JTR Exhibition in Docklands

[Christine]

The Maybrick diary was written on actual old paper, and if it was written with Diamine archive ink, that's an ink created from antique recipes and inferior to modern inks in a lot of ways. The fading was apparently faked by diluting the ink. Nonetheless it's hard to tell, which is why some bona fide experts judged it old.

Diamine told researchers to look for a preservative, which is apparently the only concession they made. I guess people were unhappy with mold growing on their pens. I'm told that once you get mold in a pen, you have to have a specialist clean it in an ultrasound machine with special disinfectant or else the mold will keep coming back. On the other hand, antique ink can ruin a pen in several other ways, so most of us pen fanciers shun it.

Nonetheless, I'd love to see the diary. The Victorians cared a lot more about handwriting than we do, and the diary succeeds as a work of fiction and a work of art. (Although I might be giving it too much credit here!)

(I just got a lovely WWII era Waterman pen back from the restorer today. Unlike most old Waterman's pens, it's plain dark plastic rather than their usual gaudy cellophane, which they couldn't get during the war. I think it's more beautiful than its more treasured siblings, and it's going to stay far away from antique ink--authenticity be damned! If I ever fake a diary I'll use a Chinese reproduction pen. )

[George Hutchinson]

^ Please, no Maybrick here!!!

Nats, we all have our own opinions. You said yours. I said mine. In regards to the issue of what was in the photos, it's no big deal. However, if you're going to report these things you may as well be accurate. It wasn't an attack on you personally.

PHILIP

[Sam Flynn]

^ Please, no Maybrick here!!!

You may find this handy, Phil:

[AdamWalsh]

Hello,
Im new here but old to the case. Just thought Id share some sneakily taken photos from my visit to the JTR exhibition in Docklands. I dont think you were supposed to take photos but I did anyway when it was clear, didnt use the flash though so no harm was done.

It was good, pretty "minimalist" though to be honest in terms of size and what they have, its only 3 medium sized rooms and its all pretty spaced out but yeah, the highlights of course seeing in person THE letters that epitomised the case and the worlds interest - the "Dear Boss" and "From Hell" letters themselves (although I fear they may have been reproductions, not sure?). Also a great collection of period amputation knives and blades that they suggest wouldve been the killers tools. A nice original body removal cart from 1888. The highlight for me personally was actually the original (not a print) Walter Sickert painting "Jack The Rippers bedroom" - the painting that many people think is his admittance of his guilt in some ways, he is a viable suspect in my opinion. That was cool seeing it as Ive not seen any Sickert paintings in person before. Im sure there are a few galleries in London that have some of his work on display, where can I find his works around London normally? The Tate Modern maybe?

[AdamWalsh]

a few more images.

[George Hutchinson]

Hello, Adam.

Small world, eh?

Everyone - meet Adam. I've known him for a few years, and not through JTR.

PHILIP

[AdamWalsh]

Hello, Adam.

Small world, eh?

Everyone - meet Adam. I've known him for a few years, and not through JTR.

PHILIP

Hi Philip

Hope your feeling better! Enjoying those tapes by the way (will send the other I.B ones on soon!).

[caz]

Oh spoil the surprises for everyone, why don't you, Adam?

...if it was written with Diamine archive ink...

Big 'if' there. It wasn't, according to Diamine's chief chemist

...The fading was apparently faked by diluting the ink...

Again, not according to Diamine's chief chemist.

...I guess people were unhappy with mold growing on their pens...

And your guess is as good as - Diamine's chief chemist?

...Nonetheless, I'd love to see the diary...

Yes, probably best before you comment further. If you don't plan to go to the exhibition (when it can be brought to you courtesy of Adam) and you want to continue this conversation, could you do so on the appropriate thread because I'll be the one who gets lynched, not you.

Thanks.

Love,

Caz
X

[Supe]

Adam,

so no harm was done.

In my opinion harm was done. Putting together an exhibit of this scope is as much a creative effort as painting a picture or writing a book and sharing those efforts with the world without authorization is plain wrong regardless of the legal situation. Moreover, any series of individual photos presents a distorted view of an exhibit as a whole.

I may feel strongly about this because I have been involved in creating several permanent exhibits in the United States on thr writing end. But I do feel that taking and posting photos of an exhibit, especially when asked not to, is a much a theft of intellectual property as a pirated music CD. And at least in the latter case the entire work is provided.

