If I Found A Lost Hemingway Manuscript In A Box Beneath My House ...

[Coffee]

Hi, Gang:

I'm working on my next novel.  I'm wondering if any of you (Tex, maybe?) might have an idea as to how this would play out?

The charaters in my novel find a lost, never-published Hemmingway manuscript buried beneath some floor tile.  Would the characters be in the legal right to auction off the manuscript and keep the proceeds?  Or would the ownership rights revert to the Hemmingway Estate?

I don't know if it's relevent, but the manuscript would have been buried in/around the early 1930's. 

Thanks.

[moda0306]

The closer you can make this book mimic "National Treasure," the better.

[l2jperry]

I like the idea of it . Just check Public Domain laws... I have heard of people taking books that were written long enough back to be in the public domain, altering just a bit, self-publishing, and selling online. But since the book would be a work of fiction... does it really matter if it follows the correct legalities?

[Reub]

Slightly off topic, I would much prefer to find a manuscript by Browne or Rowland/Lawson than a book by Hemingway anyday!

[Benko]

OT but you might find The Hemingway Hoax by Joe Haldeman (SF) interesting:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hemingway_Hoax

In 1921, Hemingway's writing career suffered a setback when his first wife, Hadley, lost a bag containing the manuscript and all the carbon copies of his first novel on a Parisian train. Since that time there has been speculation about the nature of the novel and whether the manuscript survived and may turn up one day.

Seventy-five years later in 1996, John Baird, a Hemingway scholar (and possessed of a completely eidetic memory), is persuaded by Sylvester "Castle" Castlemaine, a grifter in Key West, to create a fake manuscript to be passed off as one of the lost copies. Initially reluctant, he goes along with this because, with some legal trickery, it may be possible to do it without attracting the attention of the authorities.

[Coffee]

Very interesting.  Thanks for sharing that.

Here's the blurb from mine:

Key West Shakedown  – Blurb
By Adam G. Katz, Copyright 2013.  All Rights Reserved.


It was a heck of a ride… 

Investigative journalist James Radcliffe is about to undertake his most difficult assignment ever –  semi-retirement as the new publisher of a small newspaper in Key West, Florida.

But when Radcliffe's wife is kidnapped by thugs searching for a priceless jewel in the heart of Old Town Key West, Radcliffe soon finds his own life filled with cliffhangers and danger. Almost broke and unable to involve the authorities, he sets out to rescue his wife with the help of an old map and a band of Florida misfits who convince him to beat the bandits to the treasure.



Spolier alert:


Unbeknownst to the characters until the end of the novel, the "jewel" ends up being a manuscript Hemmingway wrote called, "The Jewel of Ferdinand".

[annieB]

Coffee:

This is exciting.Keep us posted !

[ns2]

The charaters in my novel find a lost, never-published Hemmingway manuscript buried beneath some floor tile.  Would the characters be in the legal right to auction off the manuscript and keep the proceeds?  Or would the ownership rights revert to the Hemmingway Estate?

I don't know if it's relevent, but the manuscript would have been buried in/around the early 1930's. 

I would think this would depend on the mysterious identity of who buried that manuscript beneath the floor tile, how did it come into their possession, and did they have any kind of secret relationship with Mr. Hemingway himself?

I don't read much fiction but I've been watching some on TV lately.

[Coffee]

The charaters in my novel find a lost, never-published Hemmingway manuscript buried beneath some floor tile.  Would the characters be in the legal right to auction off the manuscript and keep the proceeds?  Or would the ownership rights revert to the Hemmingway Estate?

I don't know if it's relevent, but the manuscript would have been buried in/around the early 1930's. 

I would think this would depend on the mysterious identity of who buried that manuscript beneath the floor tile, how did it come into their possession, and did they have any kind of secret relationship with Mr. Hemingway himself?

I don't read much fiction but I've been watching some on TV lately.

In my story, Hemmingway himself likely buried it under tile of a bar he frequented, in order to prevent his soon-to-be-ex from having a claim to it.  Then he went off and married another woman (and then another) and never made it back to reclaim the manuscript before offing himself.

[Coffee]

Might help if I could spell Hemingway correctly.