Among students of historical plagiarism it is well known that standards of appropriate borrowing and documentation have evolved dramatically since the advent of copyright laws in the sixteenth century (Plant, 1939). Both documentary and anecdotal evidence show that, as late as the end of the nineteenth century, accepted conventions of literary borrowing were far more relaxed than they would become in the late twentieth century. There tends to be an anachronistic tendency to judge nineteenth-century writers by twentieth and twenty-first century standards of literary practice. This paper seeks to identify what was considered to be appropriate literary borrowing in the nineteenth century, not by prescriptive methods based on twentieth and twenty-first-century norms, but by descriptive analysis of actual nineteenth-century literary practice.
This study presents a tool, WCopyfind, and a method for quantifying the extent (and, by implication, the accepted norms) of literary borrowing in a specific genre and during a specific time frame. From this data it should be possible to determine whether the actual practice of a given author exceeded accepted norms. Presumably, deviations beyond accepted norms for the era would have been considered plagiarism.
This case study focuses on the genre of lives of Christ in nineteenth-century literature in English. Exceptions to this include Taylor [1613-1667] from the late seventeenth century and Fleetwood from the eighteenth century, whose work was repeatedly reprinted throughout the nineteenth century. These works have been included to show where they were potentially used by nineteenth-century authors. Ellen Whites The Desire of Ages (1898/1940) was chosen as a test subject because it has been alleged to include substantial unacknowledged literary borrowing and because the works White is alleged to have borrowed from are available for comparison with her work and then with one another.
Ellen G. White (1827-1915) authored more than 5000 articles and 40 books, and, with translations in some 148 languages, is apparently the most extensively translated female author in history. White acknowledged her indebtedness to other authors for historical facts and narratives, but denied dependence on them, except in helping her to express her own concepts.
The first known public criticism of her alleged copying was Dudley M. Canrights article in the October 8, 1887 issue of the Michigan Christian Advocate (Nichol, p. 417; see also Graybill (1980) and especially Coon (1995, 3. Critical Charges). While Canright initiated the plagiarism charge, there is no evidence that he made any effort to inform the alleged victims of her alleged improper borrowing. Moreover, none of Whites alleged sources ever brought charges--or even threatened to bring charges--of copyright infringement (Nichol, 1951, p. 407). The plagiarism charge against White was repeated and expanded by Walter Rea (Dart, 1980; Rea, 1982), who alleged that she produced most of her writings by plagiarizing other authors.
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Any constructive criticism would be greatly welcome.
This study presents a tool, WCopyfind, and a method for quantifying the extent (and, by implication, the accepted norms) of literary borrowing in a specific genre and during a specific time frame. From this data it should be possible to determine whether the actual practice of a given author exceeded accepted norms. Presumably, deviations beyond accepted norms for the era would have been considered plagiarism.
This case study focuses on the genre of lives of Christ in nineteenth-century literature in English. Exceptions to this include Taylor [1613-1667] from the late seventeenth century and Fleetwood from the eighteenth century, whose work was repeatedly reprinted throughout the nineteenth century. These works have been included to show where they were potentially used by nineteenth-century authors. Ellen Whites The Desire of Ages (1898/1940) was chosen as a test subject because it has been alleged to include substantial unacknowledged literary borrowing and because the works White is alleged to have borrowed from are available for comparison with her work and then with one another.
Ellen G. White (1827-1915) authored more than 5000 articles and 40 books, and, with translations in some 148 languages, is apparently the most extensively translated female author in history. White acknowledged her indebtedness to other authors for historical facts and narratives, but denied dependence on them, except in helping her to express her own concepts.
The first known public criticism of her alleged copying was Dudley M. Canrights article in the October 8, 1887 issue of the Michigan Christian Advocate (Nichol, p. 417; see also Graybill (1980) and especially Coon (1995, 3. Critical Charges). While Canright initiated the plagiarism charge, there is no evidence that he made any effort to inform the alleged victims of her alleged improper borrowing. Moreover, none of Whites alleged sources ever brought charges--or even threatened to bring charges--of copyright infringement (Nichol, 1951, p. 407). The plagiarism charge against White was repeated and expanded by Walter Rea (Dart, 1980; Rea, 1982), who alleged that she produced most of her writings by plagiarizing other authors.
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Any constructive criticism would be greatly welcome.