Don.

[Dan Norder]

Let me get this straight, Don... you object to Adam Walsh posting photos he took himself of items that by their very age are in the public domain because you think that setting them under glass gives a new copyright, yet work for an e-zine that lifts illustrations out of modern publications and off the web as well as whole chunks of text out of any modern news report that happens to mention the word "Ripper" and reuses them all without permission?

Take, say, the photo that ran with the news brief on the alleged "Smiley face murder" in the recent "I Beg to Report" section... That's not some old image, that's a group of modern photos assembled in a specific way for creative purposes taken from another news source. So you can do that but Adam can't take his own photos of old objects?

Or, say, the images of Carrie Brown and Frenchy from page 76 of the same issue... Those images were not taken from their original sources, they were lifted from Ripper Notes #19, because the extensive editing I did to the pictures to clean them up is still clearly visible. Not only have you mislabeled the Carrie Brown sketch as having come from a contemporary newspaper (it's from a fiction book), but the crop job done on the Frenchy photo in Ripperologist even still has the top of the text from the photo caption as it ran in Ripper Notes. And those are certainly not the first items your publication has taken without permission straight from other periodicals.

Seems to me that you should take care of problems like that before getting on Adam's case here.

[Supe]

First of all folks, let is be known that Dan Norder is the publisher of a competing journal that publishes occasionally--very occasionally--while Ripperologist appears each month like clockwork. Indeed, we were recently one day late in order to incorporate a very late-breaking story and we received a half-dozen inquiries from subscribers asking why we were "so late." Anyway, anything Dan Norder says about Ripperologist or its editors must be considered in the context of envy.

Dan,

Do read my post again, this time for comprehension. It is quite clear I was not objecting to the publication of photos of individual artifacts but to Adam Walsh's photos of portions of the exhibit as a whole, the design and writing of an exhibit being a as much a work of art as a play or musical show.

As for your other complaints, all I can speak about is the unwarranted charge that "whole chunks of text" are lifted from modern news reports. Not true--but then you've never let factual accuracy get in the way of your accusations about Ripperologist or its editors. As for your other hysterical plaints, I would suggest you write Executive Editor Adam Wood with your grievances rather than act the petulant public prat.

Finally, entertaining and informative as the pages of Ripperologist are each month, perhaps you should devote less time to reading our magazine and more time to your own--and heed the words of another also-ran in another field, the Avis rent-a-car company.

Sorry about this interlude folks, but it happens from time to time.

Don.

[AdamWalsh]

I apologise - didnt think it would be a problem, admittedly I did not read all 25 pages of this thread to see if I was allowed to post them, shall I take them down then?

In other news - went to Tate Britain today and enjoyed viewing Walter Sickerts two beautifully haunting paintings "The front at Hove" and also "Miss Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies as Isabella of France" which is an amazing piece to see up close, I was fascinated looking at that Sickert signature inches away from me, wondering if that was the hand that made history with the Liston knife as well as the brush.

[George Hutchinson]

Hi Adam.

Leave the photos be. I'm afraid you've had a baptism of fire here. If you've been reading Casebook for some time you will know there are many alliances, non-agression pacts and axis powers throughout. I'm kind of lucky in that I don't really have issues with anyone (well, I've got one person on my ignore list and that's it).

I'm sure most people were grateful for your photos. Good thing I haven't put up my own, eh?

PHILIP

[Dan Norder]

I apologise - didnt think it would be a problem, admittedly I did not read all 25 pages of this thread to see if I was allowed to post them, shall I take them down then?

You are most certainly allowed to post them. The guy complaining about it hasn't a leg to stand on, legally or morally.

[Ally]

Dan,

So, I can give someone a video camera have them go to the conference, which I am not paying to attend, and then post that video on the web for free? Wouldn't that limit the number of people who are willing to pay to attend the conference if they know the content will be up and available without them shelling out a penny?

There is a fee to attend the exhibition. If the images of the exhibition are available online, then why would someone pay to attend?

Hey anyone, since I am not going to be able to attend the US conference, if you are already planning to go, I'll give you fifty bucks to videotape the sucker and send it to me. Hell, live feed even! As long as you take the video yourself, the images within it are up for grabs.