The Evolution of Rights and Permissions for Electronic Publication in Art History during the period of the Art History Publication Initiative

BY Steve Cohn

In October 2010 four university presses—the University of Washington Press, as the lead applicant, plus Duke University Press, Penn State University Press, and the University of Pennsylvania Press—submitted an application to the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for a grant of more than $1 million in support of publishing first books in art history in both print and electronic formats. In December of that year a grant of $1,257,100 was approved for the Art History Publication Initiative (AHPI). With an extension, the grant period ran for nine years, from 2011 through the end of 2019.

From the first, AHPI envisioned making progress on rights and permissions matters as one of the key elements it would need to accomplish. The AHPI presses knew how crucial it would be for the success of the program to make more effective and efficient the process of obtaining the rights and permissions needed for electronic publication of the images that are essential to books in art history. Even in the case of works of art that are in the public domain, permissions are often required to obtain and publish high-quality reproductions, which are often closely controlled by museums or archives.

New and Old Resources to Find Images for Publication

BY Cali Buckley

The Wellcome Library is one of many collections that have decided to release their images under a Creative Commons License

Quai Branly

BY Cali Buckley

In the past, I’ve heard of authors having trouble contacting the Quai Branly.

CASE STUDY

Obtaining permission to use Brassaï images

BY Jade Brooks

Permissions

For this project, we understood that we would need to get permission to use the Brassaï photos from both Art Resource and the Réunion des Musées Nationaux, which manages the Brassaï estate.

CASE STUDY

Trying to claim fair use for a Guy Debord image

BY Jade Brooks

Fair Use

One of our authors wanted to make a fair use claim for an illustration created by Guy Debord in his 1958 book, The Naked City.

Bridgeman Case Reprise

BY Cali Buckley

One of the main problems that become apparent in the permissions world is the fact that many institutions require that anyone who wants to use their image in a book pay for both the image and the permission. But often the institution doesn’t actually have rights to the image if the object is already in the public domain.

CASE STUDY

The Curious Case of the Missing Reprint

BY Tony Sanfilippo

Repermissioning

As long as I've been at the Penn State Press I've been trying to get John Cech's book on the poetics of Maurice Sendak back into print. It was published in 1996, before I came to the Press, and it was pretty well received, but it then quickly went out of print. The roadblock to bringing it back into print came when we approached HarperCollins, Sendak's usual publisher, about using the illustrations for a second printing.

E-book Rights

BY Cali Buckley

So far, we have not had any instances where rights holders have denied e-book rights, but they often require a larger fee.

CASE STUDY

The Beautiful, In-Demand, and Out-of-Print Textbook

BY Cali Buckley

Repermissioning

This particular book was living in limbo—though the publisher had printed a total of 12,000 copies in hardback and paperback editions, it was now out of print and its second life in the used book market was slowly fading as students, historians, and book lovers hoarded it.

CASE STUDY

The British Museum and E-Book Publishing

BY Cali Buckley

Public domain - Digital rights

One thing the British Museum does not allow through their free image service is e-book publishing, but they have adapted to the increasing demand for e-books.