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I wish to reproduce one or more newspaper images from The British Newspaper Archive; what do I do?

← Reproducing newspapers from The British Newspaper Archive
The British Newspaper Archive is a partnership between the British Library and Findmypast to digitise the British Library's vast collection of newspapers.

Most newspaper images (where a newspaper image is the entire, or any part of, any digitised newspaper page)   on The British Newspaper Archive are under copyright and require the copyright holder’s permission to reproduce. Copyright holders can be identified just above the newspaper viewer on the website and in the bottom right corner of newspaper images downloaded from The British Newspaper Archive.

Here is a list of common copyright holders of newspaper image on The British Newspaper Archive and how to contact them
  • British Library Board: As their partners on The British Newspaper Archive, we can grant you this permission directly. Please let us know the nature of your use of the image(s), and we will provide a quote for any Licence Fee, where applicable.
  • Illustrated London News Group: Queries can be directed to their licensing partners the Mary Evans Picture Library. You can find their contact information on their website:  https://www.maryevans.com/
  • National World: These images can be licensed through SWNS Picture Desk. You can email them at pix@swns.com and please attach any images you plan on reproducing to your email to them.
  • Independent News and Media PLC: These images can be licensed through Mediahous and you can find their contact information here: http://www.inm.ie/contact/

When contacting the above group(s), do let them know that you plan on reproducing the already digitised newspaper image found on The British Newspaper Archive.
“Successor rightsholder unknown”; We have done everything we can in order to identify a successor copyright holder, but we have been unable to. If you decide to use this content, please be aware that should a copyright holder be identified in the future you may be subject to licensing this content retroactively. We appreciate the following credit when reproducing this content: With thanks to The British Newspaper Archive.

Public Domain and Creative Commons Images:

There are some newspaper images in our Archive in the public domain, or under creative commons, which do not require permissions to reproduce, you can find all these pages by selecting the “free to view” filter in the bottom right on the search page: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/search

High-resolution Images:

We can also provide high- resolution copies of newspaper images from The British Newspaper Archive for an Acquisition Fee of £30 plus VAT per image. Please note that high-resolution means just that, and the image supplied with be of the same quality as the images on The British Newspaper Archive with regards to light levels and imperfections. We cannot supply high-resolution copies of images under copyright to the Illustrated London News Group, these can instead be obtained through the Mary Evans Picture Library.

Using Quotes or Transcriptions of Newspaper Text:

If you plan on quoting, or creating your own text transcriptions   from, the newspapers then please be advised that unsigned newspaper text goes out of copyright 70 calendar years after the year of publication. Signed newspaper text goes out of copyright 70 calendar years after the death of the author(s). Text still under copyright has the same copyright holder as the digitised newspaper image on our websites. Text which is out of copyright is free to reproduce without permission.

If the above information does not answer your query please let us know and we will be in touch.


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