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Charles Fort Memorial Online Library

Mr X's copyright clarification

OK here is the full clarification on Mr. X's updating of Fort's books:

I shall simplify as best as I can what is copyrighted with regards to Fort's works and my works related to his writings.

All of Fort's original texts, (his books, short stories, letters, notes,
etc.), are in the Public Domain. The New York Public Library may believe that it has some rights to Fort's notes, but it really doesn't have any such rights. Fort wrote a letter, in 1931, indicating that his notes were to be made freely available for other Forteans to use, after his death. Few libraries are aware of the copyright status of personal papers donated to their collections; thus, it is a good policy to obtain their permission to copy such materials, even if it does belong in the Public Domain.

Who owns "derivative" copyrights to Fort's works?

The several translations of Fort's books into French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Swedish are copyrighted, (most by their publishers). With the exception of the German translations, most translations were done using the Holt edition and contain all of its errors. The third edition of the Italian IL LIBRO DEI DANNATI, by Armenia, in Milan, was produced, after my
inquiries into purchase of their rights to this translation and my other offer to help produce a new translation, with corrections. Armenia declined both of my offers and reprinted their second edition, (a reprint of their first edition); but, at least, if a new edition was not produced, Fort is back in print in Italy, (and, not just a rarity in second-hand book shops).

Dover Publications only owns the copyright to Damon Knight's introduction to their edition of THE BOOKS OF CHARLES FORT. Prometheus Books owns the copyright to the book-cover of their edition of THE BOOK OF THE DAMNED. Neither of these two publishers owns any copyright to Fort's texts. In the
case of Dover, the texts were photographed onto new printing plates from the Holt edition; and, Prometheus made a new copy of the text from the Holt edition, (without the index, that it claimed to provide).

The "Fortean Times" editions published by John Brown Publishing have several different claims for copyrights. The introductions and indices are separately copyrighted. I had suggested that the original texts be reset with a standardized format, but my recommendation was apparently not acceptable. I was asked to provide a revised text, (which I had already been working upon
for some twenty years). My revised text corrected many typographical and factual errors in the text, transcribed the text into British spelling, and provided more appropriate titles, (and their abbreviations), to Fort's source references. With a few exceptions, I meddled with almost every page; and,
where some authors would rewrite the original text, I tried to make my corrections around Fort's writing. I don't think that anyone, including Fort, would have an objection to my correcting misspelled names, providing corrected quotes, and fixing errors in the source references. I own the copyrights to these revised texts insofar as they have been revised.

As few people had access to the original editions, I published my hypertext editions on the Internet. These editions contain the first edition texts, (which are in the Public Domain), indications for the original pagination, (so that a standard page number could be cited, rather than pages from numerous other editions), and my footnotes, (a work in progress toward an annotated edition and to which I claim copyright as their author). In the introductions to each book, I stated: "I am making this hypertext edition available with some of my notes... I hope that others may find this a helpful and ready copy for their own reference use. All of the footnotes are the editor's work...."

Neither of the two web-sites which have copied my files into their copies of THE BOOK OF THE DAMNED have acknowledged that my web-site was their source; both have copied my footnotes, (ignoring my copyright notices); and, one claimed copyright to his plagiarized version of my files. If either had only copied Fort's texts, I'd have no complaint; but, their websites infringe upon
my copyrights and fail to acknowledge their source for this material. And, in the case of copying my transcriptions of Fort's letters, no acknowledgment of my web-site as their source was given; and, while no copyright was infringed, this would still be a matter of plagiarism.

Quixote has done nothing wrong by providing a link to another web-site, but I'd recommend providing links to a web-site which provides the source material and can make corrections to typos and other errors.

Some have complained that I should publish the texts for each book, as a whole book, rather than the separate chapters. I plan to do this with an annotated edition, but I can more readily make corrections and update each chapter, rather than each book. The hypertext editions are available for everyone's reference. Chapters download more quickly than books, and browsers can find a search result in a specific chapter, rather than in a whole book. Also, until last year, I did not have access to a program for generating Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) files. Now, I do. And, if copies of his online works keep leading back to my web-site, maybe that is because I have done the actual work of making the copies from the books and have been doing the research!

