rinted form. Some artists make a practice, when they send a picture
away to exhibition, to fill up one of these forms, reserving the
copyright by their entry to themselves, in the belief that, if
accompanied by the fee required by the Hall, its entry will reserve the
copyright to them, oblivious of the fact that the only thing which can
reserve the copyright to them is the possession of a document assigning
the copyright to them by the purchaser of the picture. Another useless
method of attempting to reserve artists' copyrights is that adopted by
the promoters of public exhibitions, with whom it is an almost constant
practice to print on some portion of the catalogue of the exhibition a
statement that "copyrights of all pictures are reserved," the impression
apparently prevailing that a notice of this kind effectively reserves
the copyright for the artist while selling his picture from the walls.
It, of course, does no such thing, and the copyright of any picture sold
in these circumstances, without the necessary document from the
purchaser, must be lost to the artist, and pass irrevocably into the
public domain.

In a work of art the work itself and the copyright are two totally
distinct properties, and may be held by different persons. The
conditions differ materially from those of a work of literature, in
which as a rule there is no value apart from publication. There is a
value in a work of art for its private enjoyment quite apart from its
commercial value in the form of reproductions; but when the two
properties exist in different hands, the person holding the copyright
has no power to force the owner of the work of art to give him access to
it for purposes of reproduction; this can only be effected by private
arrangement. It has been argued that, as the two properties are so
distinct, the owner of the copyright ought to have the right of access
to the picture for the purpose of exercising his right to reproduce it.
But it is easy to see that it would destroy the value of art property if
proprietors knew that at any moment they might be forced to surrender
their work for the purpose of reproduction, though for a time only.

There is often a strong sympathy between the artist and the person who
buys his picture, and it is not at all unusual, when application is made
to the owner of the picture for access to it, for him to submit the
question of reproduction to the artist. Although the latter may really
have no rig