It has been rumored that Ellen White was threatened with a lawsuit for her literary borrowing from Conybeare and Howson’s Life and Epistles of the Apostle Paul. What are the facts? ^{12The White Lie, pp. 110, 112.}

In spite of A. G. Daniells’ faulty memory in this regard, Mrs. White was never accused of plagiarism by the British authors Conybeare and Howson, nor was she threatened with a lawsuit, nor was her book withdrawn because of criticisms of its use of sources. In the 1890’s there was a letter of inquiry about Sketches From the Life of Paul addressed to the Review and Herald Publishing Association by one of the several American publishers of Conybeare and Howson, the T. Y. Crowell Co. of New York. Large quantities of Conybeare and Howson’s book had earlier been purchased from the Crowell Co. to give away as prizes to those who would secure subscriptions to the Signs of the Times. W. C. White, the only source of information about this letter, indicates that it was written in a “kindly spirit” and contained “no threats of prosecution, nor any complaints as to plagiarism.” ^{13D. E. Robinson and W. C. White, “Brief Statements Regarding the Writings of Ellen G. White” (St. Helena, Calif., “Elmshaven” Office, August, 1933, reprinted, 1981), p. 11. Reprint available from the Ellen G. White Estate.}TAWL 3.1

When the Crowell company was quizzed about the matter some thirty years later, they replied:TAWL 3.2

We publish Conybeare’s Life and Epistles of the Apostle Paul, but this is not a copyrighted book and we would have no legal grounds for action against your book and we do not think that we have ever raised any objection or made any claim such as you speak of. ^{14Quoted in Francis D. Nichol, Ellen G. White and Her Critics (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald, 1951), pp. 455-457.}

Like many of Ellen White’s books, Sketches From the Life of Paul was out of print for some time while Mrs. White worked toward enlarging it into The Acts of the Apostles, but aside from scurrilous speculation and faulty memories, there is no evidence that this had anything to do with any alleged criticism of Ellen White’s use of Conybeare and Howson.TAWL 3.3

On the question of the legality of literary borrowing, Attorney Vincent Ramik, who is not a Seventh-day Adventist, investigated Ellen White’s use of sources according to the copyright laws and cases in the nineteenth century. He concluded that her use did not constitute literary piracy even if all the books from which she drew had been legally copyrighted. ^{15See “Was Ellen G. White A Plagiarist?” a reprint of articles published in the Adventist Review, September 17, 1981. Available from the Ellen G. White Estate. See also note 38 below.}TAWL 3.4