Barrie's copyright holder?

[mshaw88]

Hello

Happy New Year to everyone.

I was just wondering if anyone knows who the current copyright holder of Barrie's non-Peter Pan work is.  I know that his published work went out of copyright in 2007 but his unpublished work is still in copyright in the UK and I have no idea who to contact.

Many thanks,

Michael

[andrew]

Strictly speaking, the Cynthia Asquith estate,  presumably the children of her two sons, Michael and/or Simon Asquith, both now dead.  According to Wikipedia, they had two sons and one daughter each.  Good luck in tracking them down!

[Brutus]

The London theatre agents Samuel French represent the Asquith estate for all non-Peter Pan plays and might be able to help you with a contact. www.samuelfrench.co.uk

Otherwise, as Andrew suggested, you'll have to track down Herbert and Cynthia's descendants. The website www.thepeerage.com is helpful (although not very user-friendly) for finding out the names of the children of Michael and Simon Asquith but doesn't of course give any other detail. However, I do remember Ivon Asquith, one of Simon's sons, used to work at Oxford University Press but a quick search indicates he may now be at Edinburgh University Press.

If you do find out more, please could you post any details on this website, for future enquiries? Many thanks!

[mshaw88]

Many thanks, Andrew and Brutus.

I've been in touch with Samuel French but I was told that they now only issue performance rights, on behalf of Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Ivon Asquith is a good lead.  I have some contacts at EUP so I'll hopefully be able to get a hold of him.

Many thanks again,
Michael

[Brutus]

You may have to persevere with Samuel French. They do represent the Asquith estate but because Barrie is out of copyright in the UK, there are only a couple of plays still in copyright in the US and therefore not much call for these. The member of staff you spoke to may have been new (there have been lots of changes recently) and not realised they still officially handle the stage rights of the non-Peter Pan plays on behalf of the Asquith estate.

They also handle Peter Pan stage rights for GOSH, hence the confusion.

Good luck!

[Brutus]

Sorry, I should have added that even if Samuel French no longer represent the Barrie estate on behalf of the Asquiths, they should still have the contact details in their database or address book. Someone in the agency must know, as they would have paid the estate royalties for plays staged in the UK to the estate until the end of 2007, when Barrie's copyright expired. (Several of these plays, such as Dear Brutus, Mary Rose, What Every Woman Knows were staged before then.)