Book People Archive

Re: A book I would like to see online

If I may make a provocative point, the reason that books like this one are
not available online or elsewhere (I know nothing of the publishing history
of this particular work)is precisely because they are no longer anyone's
property.  This is the downside of the public domain.  One can imagine a
niche business in putting specialized into "print" in whatever medium, but
only if such a business can realize a competitive return on
capital--competitive, that is, with all other investment opportunities.  In
the absence of the profit motive (about which I personally am deeply
ambivalent), specialized work requires the efforts of volunteers, who may be
few in number, or subsidies from foundations and government.  I for one
don't trust the culural prerogatives of some elected officials (remember the
Maplethorpe brouhaha?).  There is an "old economy" model for what I am
describing here, Dover Publications, which has made many scholarly books
available over the years.  (I am a Dover alumnus.)

Joe

Joseph J. Esposito
613 Spring St.
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
<mailto: espositoj@[redacted]
(831) 425-1143
(831) 471-2801 (fax)
(831) 254-0306 (wireless)

----- Original Message -----
From: Jeff and Paulina Miner <booksetc@[redacted]>
To: <onlinebooks@[redacted]>
Cc: <spok+bookpeople@[redacted] <hart@[redacted]>
Sent: Thursday, December 21, 2000 8:51 PM
Subject: A book I would like to see online


> Now here's a book I would like to see online somewhere:
>
> _Vergil in the Middle Ages_
> Domenico Comparetti. Tr. E. F. M. Benecke.
> 1872. Reprinted by Princeton University Press, 1997. 392pp.
[...]
> This great
> synthesizing work, which has been unavailable for over twenty years, is
> now back in print, based on E.F.M. Benecke's 1895
> translation of the Italian second edition.