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The One Ring Forums:
Tolkien Topics: Reading Room:
Yes - that's absolutely true:
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dormouse
Valinor
Nov 17 2010, 12:53pm
Views: 421
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Yes - that's absolutely true
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... and applies to all letters. Physical possession belongs to the recipient - unless the letter is returned or sold, but copyright belongs to the writer or his/her heirs and successors and the copyright in unpublished letters is perpetual (though of course in practice when the letter is hundreds of years old it may no longer be possible to work out who the heirs and successors are).
In this case, though, it isn't remote and the 'other family members' involved are Edith Tolkien (according to pre-publication publicity about the book) and presumably the children (hers and JRRTs), some of whom are still living. They are the Tolkien Estate, aren't they? I can imagine that with such a distinctive name as their is they would feel the need for privacy more acutely than those of us whose names don't attract a lot of press attention. After all, their family life is something quite separate from JRRT's writing so it seems understandable to me that they don't want details of it published.
(This post was edited by dormouse on Nov 17 2010, 12:54pm)
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Edit Log:
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Post edited by dormouse
(Valinor) on Nov 17 2010, 12:54pm
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