I would like to echo Lee's comments. I was lucky enough to hear Jim
Muller speak about the new edition of the River War in Paris this month,
and the work that has gone into this new edition is monumental. It takes
time to do something like this properly, and we are all fortunate that
Jim is taking the time to ensure that it is done right. There are, I
notice, a few other "new" editions of the River War floating around
these days, but these all appear to be simply the text of the abridged
edition without editorial input of any kind, let alone any of the
annotations, footnotes, or scholarly apparatus that Lee refers to. I
suspect these are the result of lazy publishers looking to make a quick
buck now that the book has entered the public domain in the USA (if I
understand it correctly).
I do not understand why the St Augustine's Press has insisted for so
long in promising that the book is on the verge of publication when they
must have known that that was not actually the case. They have cried
wolf so often that I don't blame people for being frustrated and
sceptical. But I certainly got the impression that we really are getting
close to publication this time.
We just need to be patient a little longer. It will be worth the wait.
Chris
On 2015-10-19 11:01 PM, Lee Pollock wrote:
On behalf of The Churchill Centre, I would like to offer some comments
on the various recent messages regarding Jim Muller’s edition of The
River War.
I cannot speak directly for Jim and/or the publisher and certainly
this work has been in process for a long time.
That said, I hope we all recognize and remember what an enormous
effort is involved in producing this. The St. Augustine website aptly
notes:
Editor James W. Muller’s more than fifteen years of research adds
thousands of new footnotes identifying people who figure in/The River
War/, explaining Churchill’s references to other books and events,
tracking down the original dispatches and illustrations, and
establishing a text that encompasses all variations in previous editions.
Jim has been working assiduously on this for some years, while
teaching full-time as well as remaining involved in and highly
supportive of many other things in the Churchill world, including the
work of the Centre. We are most grateful for his continued support.
Again, I can’t speak specifically for either Jim or St. Augustine but
I would caution against the thought that the long time frame is the
publisher’s fault or that they have somehow been deliberately dragging
this out. The suggestion that there should be a change of publisher
is easy to make but in a challenging publishing environment generally,
this is a niche product and having someone else step up is easier said
than done, even if that were desirable. I don’t know the nature of
Jim’s arrangements with St. Augustine but I don’t think it’s correct
suggest that they “commissioned” him to produce this or that they
provided some significant advance for it. (Jim would probably say,
“would that were so…”)
I hope this clarifies the situation and I will ask Jim to provide any
updates he can on the timing of publication.
This will be a landmark in Churchill books and I hope all of the
members of this Chat Group will buy a copy. It will surely be worth
having and reading.
Thanks.
Lee
*/Lee Pollock/*
*/Executive Director/*
*/The Churchill Centre/*
*/(312) 263-5637/*
*/lpoll...@winstonchurchill.org <mailto:lpoll...@winstonchurchill.org> /*
*From:*churchillchat@googlegroups.com
[mailto:churchillchat@googlegroups.com] *On Behalf Of
*chateaustegosau...@att.net
*Sent:* Monday, October 19, 2015 3:25 PM
*To:* churchillchat@googlegroups.com
*Subject:* Re: [ChurchillChat] River War Publication
So River War is still under copyright.
Jonathan Hayes
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*From:*Allen Packwood <allen.packw...@chu.cam.ac.uk
<mailto:allen.packw...@chu.cam.ac.uk>>
*To:* "'churchillchat@googlegroups.com'"
<churchillchat@googlegroups.com <mailto:churchillchat@googlegroups.com>>
*Sent:* Monday, October 19, 2015 9:06 AM
*Subject:* RE: [ChurchillChat] River War Publication
British copyright law in published material is 70 years from the date
of the death of the author.
Allen
*From:*churchillchat@googlegroups.com
<mailto:churchillchat@googlegroups.com>
[mailto:churchillchat@googlegroups.com] *On Behalf Of
*chateaustegosau...@att.net <mailto:chateaustegosau...@att.net>
*Sent:* 19 October 2015 16:13
*To:* churchillchat@googlegroups.com
<mailto:churchillchat@googlegroups.com>
*Subject:* Re: [ChurchillChat] River War Publication
Not sure about British copyright laws but anything published in the US
prior to 1923 is out of copyright and in the public domain.
Hillsdale College has been reprinting a lot of the official biography
companion volumes. Wonder if they'd be interested?
Jonathan Hayes
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*From:*'Mark Lowrey' via ChurchillChat <churchillchat@googlegroups.com
<mailto:churchillchat@googlegroups.com>>
*To:* churchillchat@googlegroups.com
<mailto:churchillchat@googlegroups.com>
*Sent:* Sunday, October 18, 2015 5:16 PM
*Subject:* Re: [ChurchillChat] River War Publication
Even a Taiwan bootleg edition would suffice.
-----Original Message-----
From: Dave Turrell <daturr...@verizon.net <mailto:daturr...@verizon.net>>
To: churchillchat <churchillchat@googlegroups.com
<mailto:churchillchat@googlegroups.com>>
Sent: Sun, Oct 18, 2015 7:01 pm
Subject: RE: [ChurchillChat] River War Publication
It’s been going on for at least 11 years to my personal knowledge. As
the Texans might say, this would appear to be a publisher that is all
hat and no cattle… or, as we Brits might prefer it, all mouth and
trousers.
Their lesser known publication of Savrola remains equally ethereal.
My guess would be if Prof. Muller was paid to do the editing and
annotation work then St. Augustine’s is pretty much bullet-proof in
their choice as to when or if to publish it.
I see no reason, however, that the vanilla text of The River War
should not be republished as is – I cannot imagine that St.
Augustine’s bought the copyright to that. If it can be done then it
would be a great service to Churchill bibliography – the full text has
not been published since the first edition of 1899/1900.
Dave
*From:*churchillchat@googlegroups.com
<mailto:churchillchat@googlegroups.com>
[mailto:churchillchat@googlegroups.com
<mailto:churchillchat@googlegroups.com?>] *On Behalf Of
*chateaustegosau...@att.net <mailto:chateaustegosau...@att.net>
*Sent:* Sunday, October 18, 2015 5:38 PM
*To:* ChurchillChat@googlegroups.com
<mailto:ChurchillChat@googlegroups.com>
*Subject:* [ChurchillChat] River War Publication
St. Augustine's Press still has The River War under "Forthcoming
Books", yet still no publication date. This has been going on for a
donkey's years - has Prof. Muller considered dropping these people
and going with some publisher who's actually willing to publish? It
would seem that if he has a contract that St. Augustine's Press' lack
of performance would be sufficient reason to abandon ship.
Just a thought.
Jonathan Hayes
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