The Faith Doctor

London: Cassell & Company, Limited, 1891. Hardcover. Very Good. First English edition, with ads dated September and October 1891. 427, [16, ads] pp. Neat owner name on half-title, binding cocked, edgeworn, and with the spine toned, endpapers with offsetting and the upper hinge neatly strengthened and the lower starting but sound, just about very good.

A full-page publisher's ad titled "International Copyright Novels," curiously printed facing the half-title on the verso of the front fly,
announces a new series to be published by Cassell in light of the passage of the International Copyright act of 1891. A slew of authors are mentioned "with whom arrangements have already been entered into," including Robert Louis Stevenson and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and the first three books in the series are announced.

Under *The Faith Doctor*, the publisher notes that it was "the first Volume registered in America under the new Copyright Act." The International Copyright Act of 1891 provided, for the first time, copyright protection in the United States for foreign authors, as long as the publication of their work met certain criteria. The United States, beginning in July of 1891 and over the next several years, struck bilateral agreements with several nations, the United Kingdom being at or near the top of the list.

Interesting to note, *BAL* records five publications between 1884 and 1890 in which this book's author directly addresses the issue of international copyright as it relates to authors. In two of those records (*BAL* 5137, 5146), Eggleston is noted as the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Authors' Copyright League.

While the American edition of *The Faith Doctor* is relatively common, the U.K. imprint is scarce, with *OCLC* noting seven copies, and only a single copy in the United States.

*The Faith Doctor* remains an interesting piece of publishing and copyright history, penned by a man who played a role in bringing the legal change about. More research would likely prove fruitful.