[Book] "The Voynich Manuscript" (Watkins reproduction)

[davidjackson]

Obviously the manuscript itself is not covered by copyright - although some argue that ancient manuscripts "discovered" after 1924 were protected by copyright until 2003 in the US. Anyway, that's not the case here.

Generally speaking, a straight-forward photograph of an object is not in itself copyrightable in the US - so the Beinecke photos on their website are not, theoretically, copyrighted. Although if you use them in a book, I suppose Yale might come after you in the courts (or just send Big Jim the Special Librarian for a Private Chat around the back - which is what I'm tempted to do the next time people on this forum start to quarrel ^ about provenance or who said what ).

But they are protected, because reproduction rights may depend upon contract law. Put simply, access to the material may be subject to a ban upon reproduction or other conditions.

The Yale book is copyrighted (I just looked at the disclaimer) except for the usual fair use policies. So you can't, in theory, scan and use the photos from the book in your own for-profit project.

But the Beinecke You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. seems to imply that reproduction from the website is permitted:

The Beinecke welcomes you to use materials in the public domain and to make fair use of copyrighted materials as defined by copyright law.

[..]
For any use of the materials or content on the Beinecke Website, you must cite the Beinecke as the source of the original material with the credit line below that corresponds to the appropriate collection....

So, I expect they just asked nicely for permission.