I am trying to find a current address for G. Bell & Sons, a publisher.
I have a 1971 address on Portugal st, London, Eng. I'm trying to get
permission to use copy right materials. The letter I mailed came back
undeliverable. A mailing address or web site will do.

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Request for Question Clarification by justaskscott-ga on 07 Dec 2002 22:28 PST

This wouldn't happen to be a book relating to astronomy, would it? 
(Better yet, what is the name of the book?)  I have one piece of
unverified information that G. Bell & Sons took on another name as a
publisher of astronomy books.  If your book falls into that category,
I think I can provide an answer.

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Request for Question Clarification by pkp-ga on 07 Dec 2002 22:29 PST

Hi moonface-ga
 
It appears that the firm you are looking for is George Bell & Sons,
Ltd.:
 
http://www.library.rdg.ac.uk/colls/special/collsindex.html#bell
George Bell & Sons Ltd
 
"George Bell founded his publishing company in 1839, specialising in
educational books. The firm became George Bell & Sons in 1873. The
collection consists of correspondence, ledgers & miscellaneous records
ca. 1860-1970, although the nineteenth-century records are rather
fragmentary. Some material is included from the subsidiary firm
Charles Whittingham & The Chiswick Press, purchased in 1880."
 
It also appears from my research that the firm is no longer in
existence. I did find record of an employee who worked for them (John
Johnson) as recently as 1961 at:
 
http://home.tiscali.be/sharmadillo/mbj.htm
 
It also appears that a Quantitative Survey of the publisher's work was
put together in 1996 by Alexis Weedon. It appeared in
 
"A Quantitative Survey: George Bell & Sons" by  Alexis Weedon in 
Issue 33 of
Publishing History, Edited by Michael L. Turner, The Bodleian Library,
Oxford and Simon Eliot, The Open University
 
A scholarly journal published by Chadwyck-Healey devoted to the
socio-economic and literary history of book, newspaper and magazine
publishing. "
 
Info on obtaining back issues:
 
Back issues may be ordered for $9 (5 p.s.) each, plus postage, from:
 

Customer Service
Chadwyck-Healey Ltd.
The Quorum, Barnwell Road
Cambridge CB5 8SW
ENGLAND
 
Fax: 01223 215515
Phone: 01223 215512
E-mail: nick.laskey@chadwyck.co.uk
 more info is at the site:
  
http://www.sharpweb.org/PH.html

 
I would be happy to attempt to contact them if you think this would
prove useful.
 
If you could provide me with more specific info on the copyrighted
material you wish to have permission to use, perhaps I could find out
who currently holds the copyright, as teh rights may have transfered.

pkp-ga

Hi moonface,

I'm inclined to agree with the researcher ... I don't think that they
are in business any longer.  The last book they published, that I
could find, was in the mid-1960s.  Most of their books seem to appear
on "hard to find" book sites.

I ran some of their titles through amazon.com and found 1 that
references a new publisher.

Odell, Peter R.
Economic Geography of Oil
Published 1963 by G. Bell and Sons

New Publisher: Greenwood Publishing Group; ASIN: 0837187214; (March
1976), according to amazon.  Greenwood does not list it as one of
their titles on their site:  greenwood.com

You might want to run the title of your book on amazon to see if the
book is listed and has a new publisher.

The copyright usually vests in the author and lasts for 70 years from
the author's death. Publishers are normally granted publishing rights
for 10 years and these may be limited to langauge and/or territory
and/or medium.

For example, ebooks are a new medium and, traditionally, publishing
rights would not have been granted to anyone.

Is there an author?