McKEE BOOKLETS

[Stanley A. Schultz]

A few of you may remember a fellow, Allan W. McKee (Kenmore, Washington, USA), who wrote and self-published three booklets on the care and breeding of tarantulas in 1984 and 1986.

I have been trying to track this fellow down, and in the process I discovered that he is supposed to have transferred the publication rights for those booklets to the BTS, probably on the late 1980s or early 1990s.

Can anyone confirm that rumor?

I've searched the BTS website and cannot find mention of either Al McKee (beyond one posting) or any mention of those booklets. Does anyone have any information on this matter?



McKee, A. W. 1984a. Tarantula Observations, A Guide to Breeding. Vol. 1. Tarantula Ranch Press. Kenmore, Washington, USA.



─── 1984b. Tarantula Observations, A Guide to Breeding. Vol. II. Tarantula Ranch Press. Kenmore, Washington, USA.


─── 1986. Tarantula Observations, A Guide to Breeding. Vol. 3. Breeders Digest. Tarantula Ranch Press. Kenmore, Washington, USA.

Thanks in advance.

[Colin D Wilson]

Allen McKee had a few articles appear in the very early issues of the BTS journal Stan.

Found this info ... (not sure/don't know/can't remember if the info in the journals was exerpts from the booklets)
http://www.thebts.co.uk/BTS%20Journa...%20onwards.doc

Hope it's of some help.

[Stanley A. Schultz]

Allen McKee had a few articles appear in the very early issues of the BTS journal Stan.

Found this info ... (not sure/don't know/can't remember if the info in the journals was exerpts from the booklets)

http://www.thebts.co.uk/BTS%20Journal%20Contents%20List%20Vol1%20No1%20onwards.doc

Hope it's of some help.

Very interesting!

I was told that the rights were transferred to the BTS with an agreement that the BTS would pay royalties on all copies that they sold. Am I to assume then that no one at the BTS even remembers any such transaction or arrangement? (I ask this because that same person may have contact information for Mr. McKee.)

Does the BTS even have copies of the McKee booklets in a library or archives?

[Ray Hale]

Hi Stanley I don't remember this and I have been on the BTS for twenty years. Andrew or Paul may know something. I will contact them for you. Also I hold the library and I do not have copies of the books. I know Ann had a copy of no 1 but her collection was broken up when she died. I have no idea what happened to them
Ray

[Eduard Johan Hijmensen]

the articles mentioned by Colin still have "Copyright Al's Tarantula ranch 1986" so no copyright BTS in them.

[Ray Gabriel]

I have copies of a couple of these (or at least copies of a couple of his booklets) somewhere.

They are very good and contain very usefull information, maybe te BTS should re publish them.

We Andrew Smith and I tried to contact Allan a couple of years back with no results, only thing i can sugest is go through the phone books for each state and hope he still has a land line.

Ray

[Stanley A. Schultz]

I have copies of a couple of these (or at least copies of a couple of his booklets) somewhere.

They are very good and contain very usefull information, maybe te BTS should re publish them.

We Andrew Smith and I tried to contact Allan a couple of years back with no results, only thing i can sugest is go through the phone books for each state and hope he still has a land line.

Ray

Actually, I've managed to track him down. He's no longer keeping tarantulas, and firmly avoids all electronic things more complex than a toaster or electric shaver. He doesn't even own a television. He does have a phone that he answers from time to time. So, any sort of Internet communication isn't possible. Though he was cordial, I got a distinct sense that he had put all that, both tarantulas and the digital age, behind him and wasn't terribly interested in being bothered by them anymore.

My primary interest was not so much locating Al McKee, although it was interesting to speak with him for a few minutes. My primary interest was finding out if his booklets were still available to the public from someplace. I've had several requests for possible sources for them recently, and am trying to come up with a meaningful answer instead of the classic "dumb looks."

Either Al still owns the copyright or it has been transferred to another entity. Al told me that he had transferred the rights to the books to the BTS many years ago with an understanding that he would get a small royalty from each copy sold. I wasn't told such, but I got the feeling that the whole project, including any royalties, promptly dropped through the proverbial cracks, and he has heard little or nothing of the matter since.

I obviously have a copy of each, that's how I got images of their covers. But, I'm not willing to violate the copyright laws to distribute knock-off copies to the hobby at large. So, the rest of the arachnoculture world is having to go without. That is a bit of a tragedy. Al did a lot of pioneering work and did his level best to get it out to the rest of the world. Now it is only somewhat of a historical curiosity, but still a part of our history.

Would you or someone else in the BTS try to track down any information you have on this topic? While I am completely UNwilling to divulge Al's contact information to the world at large, I can supply it to you by private E-mail if you need it. You should respond to my personal E-mail account (below), NOT "the Private Messages" function of this forum.

Thanks for all your help.

[Ray Hale]

HI Stanley, good work in tarcking him down. I will try and contact Andrew this evening to pursue investigations. It may have been at the time of John And Kath Hancock. I know John ran the BTS Library at the time and the BTS Study Group. Leave it with me and I will get back to you.
Best Wishes

Ray Hale