| Detailed reference: |
The editors of the Correspondence noted on F2880: "1 This memorial was forwarded to Earl Granville, the foreign secretary, on 19 April 1872, according to the letter that precedes it in Parliamentary Papers. A version of it, also signed by CD, was presented at a meeting of publishers in New York on 6 February 1872 (Publishers' and Stationers' Weekly Trade Circular, 8 February 1872, pp. 91, 94-5; Appleton 1877, pp. 247-8). The only significant difference between the version presented in New York in February and the version transcribed here is that the words 'Looking forward with satisfaction to the prospect of' were omitted from the beginning of the New York version, and the following text was added after the first sentence of the second paragraph: 'They maintain that such a convention should provide for the vesting of the British author's American copyright absolutely and inalienably in him. That condition appears to us both equitable and satisfactory.'
2 No copyright treaty existed between the United Kingdom and the United States, with the result that American publishers could reprint and sell British books without offering any recompense to the author or publisher (Seville 2006, pp. 148-9). CD's own books were by this time regularly published in the United States by D. Appleton & Co, who paid CD a percentage out of courtesy and in the hope of receiving early copy to enable them to publish in advance of competitors (see Correspondence vol. 8, enclosure to letter from Asa Gray, 20 February 1860)." Correspondence vol. 20, pp. 166-8. Copy not seen. Darwin's name is not printed in the version in Publishers' Weekly of 8 February 1872. |
