The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb, vol 5

The Works of Charles and Mary
Lamb, vol 5

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Lamb, Vol. 5
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Title: The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb, Vol. 5
Author: Edited by E. V. Lucas
Release Date: November, 2005 [EBook #9365] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on September 25,

2003]
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CHARLES AND MARY LAMB ***

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THE LETTERS OF CHARLES AND MARY LAMB
1796-1820
EDITED BY E. V. LUCAS
WITH A FRONTISPIECE

PREFACE
This edition of the correspondence of Charles and Mary Lamb contains
618 letters, of which 45 are by Mary Lamb alone. It is the only edition
to contain all Mary Lamb's letters and also a reference to, or abstract of,
every letter of Charles Lamb's that cannot, for reasons of copyright, be
included. Canon Ainger's last edition contains 467 letters and the
_Every-man's Library Edition_ contains 572. In 1905 the Boston
Bibliophile Society, a wealthy association of American collectors,
issued privately--since privately one can do anything--an edition in six
volumes (limited to 453 sets) of the correspondence of Charles and
Mary Lamb, containing everything that was available, which means
practically everything that was known: the number reaching a total of
762 letters; but it will be many years before such a collection can be
issued in England, since each of the editions here has copyright matter
peculiar to itself. My attempt to induce the American owner of the
largest number of new letters to allow me to copy them from the
Boston Bibliophile edition has proved fruitless.

And here a word as to copyright in such documents in England, the law
as most recently laid down being established upon a set of sixteen of
Lamb's letters which unhappily are not (except in very brief abstract) in
the present edition. These letters, chiefly to Robert Lloyd, were first
published in Charles Lamb and the Lloyds, under my editorship, in
1900, the right to make copies and publish them having been acquired
by Messrs. Smith, Elder & Co. from Mrs. Steeds, a descendant of
Charles Lloyd. The originals were then purchased by Mr. J. M. Dent,
who included copies in his edition of Lamb's letters, under Mr.
Macdonald's editorship, in 1903. Meanwhile Messrs. Smith, Elder &
Co. had sold their rights in the letters to Messrs. Macmillan for Canon
Ainger's edition, and when Mr. Dent's edition was issued Messrs.
Macmillan with Messrs. Smith, Elder & Co. brought an action. Mr.
Dent thereupon acquired from Mr. A. H. Moxon, the son of Emma
Isola, Lamb's residuary legatee, all his rights as representing the
original author. The case was heard before Mr. Justice Kekewich early
in 1906. The judge held that "the proprietor of the author's manuscript
in the case of letters, as in the case of any other manuscript, meant the
owner of the actual paper on which the matter was written, and that in
the case of letters the recipient was the owner. No doubt the writer
could restrain the recipient from publishing, and so could the writer's
representatives after death; but although they had the right to restrain
others from publishing, it did not follow that they had the right to
publish and acquire copyright. This right was given to the proprietor of
the manuscript, who, although he could be restrained from publishing
by the writer's personal representatives, yet, if not so restrained, could
publish and acquire copyright."
Mr. Dent appealed against this verdict and his appeal was heard on
October 31 and November 7, 1906, when the decision of Mr. Justice
Kekewich was upheld with a clearer definition of the right of restraint.
The Court, in deciding (I quote again from Mr. MacGillivray's
summary) that "the proprietors