard to newspapers) and abridgment should be covered directly. International Entry.-The British Commission has suggested that foreign entry with a treaty power should include and secure British entry without further process. We desire to call attention to the danger of such an arrangement as between America and England. The English author would often sell his American market without knowing it, and the American publisher be debarred. In our opinion, direct American entry by the author (not by an assignee) should be necessary to obviate this danger. Since the principle of our own government is that treaty obligation overrules domestic law, international copyright may be secured either by act of Congress (which would be instantly reciprocated by Great Britain) or by treaty, the latter being the more direct and quicker. method. We are not sure, however, but that the advantages of the latter would be overweighed by those of a consistent law, covering under the same principles domestic and international copyright. The practical suggestion we would make toward a thorough and permanent solution of the copyright question is the appointment of a commission, after the useful precedent of the Royal Commission, under act of Congress, the commission to consist of the Chairmen of the Library Committees of the Senate and House, the Librarian of Congress, and not less than four or more than ten representatives of the various interests involved, to be named by the President, said Commission to be empowered, with the approval of the President, to fill vacancies, to add to its numbers, to sit in Washington, New York, or elsewhere, and to report to Congress within a specified time. to A letter from ex-Congressman Baldwin, given elsewhere, furnishes additional reason believe that a satisfactory solution cannot be had through the action of a Congressional Committee only. An admirable suggestion has been foreshadowed in the report of the British Commission, to the effect that a mixed commission, such as might be appointed by the treaty-making officers of both countries, might best find a satisfactory basis for an international copyright measure,-which seems indeed more promising of immediate result than the more comprehensive plan above suggested. In that event, domestic copyright should be considered separately; and in the absence of governmental initiation, there is no reason why publishers, authors, and others concerned should not get together and unite in procuring from some capable legal authority a draft of a new domestic bill embodying needed improvements. We present in this issue a number of articles and letters bearing on this subject and presenting various opinions, and we shall be glad to have the opinions of publishers, authors, and others interested, as to these and other points. We hope to print, in an early number, a considerable paper on international copyright from the pen of Mr. G. H. Putnam, reviewing the various efforts in that direction and making some practical suggestions. Mr. Putnam inherits his interest in the subject from his father, Mr. Geo. P. Putnam, who was one of the pioneers in laboring for international copyright, |