On Gottfredson's Mickey Mouse Strips

[Olivier]

Hi everyone!


This MM strips conversation is very interesting-- and Harry's forwarded
message from Poul Frøkjær looks most interesting: thanks! I'll read it
later, even print it.


Cord:
>>>> You can buy it for $ 900. each of the 26 volumes (1930-1955) has around
>>>> 100 pages. each page has three strips with 5 panels each. So you get
>>>> 2.600 pages at a page rate of 35 cent / page.

A bit more taking into account Rich's remark on shipping (of  the safest
kind!)-- 50 cents?
Now, you could probably go to the library, go through hundreds of
newspapers, selecting the best available reprint (no creases, whiter paper,
larger image, ...) and photocopy them, then edit the whole thing & bind it.
I don't know how much it is around the US, but I know for sure photocopies
were 20 cents a page at the Library of  Congress in January 2003 (10 cents
in August 2000; it went up in 2001 I believe).
I'm not sure that would be much cheaper. It would be fun (at the beginning,
that is), but it would be a heck of  a lot of  work! Hours and days and
weeks and months!


>>>> I am thinking about buying all existing copies and dropping all but one
>>>> into the Atlantic Ocean. My copy will be valuable beyond measure *g*

In won't sell mine. So yours will be "only" half  what it could be.
Nyaaaaaaaaah  :D


>>>>I believe that old masterpieces like the Gottfredson MMs, like Krazy
Kat, like
>>>>Prince Valiant, like Popeye should be public domain. This is the
>>>>only way to ensure their survival, especially if the old copyright
>>>>holders deny reprints. They belong to our common cultural heritage
>>>just like the works of Homer and Dickens.

Good point. Legally, though, the problem would be the definition of
"masterpiece" and "part of  the cultural heritage".


>>>>When will I be allowed to scan my edition of Gottfredson's complete MM
>>>>works (which I bought, even though I couldn't afford it) and share it
>>>>with everbody for free on the internet?

It was very expensive for me as well. A splendid present I made myself  for
passing the (highly) competitive exams to become a teacher.


Alecto:
>>>>Thanks for that info, do you happen to know how many panels there are in
that
>>>>story (my copy is missing the back page).

Panels? Sorry, but I have no idea dn honestly don't feel like counting them.
The "back page"? Would that be the "last page"?
Here is a short description of  the last three days--
Dec 24: saving Minnie
Dec 25: netting the bad guys
Dec 26: party
Then it's a series of  gag-a-day strips running till January 17; on Dec 27,
Mickey wants to surprise Minnie.
I can't scan anything right now, I'm re-installing everything after
reformatting due to a mysterious incident-- the e-mail was the only thing
working; other than that, I was connected to electronic nothingess.


Best wishes,


Olivier