Another set of derivative copyrights to Fort's works that I own are for screenplays adapted from his short stories. I have adapted "Fryhuysen's Colony," "A Floral Hold-Up," and "The Marooned Campers," into short screenplays, which together could become a feature-length "Fortean Trilogy." I have nearly completed a screenplay adaptation of THE OUTCAST MANUFACTURERS, which incorporates part of "How Sentiment Was Discouraged in Sim." Fort once had hoped to write scenarios for films, but I think that there's still some hope to see his work put into cinematic productions.

I hope that clarifies questions about Fort's works and copyrights.

he also said:

About twenty years ago, by the constant pestering of certain officials, I managed to persuade the National Research Council of Canada to transfer the bulk of its old UFO files to the National Archives. Once this was done, I arranged for all of these files to be microfilmed, (something the NRC would not permit, when the files were in their possession). I asked many UFO organizations and individual researchers if they would like to contribute to the costs of this microfilming project, (which was largely being paid for out of my own pocket). Only Stanton Friedman and Gene Duplantier helped me with this effort. Amazingly, many major UFO organizations, (some with thousands of members), couldn't find a dime, or shilling, to spare. Fortean research sometimes just needs a few dedicated individuals to get something done; and, you cannot really count on organizations to help out, (even if that's what they are supposed to do). So, if you want to build up an on-line library of Fortean literature and resources, I've already got a web-site. What links would you want to contribute? Any ideas on how you think it should be
arranged? Just remember, I'm not very interested in commercializing my web-site, (advertising, T-shirts, mugs, etc.), soliciting funds for more organizing activities that accomplish little, and have a lot of other work that needs to get done, (not just talked-about and wished-for projects).

So if anyone has any ideas for what he could add to his site:

http://www.resologist.net

let him know. My main thought was that all of his sources will be out of copyright (like Gould and Pyle) so the next thing to do would be to put them online and link them in from where they are mentioned.

I'd also like a search facility.

Emps
 
And, of course, its not just books and journal articles we are after.

On the image front there is a good big copy of Aert de Gelder's "The Baptism of Christ" here:

http://www-img.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/img/pdp/pdp2/633.jpg

Explanation in FT 25 page 18-19 (it is the cover art for that edition as well as the compilation "Diary of a Mad Planet".

Emps
 
As posted elsewhere there is a classic study of mass hysteria available online (although I assume it isn't out of copyright - their copyright notice accounts for diddly as far as I'm aware)

Johnson, D.M. (1945) The 'Phantom Anesthetist' of Mattoon: A Field Study of Mass Hysteria. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology. 40 (1). 175 - 86.

Some of the coding is a little off (that table in the middle) and I might tweak it and store it for a later date.

There may also be other publications on the site:

http://home.wanadoo.nl/cold/

but I don't speak Dutch so..........

Now here is a find - all the copies of the Skeptical Inquirer from 1998 onwards are available online here:

http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m2843/mag.jhtml

People might also be interested in Folklore (similar age range):

http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m2386/mag.jhtml

SI also make some of their articles available on their site:

http://www.csicop.org/si/online.html

We can't make use of a lot of that but I suppose we can have on site and off site material.

Emps
 
The Classics

I'm not sure if this has come up but there are online versions of th following (both are important for :

Aristotle's "Historia Animalium"

All works for Plato and Aristotle:

http://www.robotwisdom.com/science/classical/platarist.html

And the actual text:
http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/history_anim.html

Pliny's (the Elder) "Naturalis Historia"

First English translation by Philemon Holland (1601) in the only one fully online (that I have found. It is also a very nice version and adds in just enoguh elements for a little authentic feel):

http://penelope.uchicago.edu/holland/index.html

However, the second English translation by John Bostock and H. T. Riley (1855) is being prepared here (not much to see so far):

http://www.orditur-telas.com/pliny/

Emps
 
The Internet archive archives more than just web sites - you can also get free music (some Tenacious D and God Speed You Black Emperor! in the live music archives ;) ), movies and texts:

http://www.archive.org/mediatypes-browse.php

Classics include:

Night of the Living Dead:
http://www.archive.org/movies/detai...e_films&collectionid=night_of_the_living_dead

