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    I ) ^QST -|g» 774 The Publishers' Circul...

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    188 Fleet Street : July 15, 1886.

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    A LTHOUGH Captain Mayne Reid held a -£jL...

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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.

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    I ) ^Qst -|G» 774 The Publishers' Circul...

    I ) ^ QST - | g » 774 The Publishers' Circular juiy i S , l 886 ^ a ^ MI >_ WI . I ! ¦ ¦! . _ I ' ~ ~—~ m |

    188 Fleet Street : July 15, 1886.

    188 Fleet Street : July 15 , 1886 .

    A Lthough Captain Mayne Reid Held A -£Jl...

    A LTHOUGH Captain Mayne Reid held a - £ jL commission in the United States Army ,

    and took a conspicuously brave part in the operations of the Mexican War , he was , in

    ever JL y other respect , a thorough British subject . Ulster was his birthplace . In that province he

    was born in 1819 , and in 1838 he emigrated to America . He did nothowever , " begin to write

    books until his return , to this country , when he utilised the stirring incidents of his eventful

    military career in Mexico by weaving them into a series of romantic stories , which won ,

    and to some extent still hold , a remarkable place in public estimation . The popular author

    of ' The Scalp Hunters' must , therefore , be ranked as a British author ; and it is well to

    bear this fact in mind , because , owing to the incidents and the local colour of his stories , it

    is not unusual to hear him spoken of as an American writer .

    Lately one of Captain Reid's stories has been brought before the public through the

    extraordinary copyright case pursued by Mrs . Reid and Messrs . Swan Sonnenschein & , Co .

    against Messrs . J . & R . Maxwell , which we briefly referred to when it came before

    "Vice-Chancellor Bacon in May . At that time the Vice-Chancellor granted an injunction

    restraining Messrs . J . & R . Maxwell from publishing , under the nauae * The Star of

    Empire , ' a story written "by Captain Mayne Reid in 1866 for Messrs . Ward , Lock , & Tyler ,

    and under the name * The Finger of Fate / published monthly in The Boys ~ J Own Magazine

    duri ' Beeton ng ' 1868 s B , and ' Annual afterwards 5 for , comp 1869 . lete , The in oys

    difficulty about the proprietorship dates from 1868 ( some time after the story had started in

    England ) , when , through an arrangement with Captain Reid , ' The Finger of Fate' began to

    appear in an American publication entitled Tlie Fireside Companion , which , being a weekly

    paper , finished the story earlier than its English monthly contemporary . The claim to copy ¦¦¦

    -right in this country , therefore , rested upon the well-known requiremen - * t of prior A publica

    JLtion . Mr . Gr . Munro , of N ~ ew York , who purchased the story in America from Captain

    Reid , paid a very good price for it , being evidently under the impression that he was

    publishing an entirely new work . Such , however , was not the case , for the novel was

    already appearing in England , and through first publication had secured copyright here .

    Messrs . Maxwell , having business connections with Mr . Munro , bought from him the

    supposed right of publication in the United Kingdom , and evidently assumed that the

    completion of the story , not the beginning , con-

    stituted prior publication in the United States and thus nullified any other claim to copyri ght

    in Great Britain . Messrs . Maxwell ' s appeal to a higher court

    against "Vice-Chancellor Bacon ' s judgment has resulted in a very important legal opinion

    especially important w ^ m considering — ^^ that ^^ the —— m trial had no recorded precedent . Putting the

    case in a few words , the court had to decide whether a British subject is deprived of copy .

    right in the United Kingdom , if , owing JL |/ to : some act on his part , his work or any portion

    of it has been first published abroad . It ap annears pears that that the tne court court , after atter loner long consideration consideration

    did not give a definit , e decision upon the , point , but without exception the presiding

    Lords Justices seemed to be of opinion that a British subject was not , by the act referred

    to , deprived of his copyright . Their reasons for coming to this doubtful conclusion will be

    sure to interest our readers , who are aware of the complications which might arise from such

    a peculiar transaction . We take the liberty of copying the judges' opinions from the

    admirable and full Times law reports : Lord — — Justice — - - Cotton — j in giving

    juckjment , after stating the facts , of the c > case o , «; said n that he considered Mrs . Reid was entitled to

    maintain the injunction . As to the first objection that the registration in England was

