1971 Book cover

[riebennacht]

Hello,

I am trying to find out if it would be possible to use this design on a film poster. I can't seem to find the copyright for this image. Diana Bloomfield is the author/engraver. It is a Penguin Classics publication, so I'm not sure if the potential copyright would belong to Penguin, or the late Diana Bloomfield. It is a beautiful design.

https://i.imgur.com/yKIbnNa.jpg
Penguin Classics, printed 1971. Cover engraving by Diana Bloomfield.

[AndyJ]

Hi riebennacht,

I would guess that Penguin acquired the copyright when they commissioned the engraving, but even if this was not the case and Diana Bloomfield retained ownership of the copyright, Penguin will probably have insisted on having an exclusive licence to use the engraving and so I suggest you should start your quest with Penguin. You can do this online here. They will know the precise status of the copyright ownership

As you are aware, Diana Bloomfield died in 2010 and so copyright in all her works still has over 60 years to run, irrespective of who owns the copyrght in this particular work. If it turns out that Penguin do not own the copyright, you should contact Bloomfield's heir. Probate was granted for her will on 15 December 2010 by the Brighton Registry and the Probate number is 3432591. With this information you can obtain details of the will, and thus any named heir. Unfortunately the Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS) does not appear to represent the Diana Bloomfield estate and so you can't obtain a licence through them.

[Nick Cooper]

Nice to see RHG still pretending the Quotations Exception does not exist....

[ATMOSBOB]

I did several Penguin covers in that period. Penguin most certainly own the copyright unless it was an existing image sold as stock.