The Truth About The White Lie

What about the illustrations from Wylie’s History of Protestantism which the Pacific Press published without credit to the Cassell Company? ¹⁷

Here is a case where The White Lie recycles a charge made in the 1930’s by former Adventist E. S. Ballenger in his paper, The Gathering Call. ¹⁸ At that time the charge was laid to rest by pointing out that W. C. White carried on extensive correspondence with the Cassell, Petter and Galpin Company of Great Britain, in order to purchase the rights to the illustrations in question. TAWL 3.7

Typical of Elder White’s care in this matter is a letter written to Henry Scott on April 7, 1886. He advised Scott, who was publishing Adventist literature in Australia, to become acquainted with the Cassell Company agent in Melbourne, in order to purchase the rights to the cuts owned by that company. “When we will credit the work from which the cut is taken, as is now being done in Present Truth [the British Adventist paper], they make a 40 percent discount.” However, Elder White went on, “I do not like the idea of promising to credit each picture.” It is clear then, that he favored purchasing the rights to the illustrations outright. TAWL 3.8

Although any records of the Pacific Press’s negotiations with the publishers were destroyed in the 1906 fire, they certainly were within their rights if they followed W. C. White’s preferences in this matter. No conclusions can be drawn from the fact that the artists’ initials appear on some cuts used in Wylie’s book and not in The Great Controversy because we do not know in what form the Pacific Press received the engravings from the Cassell Company. It is perfectly possible that the initials were removed by the Cassell Company because of some arrangement with the artist prior to their sending the materials to the Pacific Press. ¹⁹ TAWL 3.9