I thought I wouldn’t have to deal with copyrighted material….
until the third book, Where Did They Put the Gestapo Headquarters?.
I was wrong.
As I was finishing the manuscript for the first book, I found there were some very important images I would need. After months of searching, I couldn’t find them through my normal channels. What was I going to do?
I thought, where would Leonard Pitt, author of Walks Through Lost Paris, have found his prints of the 1850s photos taken by Marville and Emonds (among others)? So I Googled the Musée Carnavalet in Paris (Carnavalet is the museum dedicated to Paris from its beginnings as Luticia through the mid-1900s; and in particular, the French Revolution).
Jackpot!
The museum controls access to hundreds of thousands of historical images (i.e., photos, engravings, paintings, etc.). There are two companies set up for this: one that deals with commercial use (that’s me) and the other for the personal use of the images. In the early 1900s, a husband and wife got interested in photography and started a company to compile their photos along with others they purchased. The company’s name is Roger-Viollet. The company’s retail store at 6, rue de Seine, is the same place when it started. In fact, it is right down the street from where we stayed in May 2013 while doing our research. When the couple passed away in the early 1980s, they gave the company and its inventory to the city. Anyway, to make a long story short, I found and contacted the American representative of Roger-Viollet. It is a company called The Image Works (www.theimageworks.com).
I recently spent hours going through its inventory of images. I hit the mother lode. Not only did I find the images I was missing, but I found others that will enhance the book. Basically, I will license the images for up to 10-years with an option to renew. That option is good because I’d hate to have to destroy all the books. Well, it wouldn’t be that bad since we’re going to go with “print-on-demand.”
Anyway, now is when the fun starts.
I’ve finished the manuscript for both volumes of Where Did They Put the Guillotine? Now begins the process of determining which photos and images will be put in the book and where. We’ll basically have three types of images:
- photos,
- engravings, and
- maps.
I’m confident you will find the book to be very professional, fun to read, and a tremendous resource for visiting the buildings, places, and sites significant to the French Revolution. Do we have a lot of stories? Of course we do. I’m looking forward to sharing these with you.
Please continue to visit our blog and perhaps subscribe so that you don’t miss out on the most recent blog posts. Thanks so much for following my blog and my little journey through this incredibly interesting process of writing a series of niche historical travel books and then getting the bloody things published. Please note that I do not and will not take compensation from individuals or companies I mention or promote in my blog.
– Stew
Please note that I do not and will not take compensation from individuals or companies I mention or promote in my blog.
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Copyright © 2014 Stew Ross
