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Post by Black Cat on Mar 6, 2009 17:51:27 GMT
A simple question: I know that Trevor Newton, the illustrator of book 21, hasn't been contacted by the PA staff. Since book 20 is really coming soon, Voyage of the Moonstone will be next on the list. If the illustrator cannot be contacted by the time of the release, will you guys make replacement arts like you did with the first few books of the series when you didn't have the permission of Brian Williams?
Speaking of Brian Williams, I heard that he did some illustrations for the Legends series of novels. Will PA publish a collection of the work he did for these books?
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Post by outspaced on Mar 6, 2009 18:38:52 GMT
Second question first: Apparently we do have Brian Williams' illustrations for the Legends series, and yes we do intend to publish them in a document sooner or later. We do have a document ready-to-go with cleaned-up scans taken from the books, but then Jon Blake pointed out that he's got copies of the original illustrations from Brian. That was a lot of work for nothing! ;D The document layout is 100% complete and we're just awaiting the scans. However, the remaining Lone Wolf books take precedence right now, so we're focusing on those. A mailing list volunteer contacted the Bear Alley blog yesterday, asking about the Trevor Newton they mentioned. The news is not good, I'm afraid. That Trevor Newton passed away aged 77 in 2002. It seems very likely that he was the same as 'our' Trevor Newton, since his most recent work appears to have been for a book called The Pole Seekers back in the year 2000. Now we know why. Copyright is a complete mess once the actual holder is deceased. AFAIK the copyright passes on to the next of kin and lasts for a further 50 years. However, who is his next of kin? If his wife was of a similar age, chances are she is no longer around either. That would mean the copyright is held by his child(ren)--or grandchildren. Or nephews/nieces.  Additionally, no money can be made from these illustrations--the book will never re-appear in-print in its original form, and the illustrations are too specific to be re-utilised for another book. Also, they are too obscure to form the basis of any sort of published retrospective, should any such book appear (which is extremely unlikely, to say the least). As yet we are undecided exactly what we'll do. Once a decision is made, I'll post about it here. Thanks to everyone who has tried to help us track down the elusive Mr Newton; it seems the search can now, finally, be called off. |
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Post by Doomy on Mar 6, 2009 19:51:08 GMT
Is this the book in question? If so, it looks like it's gone out of print, so the trail may have gone cold again. If it were still in print, then the publishers would presumably be paying royalties to whoever holds Trevor's copyright so we could have tried contacting them. Dammit. He was the only illustrator left. Edit: I don't suppose Bear Alley know where Trevor lived? |
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Post by outspaced on Mar 7, 2009 0:15:04 GMT
@ Doomy: Yeah, that's the book. I've no idea if Bear Alley know where he lived. I will ask on the mailing list . . .
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Post by Black Cat on Mar 7, 2009 22:49:58 GMT
If so, it looks like it's gone out of print, so the trail may have gone cold again. If it were still in print, then the publishers would presumably be paying royalties to whoever holds Trevor's copyright so we could have tried contacting them. Hey, even if the book is out of print, doesn't mean the editor doesn't know the address of the copyright holders. If the book went out of print after the death of Newton, it means that the editing company had to pay some royalties to the copyright holders. They might have some address somewhere in their archives, no? About BW work on the Legend seriews, if there is a document ready, why not just publish it now and replace it once the new one with the original illustrations is made? Like that, you would not have worked for nothing and the fans will be pleased! ;D |
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Additionally, no money can be made from these illustrations--the book will never re-appear in-print in its original form, and the illustrations are too specific to be re-utilised for another book. Also, they are too obscure to form the basis of any sort of published retrospective, should any such book appear (which is extremely unlikely, to say the least).