New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-05-28
Mr.. KIPLlNG'S ACTION.
NEW POINT IN cOPYRIGHT-INTER-
VIEW WITH MR. PUTNAM
From The London Chronicle.

From The London Chronicle.
We have heard here In a general way that
Rudyard kipling Is bringing an action for $4,000
damages against the Unknown American pub
fishing Arm Of Putnam's Sons The head of
| that firm. q. II. Putnam, is now in London
ana member OF our staff called upon him yes
| terday with the object of obtaining particulars
of the affair. The is interesting for many
reasons. and especially as It seems to raise an
entirely new question in copyright law.
| II may tell YOU" said Mr.. Putnam, that the
matter did not come under my notice at the out
set In any shape form. 1t out Of an
ordinary. customary business transaction as
| everybody supposed. on the part of our retail
department. This department Is under the d.
| rect management of my brother, Irving Put
nam. and it trades in books generally"
| In the books of Mr.. Kipling or any other
author?"
Quite so. 1t Is a large book store Very We'll
people will often have a harmonious set made
OF the various volumes OF n writer. Inese
are possibly issued by different publishers. and
so differ in their get-up. The authors admlrer
desires to have them all the same III ms IL
brary. Now. our retail department mace UP
some such sets of Mr.. Kipling's works. Inen re
was however, a larger demand IN the same
sense and my brother looked into H.
You mean there were many calls for an mar
monlous set OF Mr.. Kipling's volumes?
quite so. You may be aware or the cohecteu
and limited edition Of these which appeared IN
America and England. But here was dlnereht
demand-it was simply for the klphng DOORS
as they were already selling plus an harmonious
binding. MY brother went to the several pub
fishers in New-York who Issue Mr.. hlpIhs
works and bought sheets of these from then;
The number OF copies was two hunoreu AM anv
fifty, and another retail house was 10 take na'i
OF the library. or thereabout.
1T wasn't an edition. ,
mot in the least. Merely you had an harmon
GUS binding For the rest, each volume hau INC
imprint OF the publisher who issued IT. IL was
a familiar usage of the book-trade-you puy
sheets and have them bound 10 your nhlie
The publishers were very glad 10 sen 49,,
! tftar
right with their profits: IL was goou , uus -
ness for them and indeed nobody thought OF
the thing at ALL. $780, - A.
Until you heard OK inc ooJeo''o"o -
Kipling?" 49,. -. ma
That's It: but before We come to these et me
make one observation. some OF Mr. hlpI' a
works are not copyrighted In America Vu, ~.
has made Il principle to deal only WIN poons
in their authorized forms. Thus. we Doughc ou'
sheets in each instance from the puoIishers lssu
ing the books by arrangement WITH NIX hiP. ,
we were dealing with his representatives. uley
sold and took our money in return. 1t was our
bookselling department; they were ms pup'IS
ers That Is the story OF the volumes as "
whole. OF one or two shall speak espec -. ~,
IT have noticed reference 30 ihe"hei W WV
Departmental Ditties =! -o.,, M
yes they come In. There is. so 10 SPEAK, no
authorized publisher OF them in America. iheie
are rnanv editions OF them Mr.. hlpiiIls H"S
not regard the Ditties' as his best work, put
thew are on sale everywhere, ana the puoliU au
mire them. Quite recently an bnsIsn 80 80
was brought out at siXpence. HaVlns res - 49,
their sale everywhere else. my brolher hol uil-
naturally decided to bind them in WIN 'ne ~.
volumes and for that purpose procurvu '"V ~,
set Of sheets that he could buy. men; neH rs
himself an ardent admirer OF MI K,rIing index
took lin the task OF making kiphhg i', rt.
with n he hound an informing gulde 10 Ihe ny
ling writings by a student or these MI VII 80
Clemens As you will understand, tne ~ Y'u a,,r
and appreciation were meant 10 rounu VI. o.
retail set which, please note. could only ~
bought direct from our store or l'oin '"0
store which have mentioned. J.. .,,,o"
an what form was objection taken TO tnls
w hoard a rumor that Mr.. Kipling who was
.ban recovering from his Illness was ulsst'
about our set Being ACQUAINTED VIZ 30 49,
Kinline I at once wrote 10 ner sayiii -
sorry 7 should be at the mere idea or lrlction
ond expressing my anxiety to meet her nus
Lands wishes in every possible way MIS-. ~
ling replied in the same kindiy spsl., az out
looked as IL the matter could De sh Soerd that
easily enough But in little we hea.u eea.
lawyer $3.50,
I'VE consulted an eminent lega se htlel
and gave him the fullest authority TO arIanse
the business We were willing 10 40 Any Any 49,,
within reason to please Mr.. klpllng' We s Ia
gested arbitration, for instance. 80, We damages
in renly that we must pay very neaVy ua,iia "a
and destroy the books for when we nao pr
Mr. Kipling's publishers. Nor were we W ra'
our money back. NaturaIy' 80 rothine so
Mind YOU. all the time we had done notnIhs, %
far az we had been aware, when coulo DC d
griovance To Mr. Kipling-nothing contrary ~
the best traditions OF the oqok ,rau anvhodv will
believe who has the slightest knowledge OF US
as publishers mr., 1,,,urg,s obiec-
Now what precisely are MI Kpnng ouye %
lions to the action Of your retail uePaI .t"e 80.
"rhat we don't know yet. because MS STAT
ment has not been filed The case seems 81, nhe s9
to drag for year, or a year anu r..orod Tba
crowded is the court in which 1t Is entered. inae
is the worst Of the thing. What mas TAKEN pIace
20 far has been the taking OF the evIuesce ~, ~
Mr. Lockwood Kipling and Mr.. A. f. va, WI" ~
were leaving America for England. uoIns 10y
what has TRANSFERRED Mr.. klpnngs grleNsHlCe
seems to be this: That an author shouid ho' , os
made esponsible-apparentiy responsips-i t
material by him being grouped as he had not
grouned q There is also question of an ee-
plants head on the cover OF our set OF the
Kipling volumes
why the regular collected Kipling has the
design Of an elephants head on the cover. lni s
was prepared by Mr.. Lockwood klplng am
nerhaps IL the matter had come before me
should have decided not to have an elephant
head on our set. 1t was matter OF taste w NAT
actually happened in our case was tnat an en-
eraver was given an office paper weight from
which 70 make the design of the elephants
head turns out that our elephant heao Is
that OF the African beast. while the emblem OH
the collected Kipng edition is the head OF an
Indian elephant. Far from copying. we happen
to have fallen into an error. 49,,
81 SUPPOSE Mr. Putnam. you would nave
given a good deal to avoid this conflict between
Mr. Kipling and your hrm? 49,, ~
IT would indeed. But cannot blame our
selves and we did everything to secure pleas
ant solution think know something or copy
right, and believe the point here raised mas
never before been suggested In the whole history
Of literature You may know that l worked
very hard to secure the copyright ARRANGEMENT
now existing between England and America;
don't know anybody else who did more In that
respect No English writer has benefited so
much from the new Anglo-American copyright
law as Mr. Rudyard Kipling.'
That is Mr.. Putnam's account OF an anair
the progress Of which is sure to be followed
with keen interest both here and In America.
We need not add that the name OF Putnam Is