Family manuscript

[ConJPower]

Hello

I have in my possession a copy of a family manuscript written by my long deceased great, great Uncle - a reasonably well known sea captain with the white star line.  it details his early life, his interesting voyages and ships and so on.  about 200 typed pages which he apparently dictated to his wife.

my question is regarding publishing same, not necessarily for profit but so as other interested parties and the public in our area of ireland can see it - it really is wonderful.

from what i can gather it was written in the very early 1900s and the family line is long since lost - not sure whether the man had decendants.

how do i ascertain if a copyright exists and if none is obvious, can i publish it ?  I'm sure a lot of people are the "same" relation to this man as I am and so don't want to step on any toes ...

thanks for reading.   

[Pozzo]

You'd need to check this but I believe copyright remains with the heirs of the author of an unpublished  manuscript for 70 years after their death. After that, copyright belongs to the owner of the manuscript (i.e. you in this case) which I'm pretty sure means you are free to publish.
Hew

[Billyblue]

I'd agree with Hew - depending on what country you are in, and where you are intending to publish it.  UK?
Assume you have checked as best you can whether anyone else may have published it?

Dawn M

[robbo43]

The 70 year copyright from date of publication or from death of the writer if not published is standard across all EU countries.

Robert

[Billyblue]

The 70 year copyright from date of publication or from death of the writer if not published is standard across all EU countries.
Robert

And in America, and Australia!  But it depends on whether it was still in copyright on the date they extended it to 70 which I think was only in 2005 - fairly recently in the big scheme of things, anyway.
Copyright usually goes from date written / published or from the death of the author, so there is possibly no copyright on it if it was written in early 1900s and presuming he died some time before 1950s?

Dawn M

[andycand]

Hi

You might also need to check that it hasn't already been published as there might have been more than one copy of the manuscript.

Andy

[ConJPower]

thanks everyone 

[bykerlads]

If the law allows it, could I urge you to publish it or at least give it to other family members or even local history groups/libraries.
Such first hand witness accounts are invaluable historical documents and should not be lost.
The archivists of the shipping lines for whom he worked might equally be interested.

[bykerlads]

Just another thought:
 2012 is the anniversary of the tragic sinking of the Titanic- so there will be renewed interest in all things connected with shipping in the early 20C.