“I beg to thank the referees most sincerely for their unvarying kindness and forbearance.
“SUBJECT-MATTER OF THE CONTROVERSY.
“I claim what is justly due for copyright on eight works, namely:—
- “‘City Lights,’
- “‘Alba Dies,’
- “‘Rocks of Offense,’
- “‘Old Miasmas,’
- “‘Pencillings,’
- “‘Holidays,’
- “‘Cotton-Picking,’
- “‘Winter Work,’
Published by Messrs. Brummell & Hunt, since Hunt, Parry, & Co.
“Were there no contracts, the author's share should, I suppose, be determined by the usage of publishers and authors, as to similar works with similar sales.
“For four of these books there is no contract.
“On the first book, ‘City Lights,’ there is a written contract at ten per cent. on the retail price after the first edition is sold. This price was fixed voluntarily by the publishers without suggestion from or consultation with me, and must be considered as expressing their idea of what was fair and usual under ordinary circumstances, even with a new author. This contract has never been rescinded. Messrs. Hunt, Parry, & Co. claim that it has been rescinded. No one can be called upon to prove a negative. To prove that the contract exists, I produce the contract. To prove that the rescission exists, I demand that they produce the rescission. This they have utterly failed to do. Mr. Hunt simply asserts a verbal agreement, which I deny. A verbal agreement between two parties, which one party stoutly maintains, and the other flatly denies, is, I submit, an agreement more suited to the latitude and longitude of Dublin than of Athens. A verbal agreement, which on examination proves to be an utter and absolute disagreement, cannot cancel a written contract.
“They not only attempt to rescind the first contract, but to substitute another for it by including ‘City Lights’ in the second contract. But ‘City Lights’ is not named in the second contract. They do not even pretend that they intended to name it there. They simply assert a conversation in which both parties agreed that, the first contract still existing, they would act as if it did not exist; and that ‘City Lights’ not being inserted in the second contract, both parties should act as if it were so inserted. I beg to inquire if there is anything in the Union as it was, or the Constitution as it is, that could make such a procedure reasonable? Is it credible that a shrewd business firm should rely on a verbal agreement to cancel a written one and leave the latter uncancelled in the possession of the other party?
“‘Dies Alba,’ ‘Rocks of Offense,’ and ‘Old Miasmas,’ were published at different periods subsequent to the publication of ‘City Lights.’ They are all embraced in one contract, which bears date September 24, 1764. This contract is not at ten per cent. on the retail price, but at fifteen cents a volume on all volumes sold.