Kahle v. AshcroftThe Gadget Maker
originally submitted by Dan Smith:
Trivial, but typical. "The Gadget Maker" is a novel by Maxwell Griffith, published in 1955 by Lippincott, and then reprinted as a paperback in 1956. There have been no further editions since then. It's obviously out of print, obviously has no commercial value. My local public library, where I read it a decade ago, has culled it and I had to get a used copy to read it again.
It is copyright registration RE-145-540, renewed by Maxwell Griffith 1 Dec 82 Original Registration 22 Sep 54
Stifled uses
Dan Smith:
Get permission to publish a chapter of it on my personal website.
It's a novel about an engineer, and there is a chapter about thirty or forty pages long that is an absolutely fascinating, detailed, circumstantial account of MIT during the 1940s. I believe it would be of great interest to alumni. I have been seeking permission to publish the chapter on my person website, off and on, for several years.
Lippincott does not exist any more as a general publisher. The company that succeeded them, Lippincott William and Wilkins did not answer my first letter, nor my inquiry in the "permissions" page of their website. After several letters (trying different department names) I got a reply, saying simply that Lippincott Williams and WIlkins does not publish fiction and had no record of the book. They referred me to some other publishing house that had taken over the _childrens_ book portion of Lippincott's business, but of course this is not a childrens' book.
Lippincott had no contact information for Maxwell Griffith or any representative (or did not bother to look for it). As I say, it was a very short letter in which the disclaimed any connection with the book.
The copyright office shows it as still under copyright.
I used Anywho to search the entire U.S. for a Maxwell Griffith, fortunately not a common name, state by state, and located one person by that name at Woods Pt, Raquette Lake, NY 13436.
I sent a letter to the address given. I have received no reply, so I don't even know whether I found the right Maxwell Griffith or not.
It is intensely frustrating that copyright holders are not at the very least required to maintain up-to-date contact information somewhere, and to response reasonably promptly to inquiries about permission.
There's no money involved here, but here is a piece of literature that I believe is of great interest to a small number of people and has no credible commercial prospects.
This book is fairly easy to obtain now via used-book stores, but as I mentioned my library has already culled it, and I am sure that by the time it goes out of copyright the book will be virtually unobtainable. A small bit of MIT heritage that will effectively be lost.