    ¦ not ^ ri pH ^ r ^ ¦ ^^^ H ¦ ^ K ht sufficient ^^ ^ H his h — ^ - ^ w h Lordshi h — ^^— to — — - — -- entitle - h — considered — — - - ^ - ^— Mrs - —m— h ~— ^ h - ^^ r- . ih ^^ p Reid —m- h that i to T the the ¦« ^» " copy M is w - - ^ g , p ^^^ ^^ ^*^ m ^ " ^^^» ^^ " ^^^ reg ^ " ^ ^ , ^ h ^™ ^

    tration under the date of the 27 th of December 1867 as the date of first publicationwas

    in . strict , accordance with section 19 of , the Copyright Actwhich provided i that fc the

    prop should ^^ r »^ ie * ^ t or ^^ * ^ be 1 of ^^ ^^ ^^ a entitled ^ wor ^^ ^^ , J ¦ k published — ^^ to ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ all ^^ the ^~ w in ^* ^^ w * benefits ^^ a ^ . ^^» series ^ r " ^ ^^ prfv ^^ of « of ^ ^ " ^» ^ - reg ^ par m—* ^*» is ts - j |

    t the ration work on so ente published ring in th * and e reg the istry time the title of the of \ ;

    firs The t first publica publication tion of th of a work rst p published art thereof in . ' I I parts was the publication of the first part of I

    it a sv . - Althoug t onl - - ™ of — ' h , -- no book - - doub - *~ - t , t a it man was mi not ght reg is rr ter I I ^ p ¦— —*^ —— ^ ¦ **^ ^— y ^^ ^^ — ^ , J ye ^ J ^^ ^^ ^^ ' ^ « n ^ ^^ rfb ^^ ^ v necessary «*^^ ^*^ ^^ ^*^ **** " ^ H

    to register each part separately . If the entire I par sufficient ts were to f publ register ished as the one publication whole , it was of I I

    W-J ^> 1 h -Jfc * ^ - ^ ^ ^ V ¦*• dB . V ^^ -r ^^ ^ - ^ fBK AM »* ^ uV ^ ^ rf , A Jfc >• f ^ iT V > V IS , ^ ^ k A ^^ % > V ^** V- ' *» * — ^ H the first part as that of the whole . As I to the second pointthe question was I

    what was the real contract , between Munro I and Captain Reid . From the affidavit of I

    Munro to acquire it appeare as agains d that t Cap his tain object Reid the was rig simply ht of I I

    t publi ract s hing so the unders story tood in America bboth , and rties the Next

    conit was urged that the story y was . pa not first . pub- , lished « . x . MA « . \/ v * . in * -A * . ^ E k ^ flAAU ng land « . «^ f ***_** , becau N / « JVtWUMV se from A JL V ^ ALA chap VAJLCAf kJ t UVA er 37 ^ - ^ that ifc

    poin £ came S \ SJLM . X t \ J ou i JLAJL n t IMM first . JL . J case CUlOV in America the U 11 U p £ JACUX lai , IM . t and V 1 iff MJ . h JLM that ad AIA . n JlHJ from o rig X Jig ** ht " ht to "

    no the t copyri at present ght . to In decide his op that inion point the cour because t oug in

    ri ¦» any - ght ¦ £ ) case , for v ^ -ju the even w » v « JL inj if ** unction . the VA * V- * defendants ^* . \^ A ^ was . » AAVI , M > to AAUM a were TT great , entitled V ** extort k « - "

    to they publish had been the , in latter fact , chapters publishing of - the the whole story , .

    — ¦ ¦—— - - ¦ - I , t 1 ^ H

• Citation
  • Publishers’ Circular (1880-1890), July 15, 1886, page 774, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/pc/issues/tec_15071886/page/4/