I am happy to announce that the unredacted edition of Ebenezer Allen – Statesman, Entrepreneur, and Spy has been delivered to a potential publisher. The edition is 443 double-spaced pages with over 90 illustrations, and 700 footnotes.

Now I begin the difficult task of obtaining permissions to use material from books, webpages, and newspapers. Some material is in the public domain or federal government publications, which do not need permissions. The other category is fair use, which allows a portion to be used without the publisher’s approval. Now, the slope gets slippery. Fair use can be anywhere from 300 to 600 words depending on the publisher. As little as possible is desirable. It is a painstaking process. Permission fees can run up to $1,000.

I think I’m going to need a larger recyling container.