A matter of considerable interest to authors and publishers, for the copyright question involved, occurred in connection with the Boston performances. Elmer Chickering, the well-known photographer of Boston, took some pictures of Mr. A. M. Palmer's company, which naturally came into demand at once. But rushing over the wires came a message from Harper & Bros., saying that, as the characters were made up after du Maurier's drawings, they should regard the sale of any such pictures as an infringement of their copyright. To this, Mr. Chickering disagreed, on the ground that the photographs were not copies of any drawings, but of actual scenes on the stage, which any man might sketch. Telegrams flew back and forth, for the Messrs. Harper would not yield. Meanwhile, the papers sought for the photographs, and Mr. Palmer was apparently willing to receive the advertisement their publication would ensure; but the publishers still held off. At last Mr. Chickering decided to fight it out on his own line, for two of the New York papers printed some of the 160 "Trilby" pictures taken by him; and--as indicating an amicable adjustment of the dispute--a number of them appeared in _Harper's Weekly_.
The morning papers of April 30 contained this despatch:--"DENVER, COL., April 29. Did du Maurier write 'Trilby'? This novel question was propounded to-day in the United States Court in good faith, when the suit of Harper & Bros. and A. M. Palmer for an injunction against the Lyceum Stock Company to restrain them from producing 'Trilby' at their theatre was called. The defendants allege that the book entitled 'Trilby' was not originated, invented or written by du Maurier. They assert that the original title and book of 'Trilby' were first published in France in 1820, and afterwards translated and published in English in 1847, and that the title and book have been common property for seventy-five years. The attorneys for the plaintiffs asked for time to communicate with their clients in New York as to the course they should pursue, and the Court postponed the hearing until Wednesday morning. Should the allegations of the Lyceum Company be true, a sensation will be caused all over the two continents. This is the first public intimation of an attack on the authenticity of the work, and if it is successful every company in the world will have as much right to play 'Trilby' as the Boston Organization."