Peter's Morgue

[ecb]

I must be psychic or something!  This morning I was walking from the train station to work and suddenly wondered if Peter's Morgue would ever appear.  It seems like such a awfully lot of work to mount it.  I decided to logon and found Andrew's note - which had just appeared today!

Thank you so much Andrew and the Welsh wizard and all who helped.  I am so looking forward to reading it!

[AnnaPink]

I just wanted to add my two cents and say I'm pretty fantastically excited as well about being able to read Peter's Morgue in December -- that is awesome news. I'm sure everyone truly appreciates the hours and hours of work which must have been necessary to make this possible. Thanks very much, Andrew, and to anyone who helped you, too!

[AnnaPink]

I must say I am pretty disappointed about the dispute with Beinecke regarding Peter's Morgue. I was really looking forward to reading it. It is quite disheartening and I hope a resolution is quickly reached.

[ecb]

I'm also very disappointed.  In this day and age when digitizing library Special Collections is one of the biggest subjects at all library conferences, it is awful that Beinecke is being so difficult.  A digitized version of the Morgue would make for more interest in Beinecke's collection - not less.  Andrew has the right idea about original documents - make them available to those who are interested.  That is why this site is so incredibly special - it truly uses the web for a genuine purpose - not just advertising or rehashing of the same stuff over and over!

Thank you Andrew again - and good luck with the Yalies

[agentzelda]

The denial of access is absurd (we are in the 21st century now) since it reinforces the notion of such material as only available to "scholars" who can get research grants to go visit special collections in libraries: those privileged ivory-tower types. There is a need for such collections; the physical materials themselves are often fragile. But the textual material, the words, should be available for the general scholarship of interested people anywhere.

[andrew]

I couldn't agree more, but try telling Beinecke that!

[andrew]

In fairness to Beinecke, the situation with respect to Peter's Morgue is rather complicated. Barrie is still in copyright until next year, and since the Morgue contains many of his letters, permission has to be sought from his complex estate. Moreover Peter's copyright situation is far from clear, although I am endeavouring to try and clear this up. Be assured I have not abandoned the hope of publishing the Morgue on this site... I just can't afford to be sued either!

[ecb]

Thank you for the reply, Andrew.  Copyright is one of those things which only appears straightforward to those who do not have to deal with it!  I do indeed hope to see the Morgue in the future.  In the meantime there are scores of other fascinating material to go through on this site!  

[AnnaPink]

Andrew,

Thanks for the Christmas gift--just read through the first page of the Morgue. I'm very lucky it's so quiet at work today, as I'll soon be at the others;) ...it strikes me again reading this how perceptive and sensitive Peter LL.D. was about things, and what a dubious gift this must have been in someone with his familial background...

Anna