At 12:34 PM 10/25/2007 -0400, "SARA MEYER" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >I took a moment to look this item up on ebay, could not enlarge it, but >recognized the contents as something old, something I may have seen before. >The pdf size is stated the manner it is on the Professor's site. I did a >bit of checking and FOUND the source from the Professor's website: A. M. >Sime, Torchon Workbook, 1904. >http://www.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/topic_lace.html > <snip> >IMHO, selling a copy of Sime's lace book(s) that is downloaded (or >downloadable) from the Professor's website on ebay (or anywhere else) with >a "new" cover is illegal or unethical, take your pick. > >To make a profit off the tedious work of others who are devoted to the >preservation of lace and other textiles for present and future >generations....and/or to knowingly sell what is freely available to naive >and eager lacemakers is despicable.
It's worth remembering that the Professor and Tess were not, and are not, the *only* people scanning old originals now out of copyright and converting them to a computer-friendly format. In some cases eBay vendors may have found a particular leaflet or text first, done all the "tedious work" themselves, and chosen to sell the result on eBay as a good way of finding buyers for something of limited general interest. Under these circumstances, why should the vendor stop offering his/her version for sale just because it later became available on another site? Yes, the Professor's site, and its "official" CDs offered on Kris Bruland's site, are a much better deal than buying a single book or pamphlet scanned and offered separately on CD. And there's no question that reselling downloads from either site is both unethical and illegal--yet, unfortunately, is taking place. But people are becoming a little too quick, IMO, to assume that every electronic lace-related or textile-related document is in fact derived from that motherlode. I might also point out that, clear and legible as the books in Tess' scans always are, the photos are reproduced in relatively low resolution. In order to reconstruct patterns from lace shown in these books I have had to find a copy of the original (about which I usually wouldn't have known without the good work of Tess and the Professor) and rephotograph the image at much higher resolution. So a good reason can exist for someone to duplicate their work! Like Sara, I have no personal knowledge of any sellers of electronic books on eBay and no connection to the Professor's website except as a delighted user. Best wishes to all spiders, Sue. Susan Lambiris Raleigh, NC http://home.earthlink.net/~slambiris/ - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
