No question is more common in the technical publishing field than "How far can I make excerpts, with credit but without permission, from the writings of other authors?"
To this question no definite and entirely satisfactory answer can be given. Certainly, where illustrations, tables, or important abstracts are to be made, the author should ask permission of the publisher or author from whose work he wishes to quote. In addition he should take special pains to see that full credit is given in the form required by the author or publisher from whom he has secured permission.
The copyright law and the penalties for infringement of copyright are drastic, but the decisions which have been rendered in cases that have gone to trial do not furnish any particularly safe guide.
In our experience the safest guide is a simple rule of courtesy. Neither the author nor the publisher of a work will refuse any reasonable request, though he may greatly resent borrowing without the courtesy of a request. It is safer, therefore, to obtain permission from author or publisher before borrowing from another work.
=Shipping the Manuscript.=--Manuscript should invariably be shipped flat, not folded or rolled.
Manuscript and drawings should be sent together and not in instalments. Except in rare instances, we do not undertake piecemeal manufacture of a book. In our experience such publication methods save little or no time and more often result in confusion and expense.
Manuscript, before it has been set up in type, should be shipped by express with a suitable valuation placed thereon. After the manuscript has been set up in type, the manuscript and proof may best be sent by parcel post, special delivery.
In technical work such as ours the illustrations are of two classes: (1) line drawings; (2) photographic or halftone illustrations.
=Line Drawings.=--Copy for line drawings should be made two to three times the dimensions of the completed illustration. The weight of line, and especially the lettering, should be carefully worked out to give desired results. The following illustrations, taken from "Engineering Drawing," by Thomas E. French, will serve as a guide to the draftsman preparing these illustrations. We suggest, however, that when the completed copy for a few characteristic illustrations is ready, the author send the samples to us in order that we may determine their suitability or even, if desirable, reproduce the samples in order that the author may examine the results with us. When difficulty is encountered in securing suitable lettering, which will give a finished appearance to the illustrations, we are willing to accept the drawings with the lettering penciled in. We, in turn, engage draftsmen, who are experienced in lettering for reproduction, to finish the work. As this often leads to errors, however, we prefer the completed drawings ready for reproduction.