Sorabji: Auction of master-copies

During the 1980s in the early days of The Sorabji Archive, paper master copies of all of the composer’s music scores (mss., out-of-print publications and handwritten editions), as well as his published literary writings, were created; these have been used to make copies for distribution.

Some years ago, the archive decided to create .pdf files of all of this material from those master copies; these all entered the archive catalogue in June 2012 and have thereafter been available for electronic supply along with the paper copies that the archive has provided ever since its foundation in the 1980s.

The reasons for this decision included
1. supply charges being substantially lower than those for paper copies
2. the need for additional shipping charges is obviated
3. transmission from archive to recipient is almost instant
4. storage for both the archive and the recipient is far easier and more convenient.

The archive retains all of this material in .pdf format on its main hard drive and it is backed up to an external hard drive. There are no copies "in the cloud" but there are further copies of the entire collection elsewhere, so its security for the future should be very good.

Excluded from these master copies are typeset editions which the editors have kindly sent to us electronically and of which the archive has therefore had no need to retain paper master copies.

From time to time since the creation of those .pdf files, the archive has found the need to refer to the paper master copies in order to make the occasional correction; however, after more than three years, it has been concluded that their continued retention is no longer necessary. Accordingly, the archive has decided to offer them for sale, not least in order to free up the space that they currently occupy.

The collection comprises some 15,500 A4 duplex pages; some are in portrait format but most are in landscape format. Each item is held inside its own zipped plastic wallet.

The archive now has pleasure in inviting bids via email to sorabji-archive@lineone.net from individuals and institutions for its entire paper master copy collection. An opening reserve of £350 is set for this collection as it is currently held, to include the cost of packaging for shipping but not the shipping costs themselves.

The successful bidder will agree to pay the amount of the successful bid for the collection in advance of shipping and also to meet all shipping charges which we will notify before shipping. The overall weight of the collection, inclusive of packaging, is estimated at around 55kg.

As with those copies of the material that have been supplied since the 1980s, it is to be understood by the purchaser and his/her heirs and assigns that no items or parts of items in this collection may be reproduced or distributed in any format other than with the prior written consent of the Sorabji Archive at any time during its copyright term which expires on 31 December 2058; likewise, it is to be understood that acquisition of this collection will not affect the right of the Sorabji Archive to continue to distribute any of the material under its copyright.

Bidding will remain open until 31 December 2015 and the successful bidder will be notified as soon as possible thereafter.

The archive looks forward to finding a new home for this important collection, as well as to the few cubic metres of space that its departure will release!

This is, by nature, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to acquire a vast scholarly resource that has enabled the dissemination of Sorabji's work for almost thirty years; once it's gone, it's gone!

Thank you very much in advance.

Kind regards,

Alistair Hinton
Curator / Director
The Sorabji Archive