THE ENGLISH COPYRIGHT COMMISSION: 301 



Q. {Mr. Daldy). You spoke of the circulation in England and 

 America. May I ask, do you send stereotype-plates to America? 



A. I did at first send stereotype-plates to America, but, the thing 

 having proved to be so great a loss, I now send a portion of the printed 

 edition. 



Q. {Chairman). May I ask why do you expect repayment of the 

 cost of compilation .to be so slow as you stated in your answer to my 

 last question ? 



A. The reason is, that I made a promise to the compilers entailing 

 that. The compilers are university men, to whom I covild afford to give 

 only such salaries as sufficed for their necessary expenses. To make the 

 thing better for them, and to be some incentive, I told them that, when 

 the printing expenses on any one part were repaid, I would commence 

 to divide with the compiler of it the returns on subsequent sales ; the 

 result being that the cost of compilation comes back to me only at half 

 the previous rate. I name this because it shows that, in the absence of a 

 long copyright, I could have given no such contingent advantage to the 

 compilers. I wish to point out another way in which a short copyright 

 would have impeded me. As a further incentive to these compilers to 

 do their work well, as also to make the prospect better for them, I gave 

 them to understand that the copyrights and the stereotype-plates would 

 be theirs after my death. Of course, with a short copyright I could not 

 have done that. 



Q. Then in your opinion it is only by a long duration of copyright 

 that you can be enabled to recover any considerable part of the money 

 that you have sunk in these publications ? 



A. Certainly. If it were possible for any one to reprint, such small 

 return as goes toward diminishing this immense loss would be in part 

 intercepted. 



Q. But if this work, which you call " Descriptive Sociology," is so 

 unremunerative, how do you imagine you would be in danger of having 

 it reprinted under the suggested system of royalty ? 



A. It appears at first sight not a rational expectation, but it is per- 

 fectly possible. Each number of the work consists of a set of tables 

 and a set of classified extracts. It was suggested by a reviewer of the 

 first part, the English part, that the tables should be separately printed, 

 mounted on boards, and hung up in schools. The suggestion was a 

 good one, and I have even had thoughts of doing it myself. A pub- 

 lisher might take up that suggestion, and might issue those indepen- 

 dently of me, and diminish what small sale I now have. Again, the 

 work is very cumbrous and awkward ; that can hardly be helped ; but 

 a publisher might see that the extracts arranged in ordinary volume 

 form would be valuable by themselves apart from the tables, and might 

 get a good sale independently ; and again my small returns would be 

 cut into. 



Q. {Sir H. Holland). That objection of yours would be partly met 