Sex Madness:
http://www.archive.org/movies/details-db.php?collection=feature_films&collectionid=sex_madness

Reefer Madness:
http://www.archive.org/movies/detai...feature_films&collectionid=reefer_madness1938

Hemp For Victory:
http://www.archive.org/movies/movie...ture_films&collectionid=Hemp_for_victory_1942

Duck and Cover:
http://www.archive.org/movies/details-db.php?collection=prelinger&collectionid=19069

DOA (classic film noir):
http://www.archive.org/movies/details-db.php?collection=feature_films&collectionid=doa_1949

And that is just from the Feature film archives - the Prelinger Archives have an awful lot of stuff including:

A is For Atom:
http://www.archive.org/movies/movie...=prelinger&collectionid=17225&from=mostViewed

In fact the whole Atom/Nuclear archive is worth looking at including civil defence films on nuclear fallout:
http://www.archive.org/movies/movieslisting-browse.php?collection=prelinger&cat=Atomic-nuclear

Handy in this day and age: What You Should Know About Biological Warfare:
http://www.archive.org/movies/movieslisting-browse.php?collection=prelinger&cat=Biological warfare

Cold War section:
http://www.archive.org/movies/movieslisting-browse.php?collection=prelinger&cat=Cold War

Management of Mass Casualties, Part X: Management of Psychological Casualties:
http://www.archive.org/movies/details-db.php?collection=prelinger&collectionid=38530

Fish From Hell (I and II - read the reviews):
http://www.archive.org/movies/movies-details-db.php?collection=prelinger&collectionid=19082a
http://www.archive.org/movies/details-db.php?collection=prelinger&collectionid=19082b

The Independent news archive has stuff on:

MK ULTRA:
http://www.archive.org/movies/movieslisting-browse.php?collection=independent_news&cat=MK Ultra

Open Mind (a series of discussion with various people whihc has been going sicne 1956 so it includes poeple like Martin Luther King, etc.) includes:

Germs—Biological Weapons and America’s Secret War:
http://www.archive.org/movies/movie...pen_mind&collectionid=openmind_ep1597&from=BA

The Anatomy of Hate
http://www.archive.org/movies/details-db.php?collection=open_mind&collectionid=openmind_ep1527

--------------
The texts area brings together Project Gutenberg and the Million Book Project and many more:

http://www.archive.org/texts/texts.php

which is connected with the The Thousand Book Collection:
http://delta.ulib.org/zoom/record.html?id=14174

It includes:

The Knights Templar (1937):
http://www.archive.org/texts/texts-...=millionbooks&collectionid=TheKinghtsTemplars

------------------------------------------------
Anyway there is just tonnes of stuff - it is all available from other sources but the beauty is that it is all drawn together in one place.

Emps
 
Re: Online Resource for Oddities

harlequin2005 said:
Posting elsewhere, I suddenly remembered one of the main influences of my teenage years in the 80s - Omni Magazine. It had a column called anti-matter which usually contained some pretty high Forteana. I lost touch with the magazine when it went over to the internet fully a few years ago. After a bit (a few minutes) of searching

http://www.omnimag.com/antimatter/index.html

Take a look. The High Strangeness links off here are pretty good too

Enjoy

8¬)

Why does that site go to penthouse magazine? :rofl:
 
Re: Online Resource for Oddities

MaxMolyneux said:
Why does that site go to penthouse magazine? :rofl:

Omni was published by Kath Guccione, wife of Bob Guccione publisher of Penthouse. It went online online only in the mid-90s. They stopped updating the Omni site years ago. I guess Penthouse just took back the url as another online home for Penthouse thinking that soft porn is more popular than SF and speculative science.
 
Re: Mr X's copyright clarification

Mighty_Emperor said:
My main thought was that all of his sources will be out of copyright (like Gould and Pyle) so the next thing to do would be to put them online and link them in from where they are mentioned.

'Anomalies And Curiosities Of Medicine' - Gould, George M.

PS: I think I've mis-read the intent behind Emps' post, so mine is probably redundant...
 
