Items of Interest August 5, 1933 Issue

Items of Interest

Christian Scientists who own personal letters written by Mrs. Eddy should beware of making and circulating copies of them, or allowing copies to be made and circulated. There are two important reasons for this caution: first, if a reproduction is allowed to be made, and it is handwritten with the handwritten signature, the reproduced letter may possibly appear to someone unfamiliar with Mrs. Eddy's handwriting to be an original document; secondly, the publishing rights in Mrs. Eddy's unpublished letters, handwritten or typed, as well as her published manuscripts, belong to the Trustees under the Will of Mary Baker Eddy. These Trustees own the copyrights to her published writings and the sole right to publish them, provided the copyrights thereon have not legally passed to others or have not expired. The Trustees also own the exclusive right to publish any of Mrs. Eddy's unpublished letters and manuscripts.

Should the owner of an unpublished letter reproduce it, distribute it, and sell copies of it, he is liable to infringe, perhaps unwittingly, the rights of the Trustees as the sole publishers of all she wrote. An instance arose some years ago when a dealer in antiques printed some of our Leader's letters in his catalogue when offering them for sale. As a result, he was enjoined by the Court and ordered to destroy the printed catalogues (See Baker v. Libbie, et al, Vol. 210 Mass., Rep. p. 599). This case established not only the sole right of the Trustees to publish, but their right to obtain copies of unpublished letters wherever they may be found; in other words, the paper and ink in a letter belong to the recipient but the literary rights (the right to print) belong to the writer or to his heirs or trustees.

We might also add a third reason—a reason which applies to copying any letter or article—and that is the ease with which errors creep into copies. In her years of service as a great religious leader, Mrs. Eddy has to deal with counterfeit letters purporting to bear her signature, and she dealt with them both by notices in the Christian Science Sentinel and by letters to post office and other officials. The circulation of such letters stopped in each instance. Today it is well for those solicited to purchase letters written by Mrs. Eddy to inform themselves that the letters are genuine. In the Christian Science Sentinel of February 13, 1932, reference was made to Mrs. Eddy's statement that she "would consider it a great impropriety to permit her personal letters to become the subject of traffic."

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