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5 - A “Rank Rebel” Lady and Her Literary Property: Augusta Jane Evans and Copyright, the Civil War and After, 1861–1868

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 July 2009

Melissa J. Homestead
Affiliation:
University of Nebraska, Lincoln
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Summary

In his 1884 memoir, New York publisher J. C. Derby relates the story of the publication of Augusta Jane Evans's arch-Confederate novel Macaria; or Altars of Sacrifice in the North and South during the Civil War. In Derby's telling, after the beginning of the war, which had the effect of “temporarily suspending the publication of books of fiction,” he “heard occasionally through the lines from the gifted young authoress, who sent [him] in 1863 [sic], by a blockade-runner, via Cuba, a copy of her novel entitled ‘Macaria,’ published by West & Johnson [sic], then, as now, well-known booksellers in Richmond, Virginia. The volume was printed on coarse brown paper, the copyright entered according to the Confederate States of America, and dedicated ‘to the brave soldiers of the Southern Army’” (emphasis original). Unbeknownst to her, he continues, he arranged with Philadelphia publisher J. B. Lippincott to issue a Northern edition (Derby's own publishing house Derby & Jackson had failed shortly after the beginning of the war). When New York publisher Michael Doolady announced a competing edition of the work, Derby approached Doolady, who claimed “that the author being an arch rebel was not entitled to copyright and would receive none” (p. 394). Derby and Lippincott called on Doolady together and persuaded him to pay all royalties in trust to Derby, while Lippincott agreed to withdraw his edition.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2005

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