Re: Online Resource for Oddities

Timble2 said:
MaxMolyneux said:
Why does that site go to penthouse magazine? :rofl:

Omni was published by Kath Guccione, wife of Bob Guccione publisher of Penthouse. It went online online only in the mid-90s. They stopped updating the Omni site years ago. I guess Penthouse just took back the url as another online home for Penthouse thinking that soft porn is more popular than SF and speculative science.

Ah well, takes you to some classy pics anyway. :smokin:
 
Not sure if this has been mentioned but. . .

The Great Sea-Serpent
By A. C. Oudeman

Originally published by Luzac & Co., London, in 1892. This comprehensive work includes discussion of over 160 sightings of sea-serpents. Hoaxes and misidentifications are also discussed, as are the characteristics and possible taxonomy of this mystery animal. Oudemans was one of the first individuals to suggest that the sea-serpent may be an unidentified mammal.

Available as a PDF at:

http://www.herper.com/ebooks/titles/Seaserpent.html
 
Isn't it time for a central, "one-stop-shop" online Fortean library holding Paranormal and related public-domain books and magazines?

I say this because at least 60 - 70 percent of the links provided on these pages, to seminal works in our field, are now entirely defunct.
 
OldTimeRadio said:
Isn't it time for a central, "one-stop-shop" online Fortean library holding Paranormal and related public-domain books and magazines?.

Quite right, OTR. I'd have thought that the website of the International Fortean Organisation would have been the logical place for this.

Unfortunately the site they currently run is very, er, "disappointing".

PB
 
Looks great, Gordon. Thanks for letting us know about this. Pretty much what I'd been hoping for. :D

All in all a very nice website (particularly like the logo). Tasteful colours and layout and not a pop-up ad in sight. Very refreshing. I look forward to watching this site develop.

Needless to say a cheque for £10.00 will be on its way shortly.

PB
 
Gordon

Gordon, a North American expatriate correspondent living in Brazil requests that I help him find a good "Haunted Scotland" list.

The only forum I can find seems to be very new, because it contains zero postings.

I suggested to my correspondent that you'd certainly know what was available and that I would try to contact your for him. And here's my opportunity.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
 
Mighty_Emperor said:
Now here is a find - all the copies of the Skeptical Inquirer from 1998 onwards are available online here:

http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m2843/mag.jhtml

And the link still works these three-and-a-half years later!

While my personal orientation may be at least 90 -145 degrees (NOT 180) opposite CSICOP's, this is a wealth of on-topic research material which the serious and objective Paranormalist ignores to his/her own peril.
 
Having previously found Houdini's Magician Among The Spirits freely available online, I've just stumbled on an onscreen version of Sir Oliver Lodge's Raymond.

For those who've not heard the title.. Sir O, a leading scientist and co founder of the SPR, lost his son Raymond in the First World War...but subsequently and through multiple mediums, recieved to him convincing communications from the deceased to prove survival. His account of the communications was a best seller which helped instigate the postwar spiritualist revival.

I've no idea how good a read it is as I've not yet looked at it. But here it is free to all...

https://archive.org/details/raymondorlifeand032030mbp
 
Actually most of these pre-war non fiction works are presumably out of copyright and likely to be in pdf format online. Let's see what else we can find...

Once again Houdini's Magician Among The Spirits..his account of exactly how the most famous of the victorian mediums and psychics pulled off their tricks.
http://www.cse.dmu.ac.uk/~mward/A-Magician-Among-the-Spirits-1.pdf

Upton Sinclair's Mental Radio, forward by Einstein, recounting informal experiments in Telepathy with his wife, of the "see if you can draw the image I've just drawn" variety.
https://archive.org/details/mentalradio017719mbp

JW Dunne's An Experiment With Time, testing and theorising the nature of precognitive dreams.
https://archive.org/details/AnExperimentWithTime

Sir William Barrett's Death-bed Visions, recounting medical encounters with dying patients seemingly interacting with dead loved ones come to get them. http://www.survivalafterdeath.info/library/barrett/dbv/contents.htm

The granddaddy of them all.. Phantasms of The Living. the society for psychical research's huge tome gathering accounts of apparitions, dead and alive..
https://archive.org/details/phantasmsoflivin02gurniala
 
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