History for sale …….. at the local convenience store and other places

Now I wonder how far historians have a duty to share their knowledge free of charge?

Reconstructed section of the Roman fort, Castlefield, 1980s

It is of course a thorny subject.  

On one side stand the professional historians who quite rightly want some financial remuneration for their efforts.

And as someone who has written ten history books over the last decade with another four projects in the pipeline, I have sympathy for that position. 

Added to which it can be an uphill battle combating the actions of those that think it is perfectly alright to “lift” my research and the images I have collected, without any acknowledgement of where they have acquired the material and worse still parading it off as their own. 

My golden rule is that you always acknowledge your sources, and where necessary ask permission to quote someone who is still alive, and never publish anything for which you cannot get that permission.

And if it is out of copyright it is still good scholarship to say so.

Steam Exposition, 1980

But on the other hand …. knowledge is too precious just to be hoarded away or allowed to slip out as a series of drip fed historical nuggets.

All of that said I don’t think there is necessarily a conflict between the two.

Years of diligent research followed up by perhaps a year of carefully writing a piece of accessible prose, deserves financial reward.

But once that book is out the author will go on to publicise it across a number of different platforms, and in the process will reveal the content, the interpretations, conclusions, and the sources.

The interested can then decide whether the material is worthy of taking the next step and buying the book, the film, or going on the guided walk.

Each of my books has featured on the blog, and I have no problem with revealing some of the content, the interpretations, as well as the conclusions, and the sources.

The devil as they say is in the detail, which is still there in the book, or as one of my maths teachers would say …… “it’s the working out of how you got the answer which is important”.

I doubt Herodotus, or Thucydides, Livy or Tacitus shaved off the odd fact or story because the price was not right.  Nor would I think  the Chinese historians Sima Qian and Ban Zhao would have demanded payment upfront for their essays in historical truth.

Replica of the Planet , 2002

But I accept they were either of independent means or writing for a patron which might have freed them from the commercial necessities of asking for payment for their knowledge.

And that leads me to the question of financial remuneration which for most of us is not much.  

Apart from a few “blockbuster” history books and celebrated historians most of us beaver away with little expectation that we will be plastering the walls with gold impregnated wallpaper on the strength of our book sales.

Commercial publishers pay between 8 and 10%, and if the topic is a specialized one the chances are that the readership or market is limited.

Birmingham, 1983

So, we do it because we like doing it, and even when it is the main source of our livelihood, we owe it to the public,  and posterity that we do share our knowledge in a way that is accessible to everyone.

Pictures; Manchester & Birmingham, 1978- 2002, from the collection of Andrew Simpson