The BJP

I have been building a large database of Regex indexed and searchable photography books and journals that are in the public domain. (in pd in US!) These have been collected through libraries internationally from open source digital files. 

Sadly the British Journal of Photography in my collection is missing many years. The French and Belgian society journals are more complete than the BJP and, for instance, I have a complete collection of CameraCraft from 1900 10 1942. (It was never copyrighted and at the time was went immediately in the public domain due to US law.

When I go to the BJP website, it lists the Founder and CEO with a phone number to call --which is a testament to British longevity as the magazine was founded in 1854. The website seems to be unaware of the journal's celebrated history.

Does anyone here know where there may be a complete library of the BJP where some of my missing years can be collected. I am not too savvy on British Copyright issues so I hope I am not stepping on any toes with this. In the US, anything before 1923 is open and mere copying does not renew copyright. 

What I have locally and Regex indexed of the BJP is attached.

One last question. In the US, the mere copying and posting of anything prior to 1923 is public domain and has repeatedly been held upheld in court. Even so, in the US museums and libraries will commonly copy and post something and copyright it. The same appears to be also common in the UK. What is the situation in the UK? I am nervous about even releasing any beta test issues of the database due to this. Also the database is huge, about 60. gb, with over 10,000 photography books and journal issues before 1923. It is not just British, some international but mostly French, British, and US. 

--Dick Sullivan 

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Replies

  • The BJP was digitising its back issues but I believe hit an issue with the more recent issues and dealing with contributors and copyright which has either delayed or stopped the whole project. I've not had a recent update. It would be a shame if the digitisation didn't happen as there's a wealth of material to be mined. 

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