Monday News: limits of anonymity on Twitter, Hathi Trust case finally over, YA author on diversity, and Victorian book covers
Publishing News19th C / anonymity / Authors Guild / book-covers / copyright / defamation / diversity / Free Speech / Hathi Trust / Justina Ireland / Twitter / Young-Adult8 Comments
Court orders Twitter to identify anonymous users – When some Twitter users alleged that a corporation encouraged domestic violence, claiming the CEO paid for sex, the corporation sued, with the expected subpoena served on Twitter to reveal the identities of the defendants. This is a difficult situation, because there are obvious First Amendment issues at stake. The court had to weigh those rights against the legal claims of the plaintiff and the issue of defamation. Relying on a 2009 case, Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the court held in favor of the plaintiff, with the following reasoning:
In this case, the court found that the subpoenas were narrowly tailored to plaintiffs’ need to uncover the identities of the anonymous defendants so that plaintiffs could serve process. It also found that the “nature” of defendants’ speech weighed in favor of enforcing the subpoena. The challenged speech went “beyond criticism into what appear[ed] to be pure defamation, ostensibly unrelated to normal corporate activity.” –Internet Cases
Parties Agree to Dispose of Remaining Issues in Authors Guild v. HathiTrust Lawsuit – So the Authors Guild and Hathi Trust have mutually decided to dispose of any remaining issues in their ongoing, long-term litigation. Which means this suit is gone, baby, gone. The stipulation was filed on January 6th, and consists of two agreements (beyond the usual dismissal with prejudice and note that each party will pay their own attorney fees): first, a reiteration of the claim that Hathi Trust only made single “replacement copies” of missing or destroyed books, and second,
Defendants hereby agree for a period of five (5) years from the date of this Stipulation to provide written notice to the Remaining Plaintiffs as soon as reasonable in the event the Libraries dispense with either of the practices, (i) or (ii), described in the previous clause (1 ), with such notice being sent by overnight delivery service to the undersigned counsel for the Remaining Plaintiffs and to the Authors Guild. . . –INFOdocket
I Went on a Rant. And Then I Storified It – Young Adult author Justina Ireland Storified a number of her tweets that addressed the small numbers of YA books written and published by black authors. One of the things that’s great about Ireland’s self-identified “rant” is the way in which she demonstrates how low the number of black authors is in general, and then how that percentage is not even reflected in the publication of YA books. It’s not a statistically pristine model, of course, because she’s working with general percentages, but her point is nonetheless valid and the problems clearly articulated. –Teh Awesome Sauce
22 Absolutely Stunning Victorian Book Covers – I’m not the world’s biggest fan of Buzzfeed, but I think they do these kinds of compilations really well. This one, with some incredibly beautiful book covers from the mid to late 19th century, lacks textual commentary, but still has some interesting things to say about the was book covers have evolved over the years. One of the first things you might notice is that there are no images of people on these covers, even though photography was a popular hobby among the Victorians. A lot of flowers and leaves, though.
I disagree with the piece’s subtitle that these kinds of covers are intrinsic to print books, but I wonder if the kinds of trends you see with these books will return any time soon. In the meantime, I’m trying to determine my favorite – Wilde’s Salome is pretty amazing, as is the Waring. –Buzzfeed
“I disagree with the piece’s subtitle that these kinds of covers are intrinsic to print books”
They are in the sense that they have a tactile quality as well as a visual one. The feel of a gilded and embossed cover in the hands is never going to be reproduced by an electronic device.
“One of the first things you might notice is that there are no images of people on these covers”
While its not a photograph, but there is an image of a woman on number 5.
I like reading good books by people different from me. When I read a positive book review, something other than the generic middle class, white male author is a plus in mysteries and suspense, and something other than the generic middle class white author in romance.
But without a review saying this is a good romantic suspense, I probably won’t be as keen. I usually take an adjective as a qualifier, assuming a good (adjective) book, is not as good as a good book, which happens to have an (adjective) hero/ine.
So, any recommendations for good romantic suspense (I’ve fond of Karen Robards) by PoC?
The book covers look distinctly like a design style in the late Victorian era spawned mostly by William Morris, who helped spawn the Arts and Crafts movement.
/useless information for the day
@Moriah Jovan: Hah. I see your William Morris / Arts and Crafts reference and raise you an Aubrey Beardsley / Art Nouveau reference.
I think the Oscar Wilde Salome cover is based on a Beardsley drawing – he did the illustrations for the English edition. (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/42704/42704-h/42704-h.htm )
@cleo – forgot to say that the project Gutenberg link I posted above is mildly nsfw.
I really want to know more about the Victorian book covers – especially about how and when they were printed. British publishing was industrialized in the 19th C and William Morris and others reformers were very critical of the poor quality of mass produced books – which led Morris to found his own private printing press that used Gutenberg era hand printing technology, which slowly led to improved book design.
(And now I’m going to stop commenting on this thread for awhile).
@cleo: Well played, Madam, well played.