Keely v. Hartranft

Citations

• 178 Pa. 384
• 35 A. 984
• 1896 Pa. LEXIS 1181

Syllabus

<p>Contract — Construction of — Parol evidence.</p> <p>Plaintiffs, the authors of a book, and the owners of the plates and copyright thereof, delivered the plates to defendant, and by a written contract agreed that he should be the publisher of the book, and have all the rights and use of the same, and that defendant should be the publisher of the book. Plaintiffs were to receive one quarter of the net profits arising from the sale of the book by defendant. The written contract did not prescribe the form, style or quality of the work, or fix the selling prices. All the expenditures connected with the publication and sale of the book were-to be borne by the defendant. Three editions of the book were published. There was evidence that at the time the written contract was executed there was a parol agreement providing that the book should be printed on a certain fine quality of paper, and that it should not be sold under a certain specified price per copy, which the master and the court found should be construed to apply only to the first edition and not to extend to the second and third editions; Held, (1) that as to the copies of the second and third editions, the form, style and quality of the work and the selling price of it were left to the discretion of the defendant; (2) that the defendant was not required to continue the publication and sale of the book at a loss, but it was his duty to do all that he reasonably could to promote the success of the enterprise; (3) that in an accounting after the sale of the book had practically ceased, the amount expended in the publication of the unsold books should be deducted from their market value,.and one fourth of the balance, if any, should be paid to the plaintiffs.</p>